Algae Control : Effective Algae Control Methods

Algae control. If you have an aquarium, those two words have probably crossed your mind at least once. While unfortunate, it is nevertheless true that the closed aquarium system offers all sorts of nuisance algae ample opportunity to multiply. While we can try and duplicate mother nature, more often than not our aquariums are left wanting.

And thats ok because maintaining a balanced system is easier said than done. Which means most of us will have to read up on proper algae control methods at some point. Sooner rather than later. This guide is primarily aimed at Algae Control in a marine aquarium but the same techniques can be used with freshwater tanks.

The usual suspects :-

• Red Slime Algae (Not an Algae, a cyanobacteria)
• Diatoms (Again, not an algae)
• Hair Algae
• Dinoflagellates

These four turn up whenever our systems our out of balance. More specifically, algae growth is accelerated when excess nutrients are present. Nitrates and Phosphates are the two most important nutrients we are concerned with when attempting to implement some form of algae control. As they are both forms of nitrogen and phophorus, they act as fertilizers to all plant life within a saltwater aquarium, so naturally, it is our goal to reduce them to an appropriate level.

Nitrates and Phosphates come from many sources. The main sources we should be looking at are fish waste, fish food, tap water and anything else that is slowly rotting in the tank like uneaten fish food and detritus.

Reverse osmosis units are normally used in the marine aquarium hobby as they effectively remove any nitrates and phosphates present in tap water, if there are any. I personally don't use one as i'm lucky to have relatively clean tap water that i treat for chlorine and chloramine beforehand. Still, i will be looking to get one in the near future as the water that the Ro/DI unit produces does not need to be treated any further, making it a hassle free affair.

We should begin cleaning the entire system of any fish waste and detritus that is present. During this time we also need to manually remove as much of the problem algae as possible. If we're dealing with red slime algae then it is a simple affair as it forms carpets that is easily removed. Not so when dealing with hair algae. Removal of live rock and scrubbing may be required. Its hard work but this needs to be done. Siphon out any bits of the algae floating about in the tank.

Next we deal with the current nitrate and phosphate levels. Nitrate is easily dealt with via water changes. The most you should ever consider changing at a time is around 40%. And never more than one a day. If the nitrate levels are so high that the tank needs two 40% changes then leave a gap of a day or so. So thats 40% on Monday and another 40% on Wednesday.

Phosphate are even easier to get rid of. Some companies sell these lovely products, PO4 removers and i love them. Simply put the appropriate amount in an area of high flow and your phosphate readings should drop to nothing in a day or two. The larger the tank, the more media is needed. Some good brands i can vouch for are Phosguard, Rowaphos and Phosban. I personally use Phosguard as it is a bit cheaper and just as effective as the other two.

Another area we need to address is light. Chances are, you have a lighting system. Are they older than 6 months? If they are you might want to consider changing them. Older bulbs tend to shift in spectrum towards red. You don't want any red light in your aquarium as it will affect algae growth. You might want to lower your photoperiod to about 4-5 hours a day depending on the type of corals you keep.

All of the above represents effective algae control techniques. It should be noted that results will not be seen immediately. The goal should be effective implementation of algae control in a month. I do not recommend liquid algae killers an effective form of algae control. To see why, pay a visit to my article, Algaefix.