Hey guys,

Assuming that one keeps plant debris cleaned up, can a live plant help combat free-floating algae? My thought is that the plant will tie up extra nitrates that the algae would otherwise thrive on. Any comments/thoughts on this? Furthermore, if my theory is correct, wouldn't broadleaf plants be better for this purpose as they have a higher rate of photosynthesis?

Thanks,
Donna

Plants do help with algae problems if your problem is too much nitrate, because plants use nitrate much more efficiently than algae. But sometimes water has a lot of phosphate in it, and algae use phosphate more efficiently, so it might still be a problem.

Oh, I didn't think of phosphates. Is there a phosphate test out there for home use?

I've heard of people using them, so they can't be TOO hard to find...

I found a SeaTesT brand kit: http://aquariumpros.com/aquaprostore/prods.../AQS02020.shtml

and a Kwik Kit one: http://www.marinedepot.com/a_tk_me.asp

And from what I've heard, a lot of the phosphate-removing filter media is pretty effective. So if you knew that your phosphates were low, I think plants would make a big difference!

May, thank you so much!!!

Plants also need phosphate. Plants are a great help with algae control, thats why the water companies use water lettuce in their ponds to keep the water from getting to much algae. In my goldfish tanks I need to add phosphate because the plants suck so much of it out. Swords are a great plant to start with, I would also recommend floating plants or water Lillie's.

IUnknown,

Algea keeps growing on my plants. I thought I might have a lot of phosphates in my water, so I bought a bag of phosphate absorbing material and put it in my HOB filter. It didn't seem to make a difference, so I cut down on the amount of light, but then brown algea replaced the green. Now I'm increasing my water changes from once a week to twice a week.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Hi guys! I don't want to sound too nerdy... but aquatic plants prefer ammonia as nitrogen source, not nitrate. They help combat algae by sequestering ammonia and leaving less for nitrification.

Here are some antialgae measures that have worked wonders in my tanks:

1) Planting hornwort and bacopa monieri in the tank... they grow extremely fast and take up all the nutrients. In addition, hornwort releases an antiaglae substance

2) otocycus catfish, these guys eat algae on all surfaces without damaging plants

3) amano shrimp, these guys are still better than otos... but goldfish see them as lunch

4) phosphate adsorbing media for the filters.

Thanks for the tip on the hornwort. I hadn't known that it released an antialgae substance.

Gonna get some of that

I have tons of hornwort. I never really meant to have as much as I do, but it grow so fast! It grows several inches per week in my 29ga tank.

Recently, a friend who was going home from college for 2 weeks brought me 6 comets in a 4 gallon tub to watch. They were very crowded obviously, and ammonia started building up fast. I got sick of changing the water twice a day and threw in a clump of hornwort. Poof! Ammonia problem is greatly reduced!

Horn wart, can i get it at any lfs? or any places inparticular i could get them, Petco Or Pestmart have it?

Cheerrs