I got the Fancy Goldfish book by Johnson for Christmas, and he really promotes algae growth. He pointed out that it can help with nitrates, and also something I hadn't thought of, it coats the ornaments to make them more goldfish friendly. I thought this was a good idea, especially since my demekin got banged up a couple of weeks ago when he got stuck behind a rock.

So, as much as it goes against my years of algae scraping practice, I'm going to let it grow unchecked (except for the front of the tank) and see how it looks. I think it will be fine on the back of the tank, I don't like my background anyway. But the sides and the ornaments? I'm not sure. It shouldn't take long, because I've started leaving the blinds of the nearby window open as well for the fishies to get some natural sunlight. Anyone else try anything like this?

I like the idea and I have a lot of algae in my clear water tank. My goldies love to eat algae too.

At first I thought our brown algae was ugly, but once it coated the rocks fairly evenly, I actually think it looks kinda reasonable and nice on the rocks, and holding down the nitrates definitely a plus. Interesting point on making things 'fish friendly.' Never woulda thought of that.

I have some nice dark green-black algae growing on the ornaments in my fancy goldie tank, but I cant get it to grow on the back, sides, or bottom. Still, it looks nice on the ornaments, kind of like a carpet that waves in the current.

I have tried letting the green grow plushly on the back and sides, but have found that I cannot stand it. I am a bit compulsive about my clean tanks and I found that the green that was not perfectly even, that did not end in a perfect 90 degree angle on the sides of the tank, etc. was driving me BONKERS. So I remove it.

I do, however, have a set of plastic plants that I let get REALLY green and fuzzy. I love these - particularly in fry tanks or tanks with growing youngsters. They eat their protien each morning, yet can graze all day long on the green fuzz. For some reason, having the green on the plant makes it seem .....well, more in control. The plants are evenly green (except for the munch marks) and it can stay contained on the plant. It is also easy to remove at a moment's notice if I have a particularly strange day and have the need for NEAT tanks....

I know - I am kinda compulsively strange. But it works for me!!

(When I know I am going to be gone for longer than I want and cannot change out the tank, I will deliberately let the green grow. It DOES process nitrates and provids great food. I can almost fast the fish for an entire 10 day trip, knowing that the little bit of green algae they snarf down is doing their digestion good! I, of course, clean it all really well when I arrive home.)

That's my problem! I don't know if I'll be able to do it, but I'm going to try!

I read the same book too and went shag green carpet on all sides except the front. The green algae is growing all over the filter housing as well as on the heater.

I get the green algae growing on my tank lids.

Well, I resisted the urge to scrub today. This really feels like Finding Nemo when they let the tank get dirty!
Here's a snap of the side of the tank now...getting greener!!

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It may not look the best, but that algae is awesome for keeping your water clean. I tested my pond outside and it is COVERED in algae and the water params were perfect. No ammonia, nitrite, OR nitrates!!!!

My tank is getting very green too. I do what Daryl does. I clean everything off the sides of the tank and let one or two objects go green inside. I gave a nice juicy one to my fry, they demolished it! They love the salad bar.

Piggy is getting very pudgy.

Well I think I’m going to try that. I think I will just let the back side grow and keep the sides and front clean. It actually does look nice. I’m surprised.

I can only get green algae in my 5 gallon that gets a little direct sunlight. None of my other tanks can be put in front of a window, so guess I'll never get to go green in them.

If I could give you some of my greem shag carpeting, I would.

I came home from a weekend at my bf's today and my tank is SO green! I'm going to test the perams later, I'm interested in seeing how low the nitrates are.

I would be interested to know how it's working for you too. I have not cleaned any but the front of my tank and I have a white film going on the back and sides, does green algae start off as white?

Yes, that's the pattern I've noticed. If you don't remove that film the green will soon show up.



Here's my tank now. There's no huge difference in nitrates, but they are pretty steady. I removed the background because I found it made the tank look really dark...now it just looks scummy! I'm kind of liking this look, I'm thinking of getting a plain green background just to hide the filters, but the algae may do that for me soon.

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As usual, I spoke too soon. I have it growing in my 55 now! Adding strong lighting did the trick.

I didn't know that algae started out as the white film!!! I have had that film on my tank and have wiped it off a bunch of times! From now on, I am just gonna wipe the front of the tank off and leave the rest and see if algae will grow!!!

Cool!! Your goldies will keep it nicely mowed.

Hey JOH, I wanna see a pic of your shaggy green tank!!!!

Sorry as you know my computer is messed up and I can't really post pics. I shall be getting a new computer soon and will be back to posting pics. The green algae loves to grow on the heater and it looks like green worms growing on it, lol.

The 50 gallon tank with Moby in it is starting to grow a little bit of green algae too.

I can't wait to see Moby!!

As I said before, I will help out with pics if you want to get something up.

How are you getting algae so fast? Are your tanks in front of a window?

Not sure if that was for me or not. But yes, my goldie tank has a window about 4 feet away. It's not direct sun but it's doing the job!