<<Tom often preaches that the goal should be to grow plants, NOT how to kill algae. There is truth to that statement because algae will recede significantly when plants are healthy. Algae will never disappear altogether, but enough as to not bother all but the most anal of aquarists. >>
About the only element I've added, in appropriate/reasonable amounts mind you, to the water column which has noticeably increased algae growth is iron.
I've therefore started shoving Fe into the soil around the roots and noticed a definite improvement. But which plants?, one might well ask, as many reddish stem plants seem to have little in the way of a root system which which to absorb iron via the substrate. Eusteralis may be an exception here.
Algae is like cancer, in that there are many, many types and I wonder if some have anything more in common with one another than the label "algae".
There seem to be some forms, certain BBA and coarse green hair, for instance that seem to have evolved to take full advantage of just the conditions some of us try so hard to provide for our flashy, mostly stem type plants, high light, high nutrients and ... CO2? Naw, Co2 seems to help plants and hurt BBA. That green hair I'm not sure about, but that one I know loves Fe.
These are the algae that most bother me when they show up and the ones I've heard most folks complain about. That's provided we are, in fact, all describing the same algae -- one can never be entirely sure in that respect. It's really only when these algae occur in ridiculous, rapidly increasing amounts that they become a problem.
Why is it that only sometimes, or only in some tanks, that the little bit of BBA inconspicuously hanging out in the back of the tank, usually attached only to some inert object suddenly explodes into life, multiplying, attaching itself suddenly to only the most beautiful of plant leaves and generally making a pest out of itself in rapid order?
How come the tank right next to it, one with almost the exact same parameters and composition, can at the same time, have no algae?
That is the weird part...
All things considered though, I think Tom's approach to be the best philosophy overall-- pay attention to the plant's needs and concentrate on growing them well and in abundance. When one does that, at some point algae usually ceases to be much of a problem.
If one wishes to take direct action against the algae as well, it will be a combination of many little things, water changes, pulling off the algae manually, constantly harassing the algae in many ways, which will ultimately yield the best result. It's not about some magic bullet or single product or treatment alone, it's best fought mainly as a war of attrition.
Bobo in South Florida |