Basic algae article from Dusko

[Tom Barr]

I think that Dusko's algae article is one of the best newbie level articles on the web:

Aquarium Algae

Above link is dead. This one is operational as of Jan, 2022.

Aquarium Algae ID (updated May6th '10 Surface Skum)

Many articles on the net are preaching that reducing nitrates and phosphates will help keeping algae low. In non-planted tanks, maybe! But in planted tanks NO! Thanks to people like Tom Barr, Greg Watson and Diana Walstad aquatic plant growing isn’t that difficult anymore.Plants need more...

aquariumalgae.blogspot.com

Another one from his same site on scaping:

The Art of Aquascaping

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[MTechnik]

Awesome pages, thanks!

 

[Tom Barr]

Wait till you see the articles I have coming for Red, Green and other Freshwater algae.

Lots of info.
I had to cut myself off

Greg should have the Red algae article up sometime soon.

I still could use some more editing and additions, I never got to take the micrographs I wanted.

I have little access to all the different species of red algae and can only effective culture 2-3 species. I will need to run out to various LFS to get samples for the various species of BBA.

Keys for FW algae species are hard to locate and using them takes even more skill. I have the scope set up and nice digital camera now so hopefully I'll add some more to it later.

But for many folks, Dusko's article is super. If you need more, the newsletters will, address those deeper questions and methods.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Dusko]

Thanks Tom for the kind words, but you should be the one (as well as Steve Hampton) taking the credit for that article really. Most of the info came from your "mouth", I just collected it and gave it a basic form (I guess I have been tracking you for a while ).
For example, I never had (until 6 month ago) a high light tank. Low lights are something I have been coping with

Regards, Dusko.

 

[Tom Barr]

Well, it is debatable if one really discovers anything, we merely re synthesize in a new way?

EI did not come from it's own, it came from PMDD and the folks who did more work that I moist certainly did. I just added some additions for higher light, added a justification and simplified some things that I knew folks are too lazy to do.

Then 10 years later, some one comes along and claims to have done 10 years worth of research and work developing the nearly the same thing and makes no acknowledgment

I have done more with algae than nay other planted aquarists however. That gives me a leg up on other folks. You do not learn merely by killing, rather by understanding the enemy and knowing what makes it grow via inducement.

If all you did was kill, you'd never learn why it started in the first place or the root cause/s (Nor the side effects vs addressing the root cause).

I am somewhat vicious in my posting style due to folks wanting to haggle with me over algae based on their only correlations in their one tank and poor ability to have a standard control tank to induce algae to investigate cause to test their hypothesis.

They are frustrated and I do understand that part, however, they get all desperate and will believe that the earth is flat if they see anything that gives them hope of a nice worded phrase and you sell something in a small bottle for 14.99$.

They lack the basic control to have an algae free tank yet want to discuss why my test is flawed

Let me see here........I can grow the plants algae free, then can induce the specific species of algae in question, I can test their hypothesis and show it's false, but I'm wrong and they are right?

They on the other hand cannot even produce and an algae free reference tank, nor are willing to induce the algae into such a tank to test their own hypothesis.

So the blind man is telling me what to see................

If I have little patience for such mockery of logic, you now know why.
It's not personal still, it's just I do not understand why they claim to be searching for knowledge, or "I just want to learn and see" or "There are alternatives that we do not yet know about". Well, they sure as heck are not going to learn about them with a messed up tank and lousy methods, that much I do know.

If that method worked, we'd know everything there is to know about algae by now and there'd be no need for the methods I suggested.

Dusko, the real issue with the article is that it's good for the common folks, they want more, they can come a read more here or on the newsletters.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Daniel Morris]

Dusko - I recommended your site to someone on TPT and they commented that on your webpage had labeled staghorn as clado... Not sure if thats true, as I don't know what clado is, but I thought i would throw it out there.

See the comment here:
Another "what algea is this" W/pics!! - The Planted Tank Forum

 

[Dusko]

Now that I am looking at it closely it might be right that this algae on my page is the Cladophora, since it forms a tick moss structure and has a dark green color.
Staghorn algae has more grayish appearance.
I will update my blog now.

Thanks.

Regards, Dusko.

 

[lito00]

This was very helpfu. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[Hano808]

Mahalo! This is very informative

 

[SwampGremlin]

Good read thank you for sharing.

 

[hollard bodine]

perfect start

 

[dougm]

Very good article

 

[Sumfisher]

Hello all


I was told to track down Mr Barr to see about some wood for a tank I'm building. any direction would be appreciated.

 

[Jason King]

You can now pm him


@Tom Barr

 

[The Caterpillar]

Now this is something I can use. Nice post and thank you.

 

[Barbara C. Lamb]

As a beginner, I am really helpful after reading this post. I am looking more suggestion like this.

 

[Will Stein Realtor]

Great post, thanks for sharing.

 

[SantaMonica]

Here is another way to look at it:

What do all algae (and cyano too) need to survive? Nutrients. What are nutrients? Ammonia/ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate and urea are the major ones. Which ones cause most of the algae in your tank? These same ones. Why can't you just remove these nutrients and eliminate all the algae in your tank? Because these nutrients are the result of the animals you keep.

So how do your animals "make" these nutrients? Well a large part the nutrients comes from pee (urea). Pee is very high in urea and ammonia, and these are a favorite food of algae and some bacteria. This is why your glass will always need cleaning; because the pee hits the glass before anything else, and algae on the glass consume the ammonia and urea immediately (using photosynthesis) and grow more. In the ocean and lakes, phytoplankton consume the ammonia and urea in open water, and seaweed consume it in shallow areas, but in a tank you don't have enough space or water volume for this, and, your other filters or animals often remove or kill the phytoplankton or seaweed anyway. So, the nutrients stay in your tank.

Then, the ammonia/ammonium hits your rocks, and the periphyton on the rocks consumes more ammonia and urea. Periphyton is both algae and animals, and is the reason your rocks change color after a few weeks from when they were new. Then the ammonia goes inside the rock, or hits your sand, and bacteria there convert it into nitrite and nitrate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.

Also let's not forget phosphate, which comes from solid organic food particles. When these particles are eaten by microbes and clean up crews, the organic phosphorus in them is converted into phosphate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.

So whenever you have algae or cyano "problems", you simply have not exported enough nutrients out of your tank compared to how much you have been feeding (note: live rock can absorb phosphate for up to a year, making it seem like there was never a problem. Then after a year, there is a problem).

So just increase your nutrient exports. You could also reduce feeding, and this has the same effect, but it's certainly not fun when you want to feed your animals