Solving algae properly for once...

So i got fed up with algae in the two little puffers tank... So i decided this weekend that it is time to do something about it... The biggest issue is that since it is a brackish tank the plants cant out compete the algae since they are under salt stress as is at this stage... So i needed to do something else...

So i came up with a algae filter. The idea behind this is that the algae in the filter system out competes the algae in the tank and then the algae in the tank will die off and leave me alone for once.

Here is some pics... and i will report on how it is working in 2 months from now...

Top view

Front view

Inflow from the filter


Yes it is a black plastic pipe cut in half with a piece of green mesh stuck inside it...

Let us hope it works this time....

ps: sorry for the crappy celphone pics

 

The algae scrubber effect Works pretty well

 

The common term for what you did there is "Ghetto Rigging" :worried:

But if it works................why the hell not. I would actually be very interested to see if that does have long term benefits. My tank has a huge algae problem at the moment.

 

A very interesting idea, please let everyone know if it works and how effective it is.

 

IMO...that is scrubber is not bigger enough to outcompete the tank's algae. I use to use this in my Marine setup, and the scrubber for my 400L setup, was about 10 times that size. It is a great way to exhaust nutrients in the water column. If you get it right you should be "harvesting" once every 2 weeks....good luck

 

So all this have got done is to slow down the growth of the algae in the tank itself... So i will refine my idea and see whether i can get it to grow slow enough not to become an issue...

 

So all this got done is to slow down the algal growth...

So for the next approach i'm going to try another technique that worked in a pond... Humic acid from rotting leaves... Specifically Tea leaves... So i have thrown in 9 rooibos tea bags and it looks like most of the algae is actually dying off... which would be AWESOME!!! because the plants are growing like mad from about two days after i have put in the tea bags...

 

@BugMan

Did you add the teabags as is, and for how long should they be kept in the tank?

 

@Dinky Well i added the rooibos tea bags as is, but they have only been in for about a week now so i will see how long they last...