Barley for algae control in an aquarium

[[email protected]]

Has any one tried Barley extract made for a pond to control algae? It
is natural and non-chemical which to me sounds good....
Larry

[Roy]

Some folks swear by it and others swear at it for not doing what its
purported to do.

I have never had any luck with it. I use regular old alum and it will
knock down algae growth and not harm the fish....Its proven 00% alum
works (Bara-Clear 80) by locking up the phosphates similar as to how
ammo loc locks up ammonia, making the phosphates unavailable for algae
to utilize. Without phosphates, algae is unsable to utilize the
nitrogen, and it dies........Alum is a natural mineral and is commonly
found in all soils.

Barley is over rated and over priced.....

On 10 Feb 2005 20:41:37 -0800, "
> wrote:

>===<>Has any one tried Barley extract made for a pond to control algae? It
>===<>is natural and non-chemical which to me sounds good....
>===<>Larry


REMEMBER: "This is worth repeating for benefit of al newbies!
Jo Ann asked Dr. Solo to remind people that while she has retired from selling GF (and sold
the business to Ken Fischer http://dandyorandas.com/) she has NOT retired from
helping people with sick GF and koi FOR FREE. 251-649-4790 phoning is best for
diagnosis. but, can try email put "help sick fish" in subject. Get your fish at Dandy Orandas
Dandy Orandas Dandy Orandas........you guys got that DANDY ORANDAS

[Andrew]

>........Alum is a natural mineral and is commonly
> found in all soils.
>

Excuse the silly question here, but are you saying that I can put some soil
in my tank and it will keep the algae down?

Or can I just go in to a pet shop and ask for "Alum" (cue poor joke about
hard of hearing pet shop assistant who says "Sure" then ges round the back
and shouts "Alan, there's someone to see you!")

[Larry Blanchard]

In article >,
says...
> I use regular old alum and it will
> knock down algae growth and not harm the fish.
>
How about its affect on live plants? I'd like to get the phosphates
down to where the plants use them up and leave none for the algae, but
there's no more room for plants in my tanks :-).

We get our water direct from an aquifer under an area that has a lot of
irrigated farming, so I suspect the phosphates are quite high. I can't
find a test for them.

I've been using 50% distilled water and it helps, but not enough.

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

[Lilly]

I'd swear I've seen alum at the grocery store in the spice area. I've
heard of others getting it at the pharmacy (I suspect the old mom-n-pop
kind, not the mega-chain kind).

As an aside, I hear snails don't like it much either.

Lilly

Andrew wrote:
> >........Alum is a natural mineral and is commonly
> > found in all soils.
> >
>
> Excuse the silly question here, but are you saying that I can put
some soil
> in my tank and it will keep the algae down?
>
> Or can I just go in to a pet shop and ask for "Alum" (cue poor joke
about
> hard of hearing pet shop assistant who says "Sure" then ges round the
back
> and shouts "Alan, there's someone to see you!")

[Lilly]

Lots of old timers used to soak their plants in alum to get rid of
snails (see my post above).

For the phosphate try:
That Fish Place,
http://tinyurl.com/6fdsf
Kent Phosphate sponge. Rechargeable by putting it on a cookie sheet
that's dedicated to this purpose in a 450 degree oven for about an
hour.

For a phosphate test try:
That Fish Place
ttp://tinyurl.com/6jwaa
Lists a bunch of tests. Stay away from the Red Sea ones, they aren't
all that accurate. Can't speak for the Hagen ones, never used them.
Seachem works though.

If these links don't work, http://www.thatpetplace.com and search for
"phosphate remover" and then "phosphate test"

Lilly

Larry Blanchard wrote:
> In article >,
> says...
> > I use regular old alum and it will
> > knock down algae growth and not harm the fish.
> >
> How about its affect on live plants? I'd like to get the phosphates
> down to where the plants use them up and leave none for the algae,
but
> there's no more room for plants in my tanks :-).
>
> We get our water direct from an aquifer under an area that has a lot
of
> irrigated farming, so I suspect the phosphates are quite high. I
can't
> find a test for them.
>
> I've been using 50% distilled water and it helps, but not enough.
>
> --
> Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

[Roy]

On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 15:36:39 GMT, "Andrew"
> wrote:

>===<>>........Alum is a natural mineral and is commonly
>===<>> found in all soils.
>===<>>
>===<>
>===<>Excuse the silly question here, but are you saying that I can put some soil
>===<>in my tank and it will keep the algae down?
>===<>
>===<>Or can I just go in to a pet shop and ask for "Alum" (cue poor joke about
>===<>hard of hearing pet shop assistant who says "Sure" then ges round the back
>===<>and shouts "Alan, there's someone to see you!")
>===<>

No, soil is not going to do it....as there is not enough aluminum
something or other (U forget the second name sulphate ? ) but its
common name is alum.....it does plants no harm nor does it do fish any
harm. You can get it in grocery stores, pharmacies and even Wal MArt
carries it. Bara clear has buffers which prevent any temporary
clouding of water, but when you use regular alum it will cloud thew
water for a few hours until it all settles to the bottom, where it
starts to lock up the phosphates, and usually within 12 hours or so
using minimal filtration the water is cleared up from the
alum.........Within a few days you'll see the algae start to die off
and not reappear. In outside ponds it can be done anytime of the year
as it does not affect oxygen levels unless you have soupy green water
to begin with, in that case you need lots of aeration.

REMEMBER: "This is worth repeating for benefit of al newbies!
Jo Ann asked Dr. Solo to remind people that while she has retired from selling GF (and sold
the business to Ken Fischer http://dandyorandas.com/) she has NOT retired from
helping people with sick GF and koi FOR FREE. 251-649-4790 phoning is best for
diagnosis. but, can try email put "help sick fish" in subject. Get your fish at Dandy Orandas
Dandy Orandas Dandy Orandas........you guys got that DANDY ORANDAS

[Larry Blanchard]

In article . com>,
says...
> Lots of old timers used to soak their plants in alum to get rid of
> snails (see my post above).
>
....

Thanks, Lily. And thanks for the links. But I still want to know if
alum will harm my plants.

If it kills some snails I won't miss them :-).

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

[Lilly]

Larry Blanchard wrote:
> Thanks, Lily. And thanks for the links. But I still want to know if

> alum will harm my plants.

I don't know if an extended soak, like 2 or 3 weeks, would harm them.
But I do know people that have soaked the live plants at least
overnight and they're fine.

> If it kills some snails I won't miss them :-).

Hey, I don't mind ramshorns and the live-bearing malaysian ("trumpet")
snails. I DO mind those plant snails. Those buggers eat plants. The
others do a nice job of keeping the unwanted algae to a minimum.

Lilly

[[email protected]]

How much Alum would you add to an aquarium and how much to a pond.....I
have string algae in my pond.
Thanks in advance...
Larry
Lilly wrote:
> Larry Blanchard wrote:
> > Thanks, Lily. And thanks for the links. But I still want to know
if
>
> > alum will harm my plants.
>
> I don't know if an extended soak, like 2 or 3 weeks, would harm them.
> But I do know people that have soaked the live plants at least
> overnight and they're fine.
>
> > If it kills some snails I won't miss them :-).
>
> Hey, I don't mind ramshorns and the live-bearing malaysian
("trumpet")
> snails. I DO mind those plant snails. Those buggers eat plants. The
> others do a nice job of keeping the unwanted algae to a minimum.
>
> Lilly

[Lilly]

You should be able to google the info. I did a quick one, and a few
links of PDFs came up. It is toxic to fish (surprise) so you don't want
them in the water while treating.

Lilly

wrote:
> How much Alum would you add to an aquarium and how much to a
pond.....I
> have string algae in my pond.
> Thanks in advance...
> Larry
> Lilly wrote:
> > Larry Blanchard wrote:
> > > Thanks, Lily. And thanks for the links. But I still want to
know
> if
> >
> > > alum will harm my plants.
> >
> > I don't know if an extended soak, like 2 or 3 weeks, would harm
them.
> > But I do know people that have soaked the live plants at least
> > overnight and they're fine.
> >
> > > If it kills some snails I won't miss them :-).
> >
> > Hey, I don't mind ramshorns and the live-bearing malaysian
> ("trumpet")
> > snails. I DO mind those plant snails. Those buggers eat plants. The
> > others do a nice job of keeping the unwanted algae to a minimum.
> >
> > Lilly

[Roy]

What are you saying, Alum is toxic to fish......nope naw no way..Its
the main ingredient used by Baraclear, and its touted in lots of large
koi farms for keeping algae etc under control. I use it all the time
in my pond, my fish are fine. I use it in my glass QT tanks, fish are
fine...............go read abaout alum on the baraclear page......look
at a lot of the treatments in places that sells pond and fish related
items, most use either a copper or aluminum sulphate. Mix it with
water and pour it around the pond. tank or whatever.........mixing it
with a bit of koi clay will help keep it from getting cloudy when its
first put in the water, than if you just put it in by itself. Think
about it, folks that go all around the country showing Koi are not
usually prone to usuiing anything that may harm their prized
fish.......but most of them use baraclear and its predominately clay
and aluminum sulphate ALUM!
http://www.baraclear.com/
.............

n 14 Feb 2005 10:58:36 -0800, "Lilly" >
wrote:

>===<>You should be able to google the info. I did a quick one, and a few
>===<>links of PDFs came up. It is toxic to fish (surprise) so you don't want
>===<>them in the water while treating.
>===<>
>===<>Lilly
>===<>
wrote:
>===<>> How much Alum would you add to an aquarium and how much to a
>===<>pond.....I
>===<>> have string algae in my pond.
>===<>> Thanks in advance...
>===<>> Larry
>===<>> Lilly wrote:
>===<>> > Larry Blanchard wrote:
>===<>> > > Thanks, Lily. And thanks for the links. But I still want to
>===<>know
>===<>> if
>===<>> >
>===<>> > > alum will harm my plants.
>===<>> >
>===<>> > I don't know if an extended soak, like 2 or 3 weeks, would harm
>===<>them.
>===<>> > But I do know people that have soaked the live plants at least
>===<>> > overnight and they're fine.
>===<>> >
>===<>> > > If it kills some snails I won't miss them :-).
>===<>> >
>===<>> > Hey, I don't mind ramshorns and the live-bearing malaysian
>===<>> ("trumpet")
>===<>> > snails. I DO mind those plant snails. Those buggers eat plants. The
>===<>> > others do a nice job of keeping the unwanted algae to a minimum.
>===<>> >
>===<>> > Lilly


REMEMBER: "This is worth repeating for benefit of al newbies!
Jo Ann asked Dr. Solo to remind people that while she has retired from selling GF (and sold
the business to Ken Fischer http://dandyorandas.com/) she has NOT retired from
helping people with sick GF and koi FOR FREE. 251-649-4790 phoning is best for
diagnosis. but, can try email put "help sick fish" in subject. Get your fish at Dandy Orandas
Dandy Orandas Dandy Orandas........you guys got that DANDY ORANDAS