How do I have a brightly-lit tank without algae?

In article ,
says...

90% of Mbuna are algae eaters.

Actually the Mbunas are after the crustaceans in the algae, like shrimp
salad. So their diet consists of mainly algae. (so I've read)

I have a treo of Electric Yellow (Labidochromis caeruleus) in my 38 usg
tank that love the bush algae and chase away the Florida flag fish I
bought to take care of it.

--
Jim Anderson
( 8(|) To email me just pull my_finger

On Thu, 05 May 2005 23:41:59 GMT, Jim Anderson
wrote:

In article ,
says...

90% of Mbuna are algae eaters.

Actually the Mbunas are after the crustaceans in the algae, like shrimp
salad. So their diet consists of mainly algae. (so I've read)


They vary from those that just eat the algae to those that eat the
creatures in the algae and the algae itself. Then just a few Mbuna
don't eat algae at all.

I have a treo of Electric Yellow (Labidochromis caeruleus) in my 38 usg
tank that love the bush algae and chase away the Florida flag fish I
bought to take care of it.

That particular Labidochromis is a micropredator. They are searching
the algae for tasties!


--
Steve Wolstenholme Neural Planner Software

EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks.
http://www.easynn.com

"Alan Silver" wrote in message
news
Hello,


Hi Allan

First off, I think that is ALOT of light for that tank. If you must keep all
that light then shorten the photo period (only put the lights on at night
while you are home, no need for them to be on all day long. Try to angle the
lights so they are shining toward the back of the tank and not onto the
front glass. Really no need for all that light on a Malawi setup, unless
you're growing marijuana at the base of the tank HTH
--
Kind Regards
Cameron

Baby bristlenoses? That sounds like fun!! Trouble is, I have no idea
whether mine is a boy or girl, and catching him wouldn't be easy. Still,
I might do some research and see if I can find out how to tell the
difference.

Mature males (4" +) have long bristles. Females just stubs.

Thanks, I found this on a web page shortly after posting. Mine is a boy,
so I guess if I can buy a girl, I could have wedding bells!!

I'm not sure if mine is fully mature yet though as he's only about 3"
long. Still, a friend won't do any harm, even if they are too young to
get married yet ;-)

BTW what sort of Malawi cichlids are they? Most of the common Mbuna
eat algae, especially if no easier food is supplied. If they have
other food they won't eat the algae - why scrape rocks when flakes are
around. Mbuna fed on algae turn on their best colours.

Mine do scrape at the algae a bit, but not a huge amount. Maybe if it
were longer they might, but as I said, it's very short.

It's the short algae they like. Leave them without food for a few days
and see what happens. 90% of Mbuna are algae eaters.

Well, my local cichlid expert reckons that I wasn't feeding them enough,
so I just increased the amount of food!! I do see them having a go at
the algae, but I don't know how much difference they make to it.

Having said that, when we had our tropical tank, I once had a problem
where the filter on the cichlid tank failed. I dropped a Fluval 2 from
the tropical tank into the cichlid tank to keep it going until the
following day when I went out and bought a new filter. The tropical tank
had a real algae problem at that time (caused by a lack of attention
from me) and the Fluval had long (about 2"-3") hair algae on it. Within
an hour in the cichlid tank it looked like new!! So they do eat algae!!

Anyway, I took out the halogen lights yesterday and replaced them with
some energy saving bulbs (which are effectively small fluorescent tubes
curled up), so I will see how that affects matters. I intend on leaving
it a week and seeing what the glass looks like.

Thanks for the reply.

--
Alan Silver
(anything added below this line is nothing to do with me)

First off, I think that is ALOT of light for that tank.

I know, but the whole point of the tank is for it to be seen, and with
less light, it just doesn't show up. With the higher light, it looks
stunning.

Anyway, I would have thought this was fairly low compared with the
African sunshine, no? I don't know how that rates in wattage, but I can
look directly at the lights above my tank, I can't do that to the sun
here in England, so the African sun would be way brighter.

If you must keep all
that light then shorten the photo period (only put the lights on at night
while you are home, no need for them to be on all day long.

Problem there is that the tank is in a room that is occupied most of the
day. Ideally we would like the lights on all day long as the room is
used from about 7:30am pretty much non-stop until about 11pm. We have
compromised and cut the photo period back to about 2pm to 10pm.

Try to angle the
lights so they are shining toward the back of the tank and not onto the
front glass.

Already done that. The halogens were pointed more at the middle and back
of the tank. I just changes them for some less directional lights, but
they are still over the middle of the tank.

Really no need for all that light on a Malawi setup, unless
you're growing marijuana at the base of the tank HTH

I didn't know it grew under water!! Not that I want doped fish... unless
it might calm them down a bit!! I could do with getting Biffer to mellow
out a bit, he's always chasing the other fish around. Beautiful fish,
but a bully.

Thanks for the reply.

--
Alan Silver
(anything added below this line is nothing to do with me)

"Alan Silver" wrote in message
news
I've got the same problem as you in my Malawi tank...it's a bit like a
green
carpet on the rocks and substrate. It's not slimy or anything so does
seem a
little bit like hair algae - it's a very bright green.

Mine's quite a dark green, but like your's it's furry, not slimy. Mine's
more in patches than a carpet.

I actually don't mind it too much, it's just that it makes the tank look
too dark.

I've got a Pl*co but although he is working on the back of the tank the
job
seems to be beyond him.....

Sounds like my bristlenose!!

I'm wondering if it is Phosphate level after reading Tim's posting
(thanks
Tim)

Me too, I might see how much the filters are.

I'll continue following this thread. Please let me know how you get on

You too ;-)

--
Alan Silver
(anything added below this line is nothing to do with me)

I actually left the tank alone this weekend (apart from the usual water
change and scrape) as there are a couple of fry in there and I didn't want
to upset them. However, I have made another observation since then, which as
you are in England as well, depending on the area might be relevant.

I have set up two tanks in the last few months - one is the Malawi tank and
the other is a small 7.5gall species tank. Both I filled with tap water -
the Malawi tank is not planted but the 7.5gall is heavily planted. Both
tanks have this bright green algae stuff....the 7.5gall doesn't have the
carpet yet.

I'm wondering if there has been something added to the water
recently....where are you based? I'm in Reading....

Gill

snip
I'm wondering if there has been something added to the water
recently....where are you based? I'm in Reading....

I'm in Manchester, so we're on different water supplies. I don't think
our water has changed, I've had problems with this sort of algae ever
since I started keeping fish. I think my problem is a lot of light and
nothing to use it up. I don't have any plants in there as the Malawis
would probably look on them as salad, so the algae has free run on any
nutrients.

Thanks for the reply

--
Alan Silver
(anything added below this line is nothing to do with me)

The planted tank is using some the nitrates/phosphates present in your
tank-water. I wouldn't read too much into that. Try testing your tap-water
for nitrates and phosphates, if it is clear, the problem is possibly due to
over feeding and possibly over-lighting. If either are present, you may have
to consider using RO/DI water and 'artificially' rebuilding it like some of
us need to. It's a pain. I apologize if I've missed some of the early posts
but how old are your tanks?

Mark

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wrote in message
...
The planted tank is using some the nitrates/phosphates present in your
tank-water. I wouldn't read too much into that. Try testing your tap-water
for nitrates and phosphates, if it is clear, the problem is possibly due
to
over feeding and possibly over-lighting. If either are present, you may
have
to consider using RO/DI water and 'artificially' rebuilding it like some
of
us need to. It's a pain. I apologize if I've missed some of the early
posts
but how old are your tanks?

Mark

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Mine is 3-4 months...haven't tested for phosphates yet but nitrates are 10.
Had no problem with this until the last 2-3 weeks but have noticed the same
problem in a tank I set up 3 weeks ago that is heavily planted.....looking
for test kits for phosphate over the weekend....

Gill

Gill

It doesn't sound like Nitrates are the problem. At 3 to 4 months old (which
is still relatively young) I wouldn't worry TOO much, it may be a passing
fad. But do check the phosphates and also keep the feeding to a minimum. In
a crisis period like this, I reduce the feeding to every other day, or twice
a week (I know the fish are begging for the food but you have to remember
that relative starvation is normal in the wild!) - keep the feeding small
and only use quality feeds that are nitrate and phosphate free..

Again, I'm sorry if I missed the earlier posts, but with a heavily planted
tank, you can probably get away with 9 or 10 hours of lighting but in
theory, the higher plants should out compete the algae if they are able to.
If you have CO2 and feed with a nitrate/phosphate free feed, this shouldn't
be a problem.

I hope it helps

Mark

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