How do I avoid algae in a tank ?

Chuck Gadd wrote:
On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 16:08:51 -0500, mark wrote:


I've kept algae pretty well in check by keeping the lights off most of
the time and minimizing the sunlight that hits the tank. Don't overfeed,
and a couple of good cleaner fish will help. I get a little algae on the
rocks, but hardly any on the glass.


But if the tank contains live plants, then that will not work.



Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

I haven't had a lot of live plants in my tanks, esp. with Malawi
cichlids, but when I have had live plants, I had very few problems with
algae. I assumed this was because the plants were using up the nutrients
and leaving nothing for the algae.
Am I mistaken on that point?


Mark

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 22:07:04 -0500, mark wrote:

I haven't had a lot of live plants in my tanks, esp. with Malawi
cichlids, but when I have had live plants, I had very few problems with
algae. I assumed this was because the plants were using up the nutrients
and leaving nothing for the algae.
Am I mistaken on that point?

Well, I would guess that malawi cichlids eat lots of food, and
therefore produce lots of waste. And I'd bet that the tank didn't
have really high lighting. So I'd doubt the plants really did consume
all the nutrients.

I would probably bet that the tank just had low enough lighting to
avoid algae, and still keep lower-light plants alive.


Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

In article , Chuck Gadd
writes
I would probably bet that the tank just had low enough lighting to
avoid algae, and still keep lower-light plants alive.

Any idea what that level would be ? It sounds like what I want !!

--
Alan Silver