Barley Straw Extract for Green Water Algae ?

Does anyone have experience treating "green water algae" infestations with
barley straw extract ? What were your conclusions ? Did it work or not
work ?

Also, does it actually *kill* the algae ? Or does it just clarify the water
in some other way ? I have a 55gal tank and the bottle I was looking at
online at www.thatfishplace.com says it treats 2,500gals. So that's making
me think now that I have the infestation, I'll have to treat it forever and
ever.

If barley straw extract ISN'T the best way to deal with green water algae,
what is ?

Thanks - Shawn

Shawn
I have eliminate Green water by turning the lights off until the water
cleared, about three days.
Al

"Shawn P. Good" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have experience treating "green water algae" infestations with
barley straw extract ? What were your conclusions ? Did it work or not
work ?

Also, does it actually *kill* the algae ? Or does it just clarify the
water
in some other way ? I have a 55gal tank and the bottle I was looking at
online at www.thatfishplace.com says it treats 2,500gals. So that's
making
me think now that I have the infestation, I'll have to treat it forever
and
ever.

If barley straw extract ISN'T the best way to deal with green water algae,
what is ?

Thanks - Shawn

I had thought about that, but wondered what effect that would have on my
plants. Do you have a planted tank ?


"Al Boswell" wrote in message
...
Shawn
I have eliminate Green water by turning the lights off until the water
cleared, about three days.
Al

"Shawn P. Good" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have experience treating "green water algae" infestations
with
barley straw extract ? What were your conclusions ? Did it work or not
work ?

Also, does it actually *kill* the algae ? Or does it just clarify the
water
in some other way ? I have a 55gal tank and the bottle I was looking at
online at www.thatfishplace.com says it treats 2,500gals. So that's
making
me think now that I have the infestation, I'll have to treat it forever
and
ever.

If barley straw extract ISN'T the best way to deal with green water
algae,
what is ?

Thanks - Shawn

"Shawn P. Good" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have experience treating "green water algae" infestations
with
barley straw extract ? What were your conclusions ? Did it work or
not
work ?

Also, does it actually *kill* the algae ? Or does it just clarify the
water
in some other way ? I have a 55gal tank and the bottle I was looking
at
online at www.thatfishplace.com says it treats 2,500gals. So that's
making
me think now that I have the infestation, I'll have to treat it forever
and
ever.

If barley straw extract ISN'T the best way to deal with green water
algae,
what is ?

Thanks - Shawn

I've tried barley pellets, but the results were inconclusive. P-Clear is
a new flocculent from Hagen (and B-Clear is their biological version),
and I recently had a customer come in just to tell me how well it worked
to clear his algae bloom. Put some fine (disposable) floss in the filter
whenever you use a flocculent (so you can trap and throw the algae out
before the flocculent breaks down. I'm not normally a fan of flocculants
(reserving them for when I need a spotless tank before a mother-in-law
visit ;~), but algae blooms can be very frustrating to correct, and there
are very few consistent cures (ie: diatom filter). It may be that this
customer's algae bloom was just about to clear on its own, and it was
just coincidentally that P-clear was being used when it happened, so if
anyone has some experience with this product, please share it with us.

NetMax

Shawan
I have a planted tank and noticed no adverse affect on the plants with the
lights off for three days.

Al
"Shawn P. Good" wrote in message
...
I had thought about that, but wondered what effect that would have on my
plants. Do you have a planted tank ?


"Al Boswell" wrote in message
...
Shawn
I have eliminate Green water by turning the lights off until the water
cleared, about three days.
Al

"Shawn P. Good" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have experience treating "green water algae" infestations
with
barley straw extract ? What were your conclusions ? Did it work or
not
work ?

Also, does it actually *kill* the algae ? Or does it just clarify the
water
in some other way ? I have a 55gal tank and the bottle I was looking
at
online at www.thatfishplace.com says it treats 2,500gals. So that's
making
me think now that I have the infestation, I'll have to treat it
forever
and
ever.

If barley straw extract ISN'T the best way to deal with green water
algae,
what is ?

Thanks - Shawn

"NetMax" wrote in message
...

"Shawn P. Good" wrote in message
...
SNIP...

If barley straw extract ISN'T the best way to deal with green water
algae,
what is ?

Thanks - Shawn

I've tried barley pellets, but the results were inconclusive. P-Clear is
a new flocculent from Hagen (and B-Clear is their biological version),
and I recently had a customer come in just to tell me how well it worked
to clear his algae bloom. Put some fine (disposable) floss in the filter
whenever you use a flocculent (so you can trap and throw the algae out
before the flocculent breaks down. I'm not normally a fan of flocculants
(reserving them for when I need a spotless tank before a mother-in-law
visit ;~), but algae blooms can be very frustrating to correct, and there
are very few consistent cures (ie: diatom filter). It may be that this
customer's algae bloom was just about to clear on its own, and it was
just coincidentally that P-clear was being used when it happened, so if
anyone has some experience with this product, please share it with us.

NetMax

I've had good luck with Accurel F and a sponge filter or any other fine
filter. It a black water extract of some sort, I think. Works really well
for a quick fix ... till you solve the underlying problems.

Bob

I've tried it, and did not have any success.
The only thing that worked for me in my
tank (75G, freshwater) was getting a diatom
filter (the vortex V-1), and it cleared it in
under 2 hours. The green water was so thick,
you couldn't even see 1/3 of the distance through
the short length of the tank (ie: visibility about 5").
I only have had to repeat the process once since
then, due to a slight recurrence a month later, and
since then I have been green-water-free for
over 6 months now.

Doug


"Shawn P. Good" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have experience treating "green water algae" infestations with
barley straw extract ? What were your conclusions ? Did it work or not
work ?

Also, does it actually *kill* the algae ? Or does it just clarify the
water
in some other way ? I have a 55gal tank and the bottle I was looking at
online at www.thatfishplace.com says it treats 2,500gals. So that's
making
me think now that I have the infestation, I'll have to treat it forever
and
ever.

If barley straw extract ISN'T the best way to deal with green water algae,
what is ?

Thanks - Shawn

On Sun, 21 Mar 2004 10:48:37 -0500, "Shawn P. Good"
wrote:

Does anyone have experience treating "green water algae" infestations with
barley straw extract ? What were your conclusions ? Did it work or not
work ?

Also, does it actually *kill* the algae ? Or does it just clarify the water
in some other way ? I have a 55gal tank and the bottle I was looking at
online at www.thatfishplace.com says it treats 2,500gals. So that's making
me think now that I have the infestation, I'll have to treat it forever and
ever.

If barley straw extract ISN'T the best way to deal with green water algae,
what is ?

I had exceptional luck with it in my pond outside - about 100 gallons
or so, certainly no more than that. I got results within a week, and
it lasted for a couple of weeks until the raccoons found it and
decided to coat my lawn with barley pellets.
This was the Laguna bagged stuff - I've heard nothing about using
liquid extracts or the like, but I don't know that they would work. I
believe the principle behind it is that the slow decay of the barley
releases enzymes that discourage algae growth.. I can't see a liquid
providing any sort of time release decay.

"Rikko" wrote in message
...

This was the Laguna bagged stuff - I've heard nothing about using
liquid extracts or the like, but I don't know that they would work. I
believe the principle behind it is that the slow decay of the barley
releases enzymes that discourage algae growth.. I can't see a liquid
providing any sort of time release decay.

There are liquid products around that are made from barley extract.
They are supposed to contain the same enzymes -- you simply have
to dose them every few days. I tried one of these for a few months
to see whether I'd make any progress on a slight green water problem
and some green fuzz algae. To me, the stuff didn't seem to be effective.
(Of course, there may have been other issues with my water parameters
at the time that were dominant, so the barley extract couldn't work.)

In general, with algae growth, there is something not quite
in balance in the tank. To me, the best way to address the problem
then is to find out what's not right and address that. If I add
something to an already out-of-balance tank, thereby really
putting it even more out of balance, that seems unlikely to be
remedy for the problem (except maybe as a short-term fix).

Cheers,

Michi.

--
Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
ZeroC, Inc. http://www.zeroc.com

"Michi Henning" wrote in message ...
"Rikko" wrote in message
...

This was the Laguna bagged stuff - I've heard nothing about using
liquid extracts or the like, but I don't know that they would work. I
believe the principle behind it is that the slow decay of the barley
releases enzymes that discourage algae growth.. I can't see a liquid
providing any sort of time release decay.

There are liquid products around that are made from barley extract.
They are supposed to contain the same enzymes -- you simply have
to dose them every few days. I tried one of these for a few months
to see whether I'd make any progress on a slight green water problem
and some green fuzz algae. To me, the stuff didn't seem to be effective.
(Of course, there may have been other issues with my water parameters
at the time that were dominant, so the barley extract couldn't work.)

In general, with algae growth, there is something not quite
in balance in the tank. To me, the best way to address the problem
then is to find out what's not right and address that. If I add
something to an already out-of-balance tank, thereby really
putting it even more out of balance, that seems unlikely to be
remedy for the problem (except maybe as a short-term fix).

Cheers,

Michi.


In order to test the effectiveness of ANY algae cure, you need to make
sure you are not limiting the plants.

Most aquarist have trouble with that part, and this is why they have
the algae in the first place.

This is also why is a bad idea and poor approach to plant keeping to
focus on the algae and not on the plants.

I have done several attempts with barley straw as have two other
aquarist that were/are able to provide careful nutrient levels to the
plants and also have several species of large epiphytic algae that was
in log growth phase and also just stagnant growth.

Under non limiting conditions the straw extract and the straw itself
had NO IMPACT on the algae.

We did not test it on green water but I doubt it will be any
different.
One thing that the straw does is provide a good place for rotifers and
supplies some nutrients to the bacterial loop. Several papers have
conflicting reports about it and the assumed active ingredient,
peroxide.

I think it is useful for ponds in some cases, not all, but having
enough macrophytes will also prevent any green water from ever forming
so adding more plants versus adding abale of rotting straw seems a bit
more logical to me.

They also sell straw pellets which sink.

General rule: stay away from any algae cures, work on growing the
plants well, you will save more money, waste less time and have a
better looking tank.

Regards,
Tom Barr