Algae Destroyer Plus anyone?

[Lady Hobbs]

You hear so much about algae in planted tanks so I got checking on products today and found this. Has anyone tried it?

Someone in the angel forum said they tried it and the tank was crysal clear in 2 hours but her fry died. Her other fish were fine. I have no algae YET but I know my time is coming in my planted tank.


http://reviews.petco.com/3554/13766/reviews.htm

[Chrona]

No chemicals for algae treatment. The majority of them are also harmful to the fish, and it doesn't treat the root cause. The only time I might consider it is if you get a massive staghorn/clado infestation, have already treated the causes, but the stuff is still not receding. For everything else, there is a pretty simple solution that is not harmful.

[Greg Menke]

I nearly killed our Japonica shrimp with that stuff. Didn't stop the algae either. My nitrates and phosphates are nearly 0, PH 7 the fish and plants are vigorous, photo period is 7hrs but the water remains cloudy- the only thing that makes an impression on it is a daily water change.

The more I mess with the media in my cannister trying to get it to filter worth a damn the more I think whats really needed is a dedicated 1-5 micron filter to mechanically take out all the small stuff out w/ a small pump to drive it. My next step is probably a small whole-house filter w/ media rated for stuff that small and run it on a timer.

I'm already sick to death of the aquarium-industrial complex, its as bad as the baby-care industry for the amount of B.S. that you have to train yourself to ignore.

Greg

[Incredulous_Ed]

I stay away from algae destroters. Most of the time they cause something bad to happen.

[Lady Hobbs]

The only warning on this product is NOT to use with invertebrates. I was reading customer feedback on this product and they stated it worked very well so it's hard to say.

Altho this lady stated her fry died, she didn't mention if she did daily water changes for her fry which is what's needed for all fry so it's hard to guess if the product killed them or her maintence of the tank. I'd never use anything on a fry tank regardless, would you?

My 29 gallon has just not been looking all that bright and clear lately and I really hated to do much to it as it's not all that long since I dumped new gravel in. Last night I noticed the filter itself was loaded with slime.....especially where the water runs down into the tank. I took the filter apart, cleaned all that smelly slime out of it and put in new filter floss and cleaned the glass. I woke up this morning to a crystal clear tank.

I generally clean my filters inside about once a month but apparently had missed my routine with this one. All it needed was a good cleaning of the filter that I could have done two weeks ago.

[Greg Menke]

I've not been successful in clearing out the fog yet, its been a real nuisance. I plumbed in the 1-5 micron whole house filter yesterday, its made some progress, but still may be too coarse for this cloudy stuff. I have a water change ready to go in, will add some flocculant and we'll see.

LH, could you describe the floss you're using? The poly fill stuff I've been using doesn't seem to stop anything- big stuff is caught by the coarse sponge before it in the stream- but the fill seems to let everything else right on through no matter how tightly its packed.

Greg

[Lady Hobbs]

This may shock you but I buy bed pillows at WalMart when they're on sale. Yup! You get a whole lot of the poly fill for around $2.50. Those bags of spun stuff you buy are such a small bag for $4 and seem to have too much nylon in it for much to stick to it. PetSmart carries a good floss that comes in sheets and can be cut instead of ripped apart. That's good stuff, too.

Greg.....this is PetSmarts floss and has free shipping.

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=84552444178 1400&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302030141&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1182079859623&itemNo=0&In=Fish&N=2023693+43&Ne=2

[Greg Menke]

Hmm I'm using what must be an equivalent to the pillows; poly fill sold in bulk bags for about $2, stuff it into the filter by the fistfull. How tightly do you pack it in?

Greg

[Lady Hobbs]

I put a lot of it in as well. I will probably never use the filter inserts again. This is so much cheaper and so much more effective, I think, getting the finer particles.