This is a reason not to clean your glass...

[pinoyghost2]

I never clean algae off my 3 sides only the front of the tank where people/me can view the shrimps/crays etc.,

Baby shrimps need biofilm and the best place to find new babies is always on the algae on the glass...its where they head first.

I run my lights 12 hours a day and have never had any bad algae in my
tanks and I have none/very rare Deaths on shrimps unless they are old ones. I keep floating plants like moss, anacharis, frogbit etc and no problems with ammonia or nitrate/nitrites.

My Taiwan babies are all doing extremely well now and 3 are already in the main tank, with the rest going into their own tank soon.

[secuono]

I only clean the front glass, too. But oddly, only the front glass gets green spot algae, while the other walls end up fairly free of it... :/

[MsNemoShrimp]

Originally Posted by hedge_fund

Hey My. I generally keep the lights on from 6pm to 11pm and every 3 days I'll let it run from 6pm to 6am (overnight). Saturday/Sunday the light is on for another 10 hours each day. I am actually very surprised that I am able to grow this on the glass like this without getting algae anywhere else. My substrate, rocks, driftwood and plants have nothing on them. The front glass usually develops some algae but I scrape it off once a week. I've never tried to harvest algae before so not sure what actually goes into it but the walls are generally covered with baby shrimp which is always a nice sight.

I have these 21 inch bulbs in my T5 dual bulb system.
http://www.kensfish.com/moreinfo/wav...5-ho-bulb.html

Thanks for the info Kamil. Yeah it must be the low pH, substrate and so many filters to prevents other algae from forming. From what I understand, you only have lights on for the 5 hour stretch for only 2 days out of the week. The other 5 days are 10 hours and 12 hour lengths. Wow. I am surprised of the outcome. And looks like those bulbs aren't low wattage either. Do you have an image of your light setup on your tank so I could see if the output and light distance have to do anything with it?

Originally Posted by pinoyghost2

I never clean algae off my 3 sides only the front of the tank where people/me can view the shrimps/crays etc.,

Baby shrimps need biofilm and the best place to find new babies is always on the algae on the glass...its where they head first.

I run my lights 12 hours a day and have never had any bad algae in my
tanks and I have none/very rare Deaths on shrimps unless they are old ones. I keep floating plants like moss, anacharis, frogbit etc and no problems with ammonia or nitrate/nitrites.

My Taiwan babies are all doing extremely well now and 3 are already in the main tank, with the rest going into their own tank soon.

Is your 12 hours straight or broken down into a couple segments with a timer? I read somewhere to get good algae growth you should leave the light on for longer periods of time, but in segments rather than a whole stretch because that promotes other "unwanted" algae. If you could do it without dealing with those shorter light segments, I am definitely curious how you set up your lighting on your tank

[danielt]

GSA goes away with phosphate. It's presence signals you have low phosphates. I also got it on the front glass where the water flow hits from the spraybar in the back.

[hedge_fund]

My,

It's just a regular Current USA lighting fixture that uses legs and it's propped up on the tank. Two T5 bulbs. The tank is also in a bay window so it gets light/sun from both sides (back glass is painted black).

[latchdan]

That moss is beautiful what kind is it?

[arktixan]

Love the algae on the glass... I am trying to get mine to go like that... I had shades of it starting...need to find a way to make it "bloom" more...

I myself love the "au natural" look.

[hedge_fund]

Originally Posted by latchdan

That moss is beautiful what kind is it?

It's Christmas Moss. One if my favorite mosses out there.


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[latchdan]

It's Christmas Moss. One if my favorite mosses out there.

I NEED some haha

[sbarbee54]

Xams moss rocks I love it as well. I never clean my glass unless it is the front viewing. Hedge said it best baby shrimp love so much. They eat it and hang out on it so much. Crazy biofilm area!

[rodcuda]

As long as you don't clean the glass, even if there is not visible algae, there shoulf be biofilm and you will see the baby shrimp grazing on it. And you can see the dark spot in their heads (stomachs) showing they are getting something from it.

[Bananariot]

I clean the front of my tank for aesthetic purposes and let the 3 other sides go do what they want lol

[MsNemoShrimp]

Only after 5 days of changing from 8hrs to 12hrs of light, there is visible algae on glass and no noticeable algae on plants. Horray! Wonder how long I could keep this up before algae on plants WILL be a problem...:/

[Green_Flash]

I am guessing the algae is GDA if it comes off easily.

[hedge_fund]

Originally Posted by NeoShrimp

Only after 5 days of changing from 8hrs to 12hrs of light, there is visible algae on glass and no noticeable algae on plants. Horray! Wonder how long I could keep this up before algae on plants WILL be a problem...:/

Are your shrimp hanging out on the glass yet?

Now it might become a balancing act like it is for me. If you see the algae starting to develop on your gravel then you know it's time to lower the light for a few days....then let it go for 12 hours again.