General algae question....

[Option]

After scraping off the algae from the aquarium glass....does it still survive (even for a little while) in water unattached to a surface?

I'm wondering if it's better to scrape all the algae off just before I change the water (so that it gets sucked out with the old water) or if the algae dies once unattached from the glass such that it doesn't matter if it remains in the water column.

[Peccator]

I think most kinds do, I think thats how they get into your tank in the first place.

[Aquatic Delight]

been wondering this myself. i'm pretty sure it will stay alive floating, but i am no expert.

[VAtanks]

I was under the impression that say green water .....is just algea floating around in the water, and if it sticks to something thats where it grows. Now understandably green water is mass amounts of it but in small unseen quantities its still floating around in the water. so by the same token if you scrape it off the glass wouldn't it still just bob around the water until it finds a new home or gets filtered out?

[ronnie6989]

you ever seen a tank that has green water......that's free floating alge in the water column....so my answer is yes it will survive in the water and end up in the filter giving time.

Ronnie

[Option]

Okay, fair enough, sounds like I will only scrape algae then before I change the water from now on. For what little difference it may make... LOL!

[Aquatic Delight]

you could try giving a dose of excel right before/after or during scraping to help kill the algae as well.

[Option]

Originally Posted by Aquatic Delight

you could try giving a dose of excel right before/after or during scraping to help kill the algae as well.

Believe it or not, even after this many years of aqua-planting...I have never actually tried using Excel for killing algae. Fortunately, I don't have tons of algae...only hints of it here and there. I do hear tons of people swearing by Excel though on this forum. How does this stuff work against algae?

[Aquatic Delight]

sorry i thought i had responded to this already....infact i swear i had.

any way, excel is an algaecide that attacks the cells of algae, and breaks them down. it also increases plant growth the same way that CO2 does. the only difference is that excel is light souluable, so the lights on your tank will slowly break it down throughout the day. generally it is recommended that you dose a small period of time before your lights come on. personally when i am dosing to battle algea outbreak i will dose an hour before the lights come on. when i am dosing for plant growth i'll dose 10 minutes before or while the lights are on.

[Option]

AD, thanks for your reply.

I've read about Excel many times in the past but for some reason never knew that it could be used as an algaecide. Even the product website on seachem doesn't mention this.

I will give it a try.