# Algae Farming



## Saraja87 (Jul 18, 2007)

Rather than growing algae randomly in your tank, try some spirulina flakes! Angelsplus makes amazing flakes, I've been using them forever and they've never spoiled in or out of the water. Here are there flakes:

http://www.angelsplus.com/FlakeSpirulina.htm

If you ever wanna try a wafer like thing again, my bushy nose plecos Love these and they last all weekend in there without incident. Well, they did when the bushy noses were babies. Now they get snatched up and carried away. 

http://www.angelsplus.com/PelletWafer.htm

If you don't want to order online etc, I'd still suggest trying some flakes before algaeing up your tank if you can find other companies that make them.


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## GrueBlock (Jun 10, 2008)

Sweet! Thanks man. I've got no problem ordering online and I'll most likely be trying those in the near future! I heard plecos LOVE vacation tabs too.. those pyramid-shaped timed-release feeder tabs.. /shrug


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## Saraja87 (Jul 18, 2007)

IME the pyramid ones leave a weird chaulky residue in your tank, like a white gunk. I dunno what they put in them, but I know angelsplus is all natural stuff. I use their medicated flakes too and a whole bunch of their regular ones.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

They are held together buy plaster, so what is left is plaster... I wouldn't use them in any tank i cared about.


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## reddragon1977 (May 30, 2007)

I would go with zuchinni or cucumber slices if you are worried about lack of food. IMO its good to keep them alittle hungry.


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## GrueBlock (Jun 10, 2008)

Yeah, I read somewhere that plecos like blanched (to make them sink) cucumbers and some other veggies. I'll be doing a mixture of blanched cucumbers/zucchini and the AngelsPlus foods unless I find something better.

Thanks guys!


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## skoorbza (Jun 8, 2008)

I've read that if you place a couple of smooth rocks in a replenished bowl of tank water, they will grow algae, then one can be placed in the tank to be cleaned. Then the single rock can then be easily removed and replaced by another.

Has anyone tried this method? Is it adviseable?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Everybody loves diatoms.. The tougher filament algae are ignored most times.

yeah, I heard the river rocks work and using sunlight helps.


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## GrueBlock (Jun 10, 2008)

I've tried that but

1. I was using tap water
2. I was using some tank decor piece

Let it sit out in the sun for almost a month and nothing - toward the end, it started sliming up a bit but I'm sure the chlorine in the tap water definately held it back for a while, until someone poured out my container :/ - probably neighbors worried about mosquitoes. Boo!

I'll be trying it again with 1. Tank water and 2. A river rock.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

If I were gonna bother growing anything at all for my plecos or other catfish, I think I would probably plant some zucchini seeds in my garden...


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

you can make algae logs by doing the same thing you did except this time take a clear container, fill it with aquarium water ( not from the tap) and then a squirt of some fertilizer like flourish. just leave it outside in goood sunlight and you can have some algae in a few days.


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## klumsyninja (Apr 16, 2008)

Move your tank where it gets a couple hours of some sun... 

BOOM! Algae party! Woot!

or you could move your plecos into my tank, lol.


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## GrueBlock (Jun 10, 2008)

Maybe I can use all three methods.. Bwahaha! I have a 90g corner, and about 10 inches of it will be in front of a window.


... Now I just gotta find someone who sells whiptail cats!


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## billm90 (Jun 19, 2008)

any use for hair algae?

I just tore a ton out of my planted tank, threw it in my 180g tanks refugium for curiousity to see how big it could grow.

I rubberbanded it to a rock. could this form a moss ball, or is that some other type of algae?


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## GrueBlock (Jun 10, 2008)

Not sure why nobody replied but I don't think my pleco would eat that - maybe my red zebra cichlid!


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## diyer3984 (Jun 9, 2008)

I have posted on this idea before. Everyone has such a bad connotation with algae that growing it for a purpose seems down right despicable.(hee he lol makes me think of Daffy Duck "despicable!!!") I wondered if you could use it as a artistic piece in my aqua scape. I didnt get a solid reply so I never tried. I used a sump under a goldfish tank to harvest some of that brown gold. But DO NOT house Plecos with goldfish...EVER!!!


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## GrueBlock (Jun 10, 2008)

Not that I'd ever care to own goldfish, but what's the problem with housing them with plecos?


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## diyer3984 (Jun 9, 2008)

I used to breed fancy Japanese Ryukins...truly an amazing species of fish. The plecos would eat the slime off my goldfish at night. Even if they were well fed which they were. My goldfish got sores and boils and tumers and most didnt make it. I tried every method to treat this but never suspected the plecos. Then one night i hooked up a video camera turned on the night vision (to feed my curiosity and watch the goldies at night). Turns out the 2 plecos in the tank went after a slower more docile goldie of mine. It was as if they were feeding on him alive. Lets just say the plecos went down a few notches for that. I watched this happen for 3 nights and fed the plecos more in hopes they would leave my goldie alone. No luck. After removing the plecos my goldies returned to normal.


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