# How to grow algae?



## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

What type of light?Are you adding anything in the way of organic's?
Higher lighting,organic's from fish food,waste, no CO2 injection , or supplement's, usually produces algae for me.


----------



## waterfaller1 (Jul 5, 2006)

Come hang at my place for a day..I will show you how.:biggrin: I think if you have a spot where you could set up a small low profile tank{or do not fill it all the way} that would get natural sunlight, and place round flat stones in it end to end, you can add some pinches of food periodically , perhaps some moss, and the stones should turn nice and green. People do this who keep hillstream loaches and rotate them into the tank.


----------



## jfynyson (Apr 15, 2013)

Add a touch of ammonia or overload the tank with creatures that make waste and keep the lights (those suited for plant growth of course) on and as close to the water surface as possible.

Or better yet attempt to create a beautiful & lush planted tank instead


----------



## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

"Or better yet attempt to create a beautiful & lush planted tank instead "

This creates algae for sure. :hihi:


----------



## Zorfox (Jun 24, 2012)

Soothing Shrimp said:


> "Or better yet attempt to create a beautiful & lush planted tank instead "
> 
> This creates algae for sure. :hihi:


+1+1+1!!

Increase the wattage of the lights. Apparently you don't have enough or your tank would be emerald green with 24/7 photoperiod.


----------



## Legot (Jun 29, 2013)

A few types of algae also require a day/night cycle so that they go sexual and start reproducing really fast. So you could try really upping your lights, and adding something like an 8 hour night cycle every couple of days.


----------



## Rony11 (Jan 21, 2012)

Usually hobbyists ask the opposite "How do I get rid of this annoying algae!" 
Inorder to get algae you should have high lights i.e.above watt per litre, keep your lights on for 10-12 hours, add ferts and avoid CO2. You will get algae within 1-2 weeks.

Are u sure you want algae in your tank? 
Let me remind u every tank has some kind of algae, like my planted tank with fish n shrimps has green spot algae.


----------



## MiSo (Oct 26, 2005)

more ferts


----------



## BBXB (Sep 18, 2013)

I may try adding ferts. I want to keep this tank shrimp only and really simple. Just a little moss and some floaters. The tank is being cycled with ADA currently with led lights. If I do add another light fixture to grow algae, then I remove the extra light and photoperiod after, will the algae die? I wouldnt want this to happen either as it might foul the water? 

Is it because there is no waste or livestock? I would think the Ada would supply all that?

And yes I want algae, just to see how it affects the shrimp. Is there a type that shrimps favor? I would prefer to stay away from hair algae tho.


----------



## waterfaller1 (Jul 5, 2006)

You want to _choose_ the type you get? Good luck with that.:biggrin:


----------



## BBXB (Sep 18, 2013)

Haha, figured that was wishful thinking, but never know :biggrin:


----------



## mosspearl (Jan 30, 2013)

You can have my algae. I pick it out every day. Probably not the kind you're looking for, though. LOL You could always say near the tank, "I hope no algae grows!" That usually works for me.

Seriously, I think the others have given good advice.


----------



## plamski (Sep 25, 2009)

Best way is to use old T5HO bulb .In general LED is the worst for growing algae. I have planted tanks for 5 years already. Went from low light low tech to moderate, to high light and tech. To mid light and low tech etc. All setups were with T5HO lights. I had to reset the tanks every 8 months because of algae problems. Now I’m using Fixtures with 1w LED elements. No algae at all. Plants are growing nice, no ferts or CO2, Water changes every 45-60 days.
So get T5HO fixtures. I replaced all my LED’s on shrimp tanks with T5HO lights last year.
I have to add some notes. In my tanks all NO3,PO4 ,iron etc are zero. Lights are on for 10-12h depends from Gal/wattage ratio.
I was able to grow some algae with LED but it was so powerful and bright that shrimps were stress out all the time.


----------



## waterfaller1 (Jul 5, 2006)

mosspearl said:


> You could always say near the tank, "I hope no algae grows!" That usually works for me.


:icon_mrgr


----------



## danielt (Dec 19, 2012)

This thread! )) Oh god! )) Can't stop! ))

If you want to induce green water. Try upping the temp as well. For some algae, the trigger is a higher temperature besides loads of nutrients.

Add as many boiled veggies you can, preferable leaves. Leave them to decompose. Curiously enough, algae doesn't grow in a tank with little or no plants. Some of them feed on stuff that leaches from dying or otherwise ill plants. Might explain why yours is so hard to get colonized by them.

Add twigs so that algae can form colonies. Driftwood is often colonized by hair algae or BBA.

I managed to up the algae growth speed by adding barley pellets. You can find them at the rodent section of any LFS, they are for rabbits but algae does fine with them. Try to get your hands on some urea. I managed to get a little from a pharmacy, look for the ones that have a lab and prepare stuff in-house. They will have it.

After dosing a pinch of urea for 5 days I managed to get hair algae to take over a small tank which I planned for a nursery.


----------

