keeping algae?

[anthonymt]

First off let me say this forum has helped me tremendously! Jumped into this knowing absolutely nothing about how to keep and maintain a tank. Bought my buddies 29g tank from him for $175 that was stocked with 2 clowns,snowflake eel, live rock, hermit crab, and a bunch of aptasias! Ive learned so much these past couple months its unbelievable. Anyways everything is alive except the eel, which is ok wasn't crazy about it anyway. Ive added a coral beauty, 6 peppermint shrimp, watchman goby, and a pistol shrimp. I love it, so relaxing to sit and watch everything do what they do.
My question is, is it ok to keep the normal green algae growth on the back of the tank? I don't have a background and was thinking it could be a natural one. Thanks in advance.

 

[silverado61]

First: Welcome to saltwaterfish.com

Next: I hope you got rid of all the Aptaisias. They multiply like cockroaches and are a pest.

What type of "normal" algae are you talking about? Some are decorative algae but most are nuisance algae.

Do you have a picture or can you describe it?

 

[flower]

LOL...Ditto, welcome to the site!

When you say "normal" algae I assumed you meant to not clean the glass in the back. I have never cleaned the back of the glass simply because the rock is too close back there, and it's hard to reach. The snails lay eggs and to me it looks like stars on my black painted background.

The thing is...it won't make the tank look as nice and finished as a background. Back in the day when my kids were little and money was tight...I used tin foil in the back. I taped it to the tank, and made sure it didn't fit flush (flat) but too large to actually fit....the crumpled areas gave the illusion of caves. (I had to replace it every 4 months or so because I always crushed it down over time messing with the tank. For many years I used that method, I perfected my idea with spray paint randomly sparingly blotched on it, everyone thought it was store bought and asked where I got it.

Nothing beats a background, and you can put just about anything back there to improve the tanks look. The "normal" algae, the snail eggs and even coralline algae will grow happily back there, but it shouldn't be your background.

 

[anthonymt]

Thanks for the replies, the aptasias are dwindling. I had about 50 of them when I started nuking them with the X. Yes the normal green algae that grows on the glass. Is it harmful to keep?

 

[silverado61]

Slowly but surely it'll cover everything unless it's kept under control. It's even been known to grow on snails.

 

[flower]

Thanks for the replies, the aptasias are dwindling. I had about 50 of them when I started nuking them with the X. Yes the normal green algae that grows on the glass. Is it harmful to keep?

No. it is just slime algae, and your CUC (clean up crew) snails will clear it off in patches. I have never cleared the back glass. You still need some kind of background to make your tank look it's best, to hide the wires and such. Even nuisance algae absorbs nitrates, ammonia, nitrites and phosphates from the water to grow, so while we don't like the look of it, it's actually good for the critters. The thin layer of algae that grows on your glass only clouds your vision, so we clean it off to see our pets...it's natural and won't harm a thing.

 

[beaslbob]

+1

 

[anthonymt]

Cool thanks! I'll get a background and keep the algae to see how it looks on the back glass. Thanks again.

 

[beaslbob]

Pssssst: the dirty little secret is that years and years ago algae was considered a sign of a healthy tank.

my .02

 

[jay0705]

This is very true. Aside from looking ugly alage doesnt do anything bad to the tank. Hair, bubble, ect may not look nice and can kill corals and such, but water chemistry is helped by them

 

[silverado61]

Except that it smothers corals and sponges. Other than that........

 

[jay0705]

Lol agreed

 

[flower]

Except that it smothers corals and sponges. Other than that........

You can keep macroalgae in a display with corals, you just have to be diligent to keep it trimmed and not allow it to grow out of control. The reason some macros are called "nuisance" algae is because it grows so fast that it becomes a pain in the neck to keep it culled back. Regular algae, just from being exposed to the light, will smother corals such as the Purple ribbon... same thing with sponges. They should be in the shade where algae can't grow, and in strong water flow to keep all algae off of it.

Hair algae is IMO a plague, it's ugly. However one member years ago wanted a tank full of hair algae, he thought it was beautiful. I personally like the look of bubble algae. So it really is a matter of what the hobbyist desires.