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Algae - Part two of two - Page 2
© Winston Vaughan Schoenfeld
Page 2
Dec 1, 1998
The next element to consider is nitrate. As with phosphates, nitates come from a large variety of sources. Again, they key here is to identify the most substantial ones. Consider this....as much as 90% of the food you feed to your fish ends up as nitrate. Amazing, isn't it? I told you in part one that the bacteria that keeps your biological cycle in check within the aquarium is the same one that produces the majority of nitrate. Well, the truth is that we cannot stop the bacteria from doing its job...this would just disrupt the biological balane of the aquarium. So, we must try and reduce the excess food that ends up in the aquarium. This brings me to the two major guidelines in this sections for algae reduction: (1) avoid overfeeding and (2) do regular water changes. Overfeeding is a hard thig to quantify. The more fish you have, the more you must feed. Fish are amazing creatures in that they will eat almost continuously if you continue to put in food. The best advice I can give here is to feed only once a day. If the nitrate levels are still too high, then back off a little on the feeding. As for regular water changes, this means an average of 10% every other month. The greater the number of fish you have, the more frequent your water changes should be. If you are in good shape, your nitrate levels should be less than 25 mg/L or 1 ppm.
This brings me to dissolved organic matter. Often you will hear of "DOC," or dissolved carbon. Basically these are one in the same. Dissolved organic matter is a large sorce of nutrition for algae. Unlike the previous elements, phosphate and nitrate, there is no easy means of measuring its contcentration in the aquarium. In addition, there are no single ways to prevent its existence, but there are two particular guidelines or ways that will help in removing it from the aquarium once it is produced: (1) use a protein skimmer, and (2) add some algae-eating species to the aquarium. A good protein skimmer will remove an incredible amount of the organic matter from the aquarium, and if used properly can be a major asset. It is important that if you use a protein skimmer that you not only clean it regularly, but also make sure that you select one that is of the correct size for your aquarium. As for algae-eating species, the following is a rather general list of some of the things that will do the job: plecostomas, catfish, tankgs, gobies, angels, snails, crabs, starfish, slugs, shrimp, and some wrasses.
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