ALGAE!!

[Pacifica HS]

Algae has overtaken the fish habitat of our aquaponic system! We are planning on purchasing a plecostomus with hopes that it will take care of our problem...has anyone else encountered algae in their tank? any suggestions on how to be rid of it?

Note: The pipe shown in this picture is plastic and the "corrosion" that people discussed in the comments is actually just hard water.

(see attached photos )

[Jim Fisk]

That pipe is dripping right into the FT. Just say'n.

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Your absolutely right Jim. Good call. IMO, that would warrant all caps and a couple exclamation marks!

[Jim Fisk]

Well, battery charged and back. I wish people would post pics directly to the post rather than a link. I am lazy and don't want to leave the posts in order to view the pics. and I have a feeling I am not alone.  Is it because people don't see the links above? It is this one here:

I bet people would have caught that corroded pipe a lot sooner had the pics been a part of the post. Is there a "How to use the forum" page? If not we need one. I am not up to speed on how to use the "chat" for example.

A piece of gutter or such could be a quick fix placed under that pipe and draining out the sides.

[Pacifica HS]

Hi Jim and Vlad,

Thank you for your reply back!

You expressed concern over the water that is dripping from our automatic fish-feeder into our tank. The automatic feeder is actually composed of a plastic, it is not a galv pipe as assumed by vlad.... and if you are instead referring to the larger pipe behind the feeder..those are also plastic. I think that the "corrosion" you are seeing is actually just hard water. do you still see issue with this?

Jim Fisk said:

Hey Vlad, I would perhaps be more concerned with the corrosion I see here dripping into the fish tank. What say you?

Vlad Jovanovic said:

Man, and here I thought I was anal retentive about algae in the system  Doesn't really seem like a 'problem'. Certainly doesn't warrant all caps and two exclamation marks...Cover the tanks though so that it doesn't ever get a chance to become a real problem though, and relax.

[Alex Veidel]

That's funny, I actually prefer the links. I think I'm just a little anal about clutter and pictures take up a lot of room on the forum pages. Links make it a little more orderly, although I agree with you that they are more work. Must just be a personality preference. I've been called out on that before, It's not because I don't know how it works, I just like it to be clean and tidy :) One of my biggest pet peeves on this site is when people post a bunch of pictures directly to the page and then others directly reply to the picture posts, which in turn duplicates the pictures multiple times on the same page. Kinda like what I'm doing now.

Jim Fisk said:

Well, battery charged and back. I wish people would post pics directly to the post rather than a link. I am lazy and don't want to leave the posts in order to view the pics. and I have a feeling I am not alone.  Is it because people don't see the links above? It is this one here:

I bet people would have caught that corroded pipe a lot sooner had the pics been a part of the post. Is there a "How to use the forum" page? If not we need one. I am not up to speed on how to use the "chat" for example.

A piece of gutter or such could be a quick fix placed under that pipe and draining out the sides.

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Nope  (ehem...just because I like it when I'm right.. Jim assumed they were galv, I assumed they were plastic ..hey, I gotta take 'em when I can  ) Seriously though, it is nice having all those eyes looking out. Is your schools AP program an 'individual thing', or is it part of a wider state or county thing?

[Pacifica HS]

AP environmental science is offered at a lot of schools, but as far as we know we are the only one with an aquaponics system...it's just four of us working on it.

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Pacifica HS,

Please post with whatever format suits you preference, we're here to learn from each other. So, if i may, back to the topic, after these recent exchanges, have you decided on your approach to the algae problem, if any at all?

[Pacifica HS]

Hi Harold,
Yes, actually we are following through with our original plan of introducing a plecostomus into the tank. We will be picking it up tomorrow afternoon.
It had been suggested that what we posted pictures of was not actually algae. Do you have an opinion on that?
Thanks



Harold Sukhbir said:

Hi Pacifica HS,

Please post with whatever format suits you preference, we're here to learn from each other. So, if i may, back to the topic, after these recent exchanges, have you decided on your approach to the algae problem, if any at all?

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Just out of curiosity...was it suggested that what is in fact growing in your tank is some sort of cyanobacteria?

[Pacifica HS]

Someone did mention bacteria, yes. What characteristics did you draw from the pictures we posted that made you think Cyanobacteria? Just curious... I know you didn't state that that's actually what you thought it was, you just asked :) because Cyanobacteria gets its name from its blue color..our tank is an orange color though which could possibly be why it is appearing brown. So we will scrape some off the side of the tank today. Maybe we will check it out under a microscope to figure out what it is exactly.
Thanks!


Vlad Jovanovic said:

Just out of curiosity...was it suggested that what is in fact growing in your tank is some sort of cyanobacteria?

[Jim Fisk]

Our little county seat of Mtn. City, TN had a large AP system and supplied a bunch of food for their school until someone convinced them that they were in grave danger of an e coli outbreak. From all I, as a total amateur, have learned those concerns were unfounded due mostly to the temperatures involved but they abandoned what was a very successful program and went back to separate hydroponics and fish farming. Shame, as most people around here are sure they are still into AP. (at least people here know what I am talking about as a result) So keep up the good work and maybe you could convince the local school here that they are missing out on a good thing.

Sorry about the corrosion issue. It sure looked ominous. Pictures aren't always worth a thousand words after all

Pacifica HS said:

AP environmental science is offered at a lot of schools, but as far as we know we are the only one with an aquaponics system...it's just four of us working on it.