Not Another Gibba Thread...

[Parasuco]

I have a U. gibba question... Oh no!

Ok... Its pretty quick I think...

I haev my U. gibba in an almost sperical vase type thing. There is about an inch of peat on the bottom, and an inch of sand on top of that. I dug small parts of the gibba into the sand, and left others hangin out. I followed Barry Rice's instructions... Oh, and theres a few chunks of duckweek floating on the top... Not a mat tho.

Now. I see a bit of floaty algae on the surface of the sand, but its not clinging to the plants, and its not dying the sand. Its been about 2 or 3 weeks so far... I'm just wondering if this is the equalibrium that Chris Fieger spoke about on Dodec's website, between algae and plant, or if its just the start...

The reason I ask is because its been three weeks, and isnt algae supposed to take over REALLY fast? I just noticed today, that there is alot of Gibba growth...

It would be awfully hard to clean out the algea... AWFULLLY hard...

 

[swords]

Hey greg here's a shot of my gibba growing container (blurry and pretty worthless I know)

But it's just in a handful of LFS and the water table fluctuates to 1/4"-1/2" above and 1/4" below the surface. it's sending up about 5 flower stallks now and has really spread quite quickly since I bought it.

In my experiences with aquariums and aquatic plants there are several reasons you have algae
1)light level may be too high for the amount of photosynthetic activity the plant is using. (I used my 110 watt power compact reef light on several different planted fishtanks and it just comnstantly grew algae the light was too intense)
2) there's a source of phosphate in the water, phosphate is the main nutrient that can be the easiest triger for algae to use as higher plants only use it most when in bloom. I'm sure you are using R/O water so you should not have to worry about that though...
3) Are you feeding the plants with frozen daphnia? Uneaten dead critters will leach phosphates and trigger an algae bloom.
4) Depending upon where your sand was mined it could be putting minerals into the water which may be feeding the algae.

However, if you do not have much algae I would only try to pull it out whenever I felt like I needed to. You can never be totally "free" from algae, it lives in all long-standing containers of water, algae spores are floating in the air all around us every day.

You did not mention the kind of alage you have, is it tufts of green, a slime-like carpet, long stringy hairs that seem to go on forever...?
One "tool" I use for all except the slimey cyanobacteria or short tufts is to take a very thin piece of twig from the woods (maybe 6" long and 1/8" thick (cut off all projections) and just twist the stick (roll between your figers) next to the algae and it will get tangled on the stick then you can pull it up and out and dispose of it.
For the other types in very shallow water (like my gibba) I use a forceps to pluck it out here and there.
You could also try a red ramhorn snail, these guys will not leave the body of water and will not eat plants, only fuzzy green algae. I keep them in my planted fishtanks because they do a good job of eating the tufty and thin celled brown diatom algaes and ignore the living plants.

What's the address of Dodecs website you mention? I'd like to read it!

 

[Parasuco]

Hmm, I think there are hair like algae, and the short tufts... that look like curly bushes.

Thanks for the help!!!

I'm not sure of the URL, you could check his profile though.

 

[Parasuco]

Bwah! Ew. I did find hairlike algae... Boy, are they strong! I thought algae was always slimey...

How would I go about getting it off the spokes of an Aldrovanda

 

[drosera]

Hi,

I realize this is quite a late answer, but I thought I could add a couple of things. Algea that is just floating on the ground or over the sand can be one of 3 things. Hair algea as you mentioned, another thick form of algae which I don't know the name of offhand, and finally 'pellets'. The first 2 should be easy enough to ID, and should be dealt with as such. The last kind is actually not algae in itself, but the droppings produced by algae eating organisms such as Daphnia and Ostracods. They look like small green grains of sand, and are harmless, though occasionally should be removed before they pile up to much. Generally, when you see that, it is a good sign. The organisms are present, and are effectively doing their jobs.

My second point is to help you with the algae present on your Aldrovanda. I have tried a bleach solution in the past on both Aldrovanda and other aquatic Utrics. Both groups tolerate the treatment very well, and the algea will be killed stone dead.

Mix 19 parts water to 1 part bleach. Soak the plants in this solution for *precisely* 2 minutes. Rinse them under the tap to remove any bleach residue, and replace into their containers.

By the next day, the algae will have turned white. You can then either remove it manually, or wait for it to fall off by itself.

While healthy plants don't seem to be bothered by this treatment (and often put on a good growth spurt afterwards), plants that are already sickly (brittle, yellow, etc)can be shocked by the treatment themselves. Care should be taken when using this treatment. Always start by treating only some of your plants at first, to see how they react. Then at least you'll have something to fall back on if they suffer for it.

Take care!

Chris F.

 

[Parasuco]

YAAAY, CHRIS!!!!! Hooray! You're here!!!
^_^

Thanks for the reply, I think i'll do the bleach thing promplty...

The algae in with the gibba, is algae, but I'll fix up the aldrovanda! Yay, a solution.

Well. I hope you stay here and enjoy yourself! Lots of good help...