CO2 Out, Algae In

September 19th, 2006

Green spot algaeIt’s amazing how fast things can turn south. We had to leave town for a few days due to a family emergency, and of course, this is the time it always happens — the CO2 tank ran out. Now mind you, it could be a coincidense, Cladaphora - SOS pad algae!but really it’s just a crewl joke, that not one, but two, CO2 tanks ran out this past weekend. So, while my aquariums are not unsalvagable, they most definitely now range from algae scapes, to minor eye sores on the glass.

Here, is my gallery of shame. On the top left: green spot algae on the glass, with perhaps some late stages of green dust algae. To the right, a nice mat of cladaphora. Note, there’s not a good cure for this algae. Finally, below, notice the free flowing pad of staghorn algae.

Staghorn algae mat

3 Responses to “CO2 Out, Algae In”

  1. Alycia Says:

    Maybe like in Finding Nemo, the fish coordinated their efforts to sabatage the C02 tank so that algae would accumulate and you’d be forced to remove them from the tank to clean it.

    Never underestimate your fish.

  2. Kris Says:

    What an excellent theory! Of course, unlike in Nemo, I’ve isolated their tanks, so that they don’t have a window view of any rivers. Anything’s possible though!

  3. Jeff Says:

    Get the OC2 cranking and clean up as much as you can. Hope everything is OK, let me know if you need anything