More on green algae

Green algae are normally of vital importance for the ecosystems where they occur, but for us humans they can sometimes turn into a nuisance. You might for instance find your aquariums overgrown with green algae if you allow the nutrient levels to rise, and green algae can also be problem in swimming pools – especially outdoors where the pool receives a lot of sunlight. Some types of green algae form colonies, while others are unicellular. Some species of green algae even develop fully differentiated tissue which makes them very similar to higher plants, such as trees and bushes.

If you want to control green algae growth in an aquarium, scrubbing is rarely the best approach. You have to find out what caused the algae problem in the first place and make chances. Are the levels of nutrients too high in the aquarium? Are you over-feeding the fish? Is the aquarium crowded? Are you not carrying out sufficient water changes on a regular basis? Is the tank receiving too much natural sunlight? Do you keep the aquarium lights on for too many hours or are they too strong? Once you have figured out the source of the green algae problem and adjusted it, you can start pondering the idea of getting some type of animal that likes to feast on green algae in the aquarium.

Hair algae

Hair algae are dreaded by many aquarists and a lot of algae eating animals refuse to eat hair algae in the aquarium. To make things even worse, hair algae tend to show up together with unsightly thread algae.

Hair algae will typically be green-gray or pale green in colour and is known to grow exceptionally fast once it has found its way into a favourable aquarium. If you don’t do anything about the problem, your entire aquarium may be overtaken long green strands of “hair”.

Manually removing hair algae is rarely enough; you need to find out what caused the algae growth in the first place. Some aquarists have reported how green algae began to appear again just a few hours after being manually removed and scrubbed off the aquarium.

In the wild, hair algae have to compete with other plants for nutrients but in an unplanted aquarium where other types of algae are kept in check it can grow exponentially in no time since there is so much food for it to consume. You should therefore keep the levels of nutrients really low when combating hair algae and you may also want to consider introducing live plants that will compete for food with the nasty hair algae.

Blue Green Algae

Blue Green Algae is today considered a type of cyanobacteria rather than a traditional alga. It is known under many different names, including blue-green algae, blue-green cyanobacteria, and blue algae. Just like algae and plants, it derives energy from the sun through photosynthesis, but it is considered a member of the domain Bacteria and not a plant.

You can encounter blue green algae in a wide range of different habitats all over the planet. Some species are very specialized and can for instance only be found in the fur of sloths in the South-American rainforest. Others live inside other organism, e.g. inside sponges and lichens. The blue green algae are important for the host, since the host gets a share of the energy produced by the blue green algae.

Unlike certain types of green algae, the blue green alga cell is not equipped with flagella to move around with. Some types of blue green algae can however move around by gliding over surfaces or create gas vesicles. Many species reach new places by forming motile filaments. Blue green algae living in colonies can appear as hollow ball, sheets or filaments. In order to survive harsh times, some colonies can produce though and durable spores known as akinetes.

Green Algae

There are over 7,000 described species of green algae on planet earth and scientists are expecting to find even more species as they continue to investigate the mesmerizing world of algae. Many algae species live in environments that are difficult to explore, such as high mountains and malaria infested swamps and it is therefore not unrealistic to assume that we still have a lot to learn about this fascinating life form.

If you want to research green algae, you can expect to find the greatest number of species in freshwater but green algae exists in marine waters as well. There are also species that have adapted to a life in brackish water. Green algae don’t need a large body of water to thrive; it can for instance show up on damp rocks and other moist surfaces. Some species have flagella, tiny “tails” that they can use to move around.

A vast majority of the species we know of has a chloroplast filled with chlorophyll b and uses its chlorophyll b to derive energy from the sun. Chlorophyll b is the same type of chlorophyll found in the higher plants, e.g. trees. In addition to the pigment chlorophyll b, green algae are filled with carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin. Some species also contain the pigment siphonoxanthin.

Deadly toxic algae (Klamath River)

After having praised algae so much lately and the potential of algae as a biofuel I thought it was about time that I highlighted some of the negative effects that algae can have and that not all algae are good. Some algae can have negative effects and even be toxic which is why it is important to keep algae growth in check in aquarium and ponds. This is true not only if you have fish or other animals in the pond but else way as well as some algae (although rare in tanks and ponds) can make the water toxic to drink for animals and humans.

Below you can watch a video about the negative effect algae can have on a body of water (Klamath River) and the life in and around it. Algae in parts of the Klamath River is in fact toxic for humans to drink.

An example of biological algae control

There are many different animals that can be used to prevent algae growth. Such animals include fish, snails and shrimps. This article will introduce you to one of these animals, the Malaysian Trumpet Snail. This snail is suitable for use in tropical freshwater aquariums and tropical ponds. It reproduces quickly and can become a problem that needs to be controlled itself. But as they are easier to fight than algae you might want to make that trade. If you get to many of this snail you can simple put a plate with a tasty snack on the bottom of your aquarium/pond and after a few hours a large number of snails will have congregated on the plate that can be lifted out of the tank with the snails still on it.

How well they work as algae eaters. Well I let you judge that for yourself from this video:

Biofuel from algae with Hawkeye (Alan Alda)

Here is another good video about how important algae can be to us and our environment in the near future. (Might cheer you up a bit when you see the algae in your pond, pool or aquarium). This video features Alan Alda (Hawkeye in marsh) interviewing researchers that use algae to clean exhaust air and thereby not only cleaning the air but also producing energy in the process. The video describes the process and the benefits it offers. One thing that speaks for this technique is that it allows power plants etc to make money from something that today cost them money. But don’t take my word for it. Watch the video and see if you think it got any potential.

Algae control basics

In this post I am going to give a short introduction to how to control algae. It can be beneficial to have red this post before reading any of my more advanced posts.

There are 3 basic ways of dealing with algae.
1. Chemical control
You can use chemicals that prevent algae growth or that kill algae to get the upper hand back. Drawbacks are that chemicals are unnatural, often expensive and may hurt other plants (or their growth) in ponds and aquariums. Another drawback in my eyes is that it is not natural.

2. Mechanical control
Mechanical control involves filtering the algae from the water. This method is seldom very effective in water with a lot of algae and/or water that get a lot of sunlight simply because the algae grows faster than your filter can remove them. This method is often very effective together with method 1. If you use a chemical that prevent algae growth you can use mechanical filtration to remove algae already there. This will not hurt other plants, just limit their growth during the treatment period.

3 Biological control
Biological controls involves using algae eating animals to remove algae and using plants to reduce the amount of nutrition available in the water so that algae don’t thrive. I.e. using plants (fast growing plant) to compete with the algae over the nutrition that is available in the water. This method is the one I think is best if it can be used successfully. Drawbacks are that it is best used as a preventative not as a reactive action. Another drawback is that it can not be used in pools as we don’t want, fish, snails, shrimps and plants in our pools.

Which method that is to preferred varies from situation to situation but generally it can be said that biological control should be used to prevent a problem, mechanical control can be used in non server cases, and that chemical control is the best option in severe cases. (preferable combined with mechanical control.

What are they?

Algae are small plants without true leaves or roots. They are small evolutionary very simple organisms that contain chlorophyll which allows them to convert sunlight into energy. In everyday speech the term algae is very broad and it is hard to define it well but it refers to single celled plants that may or may not be grouped together in colonies. The term algae is the plural form. The singular form is alga.

Many algae reproduce using spores. Some algae have sexual reproduction. This sexual reproduction can be very simple, the algae themselves act as gamates or more advanced involving the algae version of eggs and sperm.

It is unknown exactly how many species of algae there is as new species are discovered every year.

Algae of one kind or another have been around for more than 2 billion years.

Not all bad!!

I thought the first post i post here should be one on the good properties of algae and the role algae can play in our future. Just to show that algae aren’t all bad and not only there to make your pool murky and uninviting. This video show how algae might prove to be the fuel source of the future and how it is one of the most efficient crops to make bio fuel from with the added benefit that bio fuel from algae wouldn’t drive up the food prices because of food, like corn, being used to make bio fuels like ethanol. I recommend you watch the video to get a better understanding of the potential of algae as algae might one day, hopefully sooner rather than later fuel the entire USA, And the entire world.

I hope you enjoyes the video and learned a little more about algae as a bio fuel.