How to Get Rid of Algae in Your Aquarium + Grow Plants Fast -My 'Secret', Easy- 2 Fish Tank Solution

How to Get Rid of Algae in Your Aquarium + Growing Plants Fast - The Super Easy 2 Fishtank Solution. How to prevent algae, kill algae and clean algae.
Link for my "Affordable Co2 Kit" the best for the least amount of money. Below this, is what I use on all my Co2 equipped aquariums
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my favorite light for incredible aquascaped tanks, that is streamline and crisp.
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If this helps you please subscribe, like and also feel free to use these exclusive discount codes for aquatic plants, fish, shrimp, food and dry foods
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All while helping your fish grow fast, breed healthily and propagate your plants at 5 to 6 times the speed of low tech single tank set ups. Not to say that this cant be done with low tech planted fish tanks, however this method prevents you from having to time consuming pick algae off each leaf and the hardscape.
In this manner you could literally grow any plants you like with maximum co2 and light exposure settings, as long as you have the proper snails, shrimp and fish in another larger tank as a clean up crew.
here I feature my 40 gallon tank which gets diatom green spot or dust algae but due to my aquatic pets and water parameters, is able to eliminate red, brown, green and black beard algae, hair and slime type algae, as well as cyanobacteria or blue green algeas, while simply feeding my fish and also sucking up the fertilizers, spot light LED energy radiation and nutrients within my aquarium
I hope this helps you all in dealing with new tanks which are still cycling. fragile caridina or neocaridina tanks, and also inspired you to give guppies, endlers, kribensis, siamese algea eaters, celestial pearl danios ( cpds ), Amono shrimp, corydoras and plecos another look as pets

[@Mattypantaloons]

Lol "Company's coming, I have to hide the floating wisteria behind the hardscape!"

[@ja3sk3adik55]

I had been watching you and father fish for a while and this is the first time I've come across a gravel aquarium in your videos. I am on my third tank and am thinking of trying out a gravel substrate, this video gives me a lil bit of confidence. Thank you! 😊😊

[@Fishtory]

Oh it's fine to do... you just wont grow any plants with roots for 6 months to a year pretty much...until fish create some quality mulm. But liquid fertz and anubias, java fern, buce, mosses, floating plants...theyll all do great

[@annashobbies4350]

Great video. Thanks for sharing your tips and tricks on plants and controlling algae. Very informative.💚🐡💚

[@tonyhind6992]

That was really handy. I was trimming along with you.

[@Fishtory]

Right on. Haha thanks for tuning in and trimming out!

[@AquariumCop]

Thanks for sharing, had to watch in 4 viewings, glade I did, great stuff!!! 💚💚💚💚

[@Fishtory]

I appreciate that you took the time! best wishes

[@lifehappens6447]

Awesome video! Great information!

[@222killawhale2]

Thank you so much for your willingness to share knowledge in such a humble and kind way..... also trimming is something that was so counterintuitive for me when I was farming. Every season (or cycle, for my hydro setups) is an expirement, and I wasn’t willing to experiment with pruning until I learned the science in horticulture school. Trimming works in our advantage 9/10 times! That said, I had no idea if it was the same for fully aquatic plants, so I am really glad you made a video about it for us!

[@Fishtory]

It's a little different for some aquatic plants in that many propagate through fragmentation and it evolved way different than any land based plants... but for the most part it's the same... oh and like trimming on herb you always want airflow at the base etc. ...while you want water flow with aquatic...you want flow all around the most surface area of leaves possible, so for some plants that means thinning out broad leaves and leaving 1 fully exposed and tossing 2 or 3 that had been stacked and suffocating the healthier heart leafs...but its still similar if you just apply logic to how aquatic plants function. Thanks for writing!

[@nada347_]

@@Fishtory would leaving trimmings in, be beneficial for snails/shrimp or is it always best to remove the dying parts of the plants? I've had my plants for a few weeks and they're starting to adapt to being underwater. Shrimp and snails should arrive by end of next week, so they're not in the tank just yet, but I'm wondering for when they do arrive. The plan is to get some fish after shrimp and snails establish themselves. I'm trying to be cautious since I'm truly starting from scratch and it's my first tank. My daughter has a small guppy tank, too.

[@Jotto999]

The trick to this channel is it's packed with good stuff, but you gotta play at 1.5x speed. ;P

[@Fishtory]

It's all good...its more vlog or podcast speed with my rambling random info insertions...but it's who iam and it feels most genuinely as if i have a live audience of fellow friends

[@Mattypantaloons]

Just watch them over and over again like I do lol

[@dcphifer4307]

For those like me that have an acquired traumatic brain injury from getting run over... I playback slower at times at .75 when the weather patterns are fluctuating like they are now with the rain coming in.

[@dcphifer4307]

@@Fishtory thank you Alex. I have an acquired traumatic brain injury that makes it hard to process info when I am listening and watching what you are trying to show us... while trying to take notes. I appreciate your speech. Thank you.

[@armouredjester1622]

@24:33 "and a rainbow fish that doesn't know it's not a guppy" To be fair, guppies don't even know they're guppies.

[@Fishtory]

Lol... TRUE-FFFF!

[@HeatherNielsenScarletAquatics]

Love the Red Scarlet plant! It can be scary cutting stem plants, that's true. But, I have found that they grow back great when trimmed! I float water sprite in one of my shrimp tanks too. It's great for Nitrates and the shrimp love to hang out in the roots! Great vid, enjoyed this, thank you!

[@Fishtory]

thanks for watching! hope you're doing well

[@jamesparadigm]

The only thing I have noticed when cutting plants is to try and keep it at 1/3rd of the plant, more than that, most aquatic plants seem to die off on me, usually it's about 6 sets of (2) leaves, every week. More than that seems to cause my plants to grow slower than normal. I also like to let my stem cuttings float for a week-ish and in that time I usually see root development, and can replant them elsewhere.

[@Fishtory]

those are good tips for a lot of plants (pogostemon, ludwigia. rotola. bacopa and cabomba seem to all follow that general rule). however with a perfectly balanced tank and lighting , I've grown even low tech from trimmings like half an inch (float till roots and runners start. then burried all but a leaf or tip of cutting. also you can cut a plant down to the ground if it's depending mostly on it's roots for nourishment.... wisteria and rotola are plants I've cut every leaf off of and still had them grow right back as long as there are root tabs or aquasoil and a couple inches of root body.

[@fishroombum3771]

Really like your videos. Keep on making them! What's your preferred lighting regimen "want to avoid" algae.

[@Fishtory]

8 hours of strong light, then dark and away from windows the rest of the time ideally

[@texasfish8382]

Thanks

[@hashglass]

i like your style bro

[@TuanCaCanh]

Beautiful aquarium

[@Fishtory]

Thank you kindly

[@giftofthewild6665]

I love the green algae on the rocks. I really want some fuzzy green algae like this, do you need high light and some nitrates? Im setting up a new tank and I'd love green fuzzy algae on the hardscape. I think it looks lovely

[@urbansk8r231]

Hi, i see you are using 2 spot lights- it looks like you are resting the spot light on the glass? Doesnt that make the glass hot? Besides root tabs what other ferts are you using.? no co2?

[@sandybowman5425]

Hi, love your tanks. Have you ever had brown dust algae, the kind that brushes right off, if you do it frequently. I've been battling it for over a year and i am so tired of it.

[@Fishtory]

Thank you Sandy, and welcome! Yes, it's in my iwagumi tank and I have found nerite snails, shrimp and tons of fast growing plants help... like water lettuce or even duckweed (oi , annoying), but that sucks up extra potassium and nitrates that feed it, and also shades it and then causes it to grow less photosynthetically as well. personally I realized iron caused spikes in the tank...so i got temple plant which likes iron- to use up excess and then some charcoal aka carbon filters in my HOB filter to get more out

[@chrisdavidson3180]

As always great video. Can you set up temporary co2 to grow up plants in your show tank then remove it permanently?

[@Fishtory]

Yes, absolutely

[@quentinmoss2062]

How do you train the SAEs? I have thick long dark green filamentous algae and while my pair will clean the algae they don't seem to eat it. I've got to growing slowly so I'm only pulling out monthly now (thanks to your tips!) but can't seem to stop it completely. Was hoping the SAEs would do that for me but no luck yet, i haven't fed them at all and it's been 2 months

[@Fishtory]

Oh that is strange! I wonder If they are the specific species named reticulatus?... they are the only ones I use. And only under 2 or 2.5 inches do they eat their own weight daily ...then they get lazy and want more flake and stuff. You could try a couple Amano shrimp? But yeah that's a bit tricky, maybe manually remove it and see if the fish keep it at bay when it's softer and new growth? Sorry to hear that...it could just also be some odd algae species that's uncommon...although that's a lot less likely

[@alexalandon656]

@4:43 is that a cichlid? Or..? What kind of fish is that with the big red belly and the sharp dorsal fin? PS I find your videos to be very helpful!

[@Fishtory]

Nigerian red kribensis

[@Fishtory]

Thanks for watching, have a great weekend

[@Mattypantaloons]

Do you have a strategy for dealing with allelopathy? Just knowledge/experience I guess? There's always such a mix of plants interspersed with one another in your tanks, I always find myself wondering that. I'm thinking you go for a mix of everything that you know works together most of the time, species-wise? I've also noticed (I think) that you're less interested in creating biotopes than you are in diverse ecology that works together? I need to search for more of your vids on tank setups etc to see if you cover all that. 👍

[@Fishtory]

I do want to cover allelopathy however there is very little published and peer reviewed info on aquatic plants sadly. I did toy with Tropic Australian, Brazilian, Venezuelan black water, lake inle (myanmar/thailand) and Central African River Biotope tanks a few years ago however I don't know how well I covered them. From my personal experience carpeting plants and crypts don't do as well with hearty stem plants, eriocalum, pogostemon helferi, valisanarias and red root floaters all melt when placed in tanks with broad leaf plants, like large swords, laganandras, and some lilies....curiously all of these plants also melt if you use Flourish Excel on the tank usually (maybe there's a link?). I will read up more though! Thanks for asking such great questions!

[@Mattypantaloons]

@@Fishtory I'm about to set up a new 20 long, I'll keep in mind some of those combos to maybe avoid. It may be time for an allopathy spreadsheet lol. Thanks as usual for all the info

[@Aquafinity]

Do you have any substrate fertilizers?

[@Fishtory]

Not in this tank

[@Skiddols]

Thanks for the discounts now that I just spent 50 bucks on random plants I probably didn't need lol

[@Fishtory]

haha sure! I'm right there with you. just make sure to grow them into 2 or 3 plants and resell them!

[@Skiddols]

Yup for sure

[@UpperAquatics]

For the algorithm!

[@kekistanifreedomfighter014]

Any advice fish community for staghorn algae

[@Fishtory]

first of all...if your fish can handle it (species wise) 40 or 50% water change for 3 days in a row.... you likely have too much iron in your water. You can take it out of the tank and put hydrogen peroxide into a spray bottle and kill it, then put it back in the tank after it all evaporates (and fish that eat algea can then eat it/you can remove it manually as well). also adding carbon can help reduce it as long as you have plants to consume the carbon additives. Likely something is out of balance....my guess is iron, second guess is co2/light or ferts/root tabs.. or over feeding fish. Figure out which of those variables is out of wack bu process of elimination. starting with iron and water change and dial back or switch up the food you're feeding them .... then add more carbon/co2 increase + plenty of plants that suck up excess ferts... if that all fails you can try a total blackout with a thick dark blanket for 4 or 5 days to try and kill it...but plants will take a slight beating also . also get some siamese algae eaters and or oto's both help.... guppies and kribs also eat algae if you haven't already stuffed them with food. good luck my friend

[@nada347_]

How do you find a local fish club? The one decent store is pretty far away.

[@Fishtory]

Where do you live? Google and Facebook groups are my usual methods. But i know quite a few of them now

[@nada347_]

@@Fishtory haven't really been on Facebook for years, but I can try. My extended family kept getting into fights with each other. I'm in Connecticut, near Stamford. I'm looking forward to leaving some water bins outside the house similar to yours, but considering I just made a snowman with the kids, I think I'll need to wait a couple months on that one. 😆 I'll try the ol' Google for groups. I'm surprised the only places nearby are Petco/PetSmart and the animals and plants just look so miserable.

[@daniel7767]

Question. I love near a large stream and want to steal some small rocks for my 20 gallon. How would I clean them without bleach? I'm planning on boiling them for about 20 minutes

[@Fishtory]

Simply boiling them for a few minutes will do fine. However with large rocks be careful, heat can crack them and they can pop in theory, splashing....but I boil small rocks for sure

[@daniel7767]

The Secret History Living in Your Aquarium thanks the largest one is about 7 inches il place the lid over the top for my own saftey haha

[@probablynotabigtoe9407]

You don’t have to boil it isn’t driftwood... you can simply bake them... but becareful what type of stones you use... most igneous rock reacts with water...

[@Fishtory]

you could bake...some rock is pourus though and has algae (and bacteria) inside in small amounts. but let's be real, most rocks that look clean, are likely going to be safe...I've used dirty rocks ....but if you have a super balanced nice tank, you should just assume everything you add can ruin it Haha

[@Corvus_Crow]

British_Imperialism bring vinegar with you when rock searching. rinse the rock, pour some vinegar on top. if there is a reaction ( bubbles, fizzing) don't put the rock in your tank.

[@djonharms]

Wish my girlfriend thought 5 or 6 inches was big

[@Fishtory]

Don't we allllll