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My plecos, farlowellas, and otos all get zucchini, squash, and Hikari algae wafers....but there's limited (as in, no) algae in my tanks, as they are planted, and whatever small algae grows, gets demolished.

I'm worried that my fish may be missing part of their needed diet without algae and the little critters that thrive in it. Has anyone "farmed" algae? If so, how, and was it difficult or expensive to do?

Hi Taratron,
I set up a 150 gallon vat outdoors to try and grow some blue/green algae. Unfortunately; it's been cloudy and raining the last 10 days. I'll let you know if I have any luck.Credit the idea to Pleco_breeder. Thanks Larry!

This is how it works:

1. Fill the bottom of a container with good-size stones (the ones you use in your aquarium) and cover with water.
2. Leave said container in a sunny place. Add a little liquid fertilizer, if necessary. It may also help if the water is aerated (using an airstone).
3. You can rotate the rocks in your tank, putting in algae-covered ones and taking out the bare rocks to grow more algae.

Tried it only once and it worked. Discontinued it, because I never had enough algae-eating fish to need it on a long-term basis, and never ran out of algae for the few I had.

Definitely aereate the algae vat, cyanobacteria is oxygen adverse. In a basement, I use 5100K daylight flourescents, leaving them on 16 hours.

If you use a gravel substrate in the vat, diatoms form easily at the gravel line. Partially submerge acrylic strips, below the gravel line. Once coated, slip these out and oto's take it readily.

I also use fist sized stones to culture green algae. Ancistrus in particular will pass up hikari wafers and zuchinni for the natural stuff, so I use it as a supplement.

Just a follow-up!
I set up another 150 gallon vat...and the rain has finally let up a little around here. The 1st vat developed a red/brown algae, which was growing mainly on the sides of the vat. The 2nd vat has a nice blue/green algae, which I was originally hoping for.
I used water from both vats to seed a 40L for pleco fry. It worked GREAT! The fry had surprising huge bellies, and pretty much cleaned the tank in two days. I noticed some nice growth on them...just in a few days. I seeded another 40L with young adult L-200...and 150 gallon tank for more pleco fry. The L-200 tank is cleared up after 2 days...while the 150 tank still has some green water.
I'll be adding rocks to the vats today, as suggested by Silurus and Pleco_farmer. The initial results have shown some amazing fry growth! Try it...you'll like it!
Rich