ok, now Im lost...

I have always thought that if I have some alge growth (not long strands, just small growth) then I have a pretty good eco-system going in my tanks. Because of this, I have what I call my "garden rocks" which are either lava rocks or a lace rock which are great for growing algea (they have a "fuzzy" look because of the algea now); these never get scrubed, if they come out of the tanks (which are rare) they are allowed to air dry, and then put away, then next time they are used, they just go straight into the water. I also like to have live plants in my tanks, and right now I have one plant doing extremely well in one tank.

So, am I wrong in thinking some algea means a good eco-system???

Personally I like some algae in all of my tanks, its natural and does the same job as plants. Black beard, green, diatom, hair, none of it bothers me.

For me algae is like the canary in the mine shaft, a sort of early warning system. If the algae is growing and looks healthy all is good, if it starts looking unhealthy its time to drag out the test kit and see what is off.

Some people just cant stand the look of algae so they wage war on it and do all sorts of things to get rid of it.

So all in all algae is a good thing, but it comes down to personal preference in the end.

Good post..

very good point, i lik my algea it makes it look real in person, not a man made product but real.

Thank you all for the repy! I have just been seeing posts lately about getting rid of algea and thats what got me all confused. Once I had an explosion of algea (there was a strand about a foot long in 48 hrs) and I knew something wasnt right, but I was also being shipped off to basic training. I like having algea because it is a good early warning sign as Fern stated, but it also gives my fish something to graze at. The only place I dont like it is on the front of the tank (for obvious reasons) or when it weighs down a fake plant. Again, thank you all for the clarification on this :-)

Some people just can't stand it in their tanks, so they try to get rid of it. If you like it leave it

Fern wrote:

Some people just can't stand it in their tanks, so they try to get rid of it. If you like it leave it

And.... It makes a very nice free background