"RedForeman ©®" wrote in message ...
|| If you are up on your maintenance, water changes, good CO2, etc, that
|| will prevent algae from getting worse etc.

All has been going good, and I think the PMDD needs upping a bit.. I was
only dosing 1x a week, and I think I'll up to 2x a week, it's still
early....

|| All algae is fairly straightword concerning blooms. If you keep good
|| nutrient levels and CO2 etc, prune routinely, clean, remove dead
|| leaves etc, you don't even need algae eaters at all.
|| They are merely icing on the cake.

Good enough... no FFF, up on the ferts... any idea what specifically limits
staghorn? if anything? Is there an abundance of something that staghorn is
liking?

In my experience, FFF are very good filamentous algae eaters. I
haven't seen a filamentous algae they won't eat - but like pretty much
every fish out there, they will eat flake food instead of algae if
given the opportunity.

Generally, most fish will eat a bit of algae, rotting leaves,
detritus, etc, and so I always keep feedings in my planted tanks to a
minimum (often skipping several days at a time).

Incidentally, I believe (from experience) that the absolute best
solution for a tank that has an algae problem is 5 days of total
darkness (no lights, cover with thick blanket) followed by a 50% water
change. Depending on the kind of algae, you may need to pick at a bit
of the algae that has died and vacuum it out with the big water
change. All of your plants and fish (and corals, if sal****er) will
survive this treatment.

Take care,
Kevin