Weeping willow Branches

[AquaScaper]

I remember reading somewhere that adding weeping willow to your tanks can have benefits but, can't seem to find the info anywhere. Can someone please point me in the right direction or discuss what benefits this has to the aquarium?

Thanks

[thegrandpoohbah]

You put willow branches in the tank to help get rid of green water. Apparently it starts to root and sucks up all the nutrients, thus starving the algae.

[Soggybottom]

Then you take them out and the green water comes back, at least it did in my case. Anyway sucking certain nutrients out of the water is not great long-term if you have a planted tank. This time of year it does lend a festive touch to the fishroom though...

[AquaScaper]

I guess it would have absolutely no affect on beard algae then.........

[thegrandpoohbah]

I guess it would have absolutely no affect on beard algae then.........
I doubt it.

I have double dosed Flourish Excel to combat BBA before and it worked like a charm. Of course, it may be harmful to the livestock in the tank.

[AquaScaper]

I have a wicked BBA algae problem in my 30gal so I'm going to be taking it down and starting from scratch soon as I get the 80gal tank problem fixed.
I was hoping though that maybe Willow Branches would help, it's ok though I'd rather do a good fix rather than a quick likely to fail one anyways.

[Melody]

If its black, the snails eat it. If its the reddish BBA, they don't care for it.

Willow branches are a miraculous green water treatment, but I haven't had the opportunity to try it so that's all I know.

Someone who knows a lot about balancing ferts to address certain issues, is Mr. Mykiss, if you want to PM him.

I think I saw a blur go by yesterday, cell phone in one hand, baby in the other and a python vacuum in his teeth... while driving a truck...lol... must have been him.:laugh:

[AquaScaper]

ROFLMAO!!

I can almost picture Mr.Mykiss in that position LOL

It's the black stuff and unfortunately the snails don't stand a chance with combating it, there are many of them in there and I'm almost certain the stuff grows faster than they can mow it down. It's my fault, I saw first signs of it appearing and didn't want to mess with it b/c my loaches were doing the love dance and I was hoping for a miracle spawn so I left the tank alone, carefully making sure that my parameters and temps stayed perfect just in case lol.
The plants aren't looking too bad though, it's the walls, rocks, gravel and filter that have it the worst. I'll be bleaching everything and might actually even re-seal the tank before I set it back up again b/c the silicone is starting to look really shabby these days too.

[Melody]

Ah, it may be a different species then. I have only fed the stuff that loves to live on plants.

One can't interfere with love dances - don't blame you a bit there. At the very least, it would be rude. ;)