Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have an exoterra waterfall and since its made of some sort of synthetic material,i dont think it will get moss covered anytime soon.i think the best i can hope for right now is algae.any idea how i can get some to begin growing on and in my waterfall?i once had tropical fish and i couldnt keep the stuff out,now that i want it i cant seem to get it to start growing.im assuming that maybe when i introduced the fish to the tank,they may have been infected with algae spores,but since i have no fish and the water came right from the tap,theres none in it.am i correct,or is the stuff like mold(just everywhere)?im thinking of maybe asking for some water from the goldfish tank at the local petstore.its glass is covered in algae.is this a good idea?? will this make it grow faster?

Algae comes with all water that hasn't been distilled and sterilized. The spores are in all water sources. It blooms out in high lighting, even on glass or something like exo-terra, which I'm not familiar with.

First of all something plastic, which I assume exo-terra to be, becomes colonized with bacterial colonies--that's why it seems slimy after awhile. Algae may or may not grow on this, but all you can do is wait and see. You may not even notice, because not all algae growth is necessarily green. The exo terra is not providing the nourishment, no more than glass does in our dart tanks, for either the colonizing bacteria or the algae. It all comes from the water either condensed or circulating over these non-organic substrates. The glass or exo-terra is just a place to hang on while building a plaque from the nutrients in the water that either condenses or flows over it. You just have to wait and see what happens.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

yea but i was under the impression that tap water was sterilised.but then again,im sure youre right because when i used to fill up my pool with tap water,after a couple weeks it would be full of algae.i wonder what it was feeding on it there?human sweat?

do you get algae in your waterfall???if so,where doest it grow?? in the water or on the wet rocks surrounding the waterfall??you dont suppose it could clog the waterfall pump,do you????

Most city tap water contains chlorine or chloranamines which do destroy certain non-spore forming bacteria such as Salmonella and trophozoite forms of pathogens that mostly concern us, but it is by no means sterile. Chlorine doesn't affect spores of algae, fungi or spore forming bacteria. There are nutrients in tap water that will support algae. While I find algae in the still water, on the glass and in corners, there really isn't much visible on the falls and in moving waterways. My falls are either constructed of volcanic rock, cork bark or in one instance, Winterstone, so I'm not familiar with the Exo-Terra. Sometimes mosses grow on the edges of the falls and the falls are coated with a slime layer that is probably some sort of mixed colony of nitrifying bacteria, plus perhaps some brown algae. Java moss grows quite well up the sides of the falls, but not in the main stream itself. I would just wait and see what happens.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus