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Kansas agencies hope algae blooms nearing end

State parks officials are assessing the impact of large-scale, blue-green algae blooms at Kansas lakes and reservoirs that kept people and animals out of the lakes this summer.

Dangerous levels of the toxic algae prompted Kansas health officials to post advisories and warnings since May. Ron Kaufman, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, said the algae blooms, along with weather conditions, prompted numerous cancellations at state cabins and campsites.

“It certainly had a significant impact on our state park system and even more on the other parks and businesses in the area, particularly at the larger reservoirs,” Kaufman said. “Visitors basically stayed away if they couldn’t get in the water or take their pets in the water.”

He said the agency was still assessing the economic impact on its summer revenues. The algae conditions occurred as many people were looking to spend their scarce leisure dollars staying closer to home enjoying Kansas parks and lakes.

“If not for the algae, we were looking at a pretty decent year,” Kaufman said. “We’re sure hoping this year is an anomaly.”

Blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, are found naturally in bodies of water. They become a health concern when they bloom in massive amounts and release toxins, which can cause rashes, vomiting, nausea and other symptoms. KDHE says the toxins can be harmful to humans and their pets.

High heat and drought conditions caused abnormal levels of the toxin this summer.

Kaufman said high water levels along with the algae blooms were particularly difficult for visitors and businesses near Milford Lake in northeast Kansas. Water levels were higher much of the summer after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers halted regular releases of water because of flooding downstream on the Missouri River.

Tom Langer, director of the bureau of environmental health for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the rising water meant more nutrient-rich land was now under water, providing a good food supply for the algae to grow. That combined with the weather.

“These conditions are creating situations where the blooms are so intense that you can’t enjoy the water for recreation and threatens freshwater drinking supplies,” Langer said.

While algae blooms have occurred in the past, this year’s situation raises concerns because of the frequency and intensity.

“We worry that it may be the start of a trend, but the only way to know is to monitor and analyze the situation,” Langer said. “This year is serving us notice. There are a lot of reasons why we need to look at this issue and address it.”

KDHE has issued regular advisories and warnings about bodies of water that still see dangerous levels of the algae. While the public response has been positive, Langer said there is always a danger in being “the boy who cries wolf” in raising the issue, especially if it’s not directly affecting the quality of drinking water in Kansas.

“We have raised the level of public awareness to an all-time high about this issue,” Langer said. “We have not heard from any one that this is a bad idea about what we are doing and how we going about it.”

Source: http://www.chron.com/news/article/Kansas-agencies-hope-algae-blooms-nearing-end-2187069.php

How an Algae Company is Working to Mitigate Harmful Algal Blooms in Nature

General Algae News Algae Company, Algaeventure Systems, Algal Blooms, algal companies, blue green algae, Cyanobacteria

Dr. Stephanie Smith
Chief Scientist at Algaeventure Systems

In the quest to find cheap and abundant sources of energy, many companies and research organizations have turned to algae. Much of their research has been focused on maximizing algal growth. However, increased algal growth can often become harmful if in a natural setting. One algae company, Algaeventure Systems, is actually looking at ways to lessen the effects of these “harmful algal blooms” (HABs) in the environment. Dr. Stephanie Smith is the lead scientist at Algaeventure and answered the following questions about HABs.

1. What are the main causes of harmful algal blooms (HABs)?

The causes vary from site to site, and there are typically multiple factors that converge at the same time to contribute to a bloom. It boils down to this: why didn’t the algae bloom before, or why don’t they always bloom? In other words, there are natural checks and balances on algal populations (all populations, really), and when those checks and balances are disrupted it can lead to a bloom.

In the case of many inland lakes, the thing that keeps algae that cause HABs in check is often nutrients, especially phosphorus and nitrogen. Typically those nutrients are not in high enough concentrations in a lake to allow the HAB algae to flourish, but a variety of things can lead to nutrient-rich conditions (agricultural runoff is often blamed, albeit not always fairly). And if the nitrogen goes away but the phosphorus is still high, the dominant algae continue to thrive because they are able to take nitrogen out of the air rather than the water.

Another major factor is temperature. These nitrogen-fixing algae, which are actually cyanobacteria sometimes called “blue-green algae,” are insidious under condition of high phosphorus, low nitrogen, and warm temperatures. Grand Lake-St. Marys (GLSM) is an immense, but shallow lake that easily warms in the late summer. Therefore, with the right nutrients, it is perfect for a HAB.

Another factor is competition. Could other algae, like a group of algae called diatoms, use those nutrients, and grow when it’s warm? They probably can, but then maybe something else is keeping their populations in check. Last summer, AVS proposed that a key factor limiting diatoms could be silica, which they require for growth, and which in the past has been added to other systems to stimulate their growth.

This is an overly simplistic answer to the “causes” question, but it is widely agreed among scientists that nutrients and temperature are among the biggest drivers that cause HABs.

2. Can you explain how a company who is focused on growing algae would be able to help with stopping harmful algal blooms?

Well, for clarity, we don’t think we can stop HABs, without some restoration of the checks and balances such as those mentioned above. No single approach is going to end this problem. A variety of approaches are going to have to be implemented, and different combinations of technologies will be required at different sites, in order to stop a HAB. Frankly, that’s going to require a lot of continued research, as well as development of new technologies and methodologies.

AVS does know a thing or two about growing algae, and what they like, and what they don’t like, and we know more than almost anyone about how to harvest algae. As we and all other algal companies can tell you, growing algae at large scale is not a trivial process. But when you look at HABs, it happens “at scale” all the time. So a company like ours sees that at GLSM, there are a lot of algae floating up on the shores and into the back yards of beautiful lakeshore homes. Can we use our harvesting technologies to help ameliorate some of those effects, and maybe even put the recovered algal biomass to use somehow? While prevention of HABs should always be strived for, we thus think it is worth investigating whether more can be done when a bloom is in progress, and if it cannot be fully remediated, can positive outcomes be realized through some other means?

3. Algaeventure Systems is currently working with harmful algal blooms in Grand Lake St. Marys. How has your pilot program of adding silica to a certain area of the lake turned out?

The premise of this program was that if we could encourage the growth of diatoms, the diatoms might be able to outcompete the cyanobacteria. In the end, our amendment with silica did not have any adverse effects, but neither did it have the desired effect. That exercise was very important, because it has led to a better understanding of what is going on at GLSM. At the time we did our amendment, nobody had any data regarding silica concentrations in that lake, and there was little known about the biological profile of the types of algae in the system. We’ve since implemented our own monitoring program, and have learned that the silica concentrations are probably not low enough to limit diatom growth at GLSM. That, combined with the very hot temperatures last year, makes the outcome not surprising in hindsight. Our monitoring program has also made us aware of other algal species at GLSM that could potentially have a better chance at outcompeting the cyanobacteria. It would be a very involved research project to see if they can be stimulated, but one we might pursue in the future.

4. Do you think that large scale commercial production of algae could lead to the risk of more harmful algal blooms?

Like all industries and agricultural activities, commercial production of algae needs to include monitoring and waste management. The same nutrients that we use to deliberately grow algae can stimulate an algal bloom if they are recklessly dumped into a municipal system, stream, or water body. Because of our involvement at GLSM and interest in HABs, our company is more acutely aware of this than most. We work very closely with our municipal water officials, and monitor and meter our waste. There are some interesting possibilities here, too. For example, could our “spent” media used to grow algae be repurposed to fertilize a garden, or a field of corn? We are investigating such options, because of our commitment to operate an environmentally sustainable business.

5. An Algaeventure Systems representative recently testified at a Congressional hearing on algal blooms. What was the outcome of these hearings?

The legislation (HABHCRA) is still in review and is expected to be passed during this congressional session. HABHRCA has been in place for years, and funds most of the HAB research that is conducted at our coastal areas (e.g., Chesapeake Bay) and the Great Lakes (e.g., Lake Erie). The renewal of the legislation is in progress, as is the decision process regarding how much funding will be allocated to it. The significance of the hearings was to make sure that expert opinion was entered into the congressional record, so that it would be considered in the legislative and funding process. Points our company aimed to emphasize at the hearing were that the legislation neglects inland lakes like GLSM, and that very little is done in the area of remediation.

Dr. Stephanie Smith
Chief Scientist
Algaeventure Systems
http://www.algaevs.com/

Source: http://algaenews.com/2011/06/how-an-algae-company-is-working-to-mitigate-harmful-algal-blooms-in-nature/

Optimum Choices – Offering Healthy Choices for People and Pets

Bioproducts Sites and Shops Algae, bio algae, Bio algae concentrates, Biofood, blue green algae, Chlorella, Spirulina 0 Comment

Optimum Choices is a trusted (founded 2002) resource for people and pets offering valuable holistic health information. They are offering many products based on algae such asbio algae concentrates. Bio-algae concentrates (BAC) is a generic name used by Dr. Michael Kiriac to denote any blend of nurtured algae (such as blue-green algae, Spirulina, chlorella, etc.). Dr. Kiriac researched over 1,000 different algae and actually used over 65 algae species in many different bio-algae concentrates (BAC), in over 25 years of animal research in the former Soviet Union. Dr. Kiriac experimented on over 20 different species of animals trying to address cancer in animals. Dr. Kiriac finally invented a specific bio-algae concentrate, pigs dead from cancer containing the four microalgae Spirulina pacifica, Spirulina platensis, Dunaliella salina and astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis, that did stop the ongoing epidemic of cancer in controlled trials in their chickens, mink, pigs and cows. Dr. Kiriac has since immigrated to Canada and his company, BioNutrition, manufactures two bio-algae concentrate products called BioSuperfood and BioPreparation.

Source and Shop URL: http://www.optimumchoices.com/

Algae Control in Aquarium

Aquarium Algae Algae, blue green algae, Brown Algae, Green Algae, Red Algae

I found a small beginner’s guide for those, who decided or have algae in their aquarium and i have also created a new category for this called Aquarium Algae.

Not all algae in the aquarium is necessarily ‘bad’ – a certain amount is inevitable where there is water, light and nutrients. However, some types of algae are certainly a nuisance, if for no other reason than looking unsightly.

The control or prevention of different algae types is primarily about nutrient control, and the amount of light. There are therefore some general guidelines which can be followed to help minimise algae:

Avoid direct sunlight falling on the tank, especially for prolonged periods. Unfortunately, despite the pleasant rippling light effects provided by sunlight, the rich lighting spectrum of the sun is likely to mean a constant battle against algae in most setups.
Do not leave lighting on for more than 10-12 hours a day. Longer periods are likely to favour algal growth, rather than promote plant growth.
Minimise nutrient levels with frequent water changes.

In particular, it may help to keep nitrates, phosphates and silicates low if you have a persistant problem – either by the use of reverse osmosis (RO) or deionised (DI) water, or specific adsorption resins (e.g. API Phos-Zorb). However, note that although high levels of such nutrients may encourage algae, it is not generally possible to completely eliminate algae by attempting to reduce them, as algae can survive at levels below those which can be measured by a hobbyist test kit.

Consider adding algae eating fish if appropriate to the setup. These include: suckermouth catfish (e.g. Ancistrus, Peckoltia and Otocinclus species), the Siamese Algae Eater (Crossocheilus siamensis) and mollies.
Note that in planted tanks (which is not really the same as tanks with a few plants in!), the most effective way to control algae growth is to plant heavily and promote vigorous plant growth of several different species, to out-compete the algae for nutrients. The management of a planted aquarium is beyond the scope of this article, and will be the subject of a future article, but an important nutrient with regard to plant versus algae growth in a planted tank is Iron, and controlling levels of this nutrient is likely to be important.

The taxonomy of algae and related organisms is complex, but for the purpose of identification in the aquarium, they can be conveniently grouped into the following:

More details you will find here ( Source ): http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/algae.htm