Help, Algae!!

[kmlong]

Ok, I can not keep this brown algae away!! It's not a problem on the glass as much as it is on the plants and gravel. I don't have any otto's but don't see even if i did how they would keep up with so much!! What can i do to keep this under control?

 

[Menagerie]

Don't panic!!

Is this a new tank (under a year old)? How often do you vacuum the gravel? How often do you feed the fish? What fish are in the tank?

 

[TankGirl]

You would be amazed at what a couple of otos can do with a tank full of brown algae -

 

[kmlong]

tank is about 3 months, feed in the evenings, running a filter and a biowheel. Have not vacuumed that much cause i was starting to cycle. My nitrites have dropped off though so im guessing I should be just about done and i can vacuum. Guess i'm gonna look into these otos

 

[Bioworldmaker]

Try a product called Phos-X...
I had the same problem you had, it was a nightmare, my live plants were so covered that they just weren't green anymore...
I tried otos, I tried taking the plants out and washing them, nothing worked...

The Phos-X worked amazingly well. It cleared my tank out of brown algae within 3 days! All it is: a little baggie of "dirt" that sucks up the phosphate the brown algae is feeding on. Didn't harm my live plants, my fish or water parameters at all.

Another way of doing this is by start doing your water change with reverse osmosis water. That should gradually reduce the amount of phosphate in your water to starve those little brown buggers!!

-- edit: I forgot to say that if your tank isn't cycled yet I would **avoid getting otos** because they are rather sensitive to water parameters... I had some of them that would just die if you looked at them weird...

 

[Endgame319]

The biggest reason tanks have diatoms is that the light is on too much. Do you have live plants? If you dont, then you should only leave the tank lights on for a few hours every day. My tanks lights are only on from when I get home from school (3pm) to when I go to bed (10-11pm). If you have live plants, then try leaving the lights off for a few hours in the middle of the day, its the long periods of continuous light that the diatoms thrive in.

 

[kmlong]

thanks everyone. Yes, my light is on a LOT!! Never thought of that! And the tank is just reaching the tail end of a cycle. I'm gonna look for that phos-x stuff and cut back on light usage and see what happens. I want to wait till my tank is completely cycled before i put anymore fish in. thanks alot

 

[kmlong]

forgot to mention, no, i don't have live plants so i don't need to leave the light on all the time.

 

[tropicalman]

Diatoms grow on silicates. That's why they appear in brand new tanks. The silicates leach out from new gravel and even from the new glass the tank is made of. The good news is that they are not harmful and easily wiped off. It can be a few months before the silicates are exhausted enough for the diatoms to die down but by that time the green algae may have begun to populate the tank. To control green algae, limit the hours of light to 8 to 10 hours a day. Also keep to a regimen to at least a 25% weekly pwc. This will keep the phosphates that green algae loves down. It'll also keep your water fresher and there's nothing freshwater fish like better than fresh water.
Other things to consider for your tank are live plants and maybe a bristle nose pleco (Ancistrus). They are easy on the plants and clean algae like crazy. They are a bit sensitive to water conditions but the above mentioned pwc regimen should make things nice and stable.
This is just my experience.

 

[TankGirl]

Very nice explanation, tropicalman

I will add that in my water supply the phosphates are ridiculously high, and I have to use phosphate removing media in my tanks to help with algae as well, since I am a water changin' fool!

 

[kmlong]

i think i've got a lot of phosphate in my tap water as well. I got that phos-x stuff, we'll see how that works. will any pleco work in my tank?

 

[Bioworldmaker]

When I first got that I was quite skeptical because it just looked like a bag of dirt, but it got the job done...
Hope it works for you too!

 

[TankGirl]

You can find a pleco to suit most size tanks, except very small ones, and I can't remember what size tank you have, kmlong. Are you still planning to switch over to live plants? If so, stick with rubberlip or bristlenose, or clown plecos as they won't eat your plants, and stay small.

OT: BTW, if you do switch to live, do it gradually so you won't be removing the good bacteria that is present on your fake ones all at once.

 

[kmlong]

yes, eventually i'm going to switch over. I am also changing the gravel but am very leary on doing this. My cycle is at the end. Tankgirl, i don't know if you remember but i was having all the trouble with the cycling and then put that biowheel in. I've just got nitrate reading now, tonigh i'm at 20. I'm having to change the water every 3-4 days. Is that normal? Will the nitrates always be like this or will they settle down? But back to the gravel and plants. I guess i should just do the plants first, one at a time maybe and wait like a week before i take another fake plant out to replace it. Once i get my plants done they should have been in long enough to help hold onto my bacteria when i put new gravel in. I was thinking maybe i'll leave some of the old gravel in on the bottom to where you cant see it through the base of the aquarium and put the new on top. I've also got a media bag in the filter and biowheel. the biowheel has been running for about 2-3 weeks now. If my tank is still finishing its cycle then i will wait but just need to know if nitrate levels should be going up so quick(3-4days). thanks a bunch!

 

[TankGirl]

Nitrate at 20 is not bad at all, and once you get live plants in there they will love that and you will see the levels drop, but I would not worry about 20.

I have crashed my tank's cycle when changing out substrate, and that was in a 12gal Eclipse with a biowheel, so be careful when doing that. Some people have described no trouble after changing out substrate 100% all at one time, but I've been burned so I'm cautious about it. All I did then was pop over to the LFS and get some Bio-Spira, but currently that's not an option so it is risky.

Your plan sounds good, and what I did when starting with live plants is I left the plastic ones in for a while, mainly to allow the live to fill in and grow to hide the filter intake or whatever, then when they were doing well I removed the fake ones little by little.

Sounds like your cycle is finished, but give it several more weeks to get the biofilter completely established. It is somewhat delicate in the very beginning shortly after the cycle completes.