Keeping rocks clean of algae?

[SpyGuy]

I have a large male Midas Cichlid. I'm trying to figure out how to prevent him from excavating to the bottom of the tank, exposing the glass. One idea is to embed a number of large rocks in the sand so he can't make a large pit (small sand digging is fine). The rocks will also help decorate the tank.

But since I can't put any algae eaters in the tank due to his aggressive nature, I'm trying to figure out how to keep the algae from growing all over the rocks.

Ideas?

 

[ImACoolguy]

How long are your lights on each day?


Caleb

 

[SpyGuy]

We usually have the lights on from mid/late morning, until bedtime. I know that's a long time, but who wants to look at dark tanks?

But I've tried only turning the lights on at night, and I've also tried not turning the lights on at all. Neither seemed to make much difference in levels of algae growth. The tanks are in the living room: there is some mostly-shaded daylight; never any direct sun.

 

[ImACoolguy]

The lights on all day is playing a major roll in the algae growth. I assume you have a job or school? Just put the light on a timer so it's off when you are not home.

No more than 8 hours a day will be best.

If the lights off is not making a difference it could be diatoms. In which case they will go away on their own once all the silicates are gone.


Caleb

 

[SpyGuy]

I have a family. There's almost always someone home.

 

[brennae]

You can have the lights on for a few hours and then a rest period and then a few more hours when everyone is home in the evening for a total of 8 hours. A lot people have great success with dividing up the light period. A digital timer would be a good idea for this.

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[mikem691]

Has far as stopping the midevil from digging your only option is to remove the sand and get a 2x4 sheet of egg crate (light diffuser) from the hardware store. cut to size and put it on the bottom. Then put the sand back in. he will still dig to the egg crate. Any rock you put in will need to be large. When he is full size he will still try to push the rocks out of the way. Its what they do.

 

[PassengerTN]

As Mike said, the bulldozing will likely always happen, and isn't limited to digging giant pits. Are you growing algae on the rocks now? My T8 lights that were on my 55 originally could stay on 14+ hours a day and grew no algae, and the dual T8 over my 65 hex is the same way. Either limit lighting as mentioned, or grab a brush and scrub the algae away when you do water changes.

Jesse

 

[SpyGuy]

Has far as stopping the midevil from digging your only option is to remove the sand and get a 2x4 sheet of egg crate (light diffuser) from the hardware store. cut to size and put it on the bottom. Then put the sand back in. he will still dig to the egg crate.

I've considered that, but then you just see the egg crate, which is less aesthetically pleasing than the tank glass bottom.

I've thought of lining the bottom with a piece of rigid plastic and gluing sand to the surface of it, then covering with loose sand.

 

[ScotJudd]

I had a Midas quite a few years ago. The tank had fairly large grade gravel and every night he would shift all the gravel to one end, piling it quite high and then shift it to the other the next night. It's what they do. It's part of their charm. I think that if you want a 'nice' tank then you don't want a Midas.
Mine eventually broke a corner seam in the tank and I lost half the water and at that point I gave in and rehomed him.
Quite an experience though and your post brought back memories of a great fish.


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[mikem691]

If your stand is open underneath just paint the bottom glass

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[SpyGuy]

If your stand is open underneath just paint the bottom glass

That won't accomplish anything. The bottom glass reflects light like a mirror regardless of what's on the outside surface.