Mold and things.....

[fishtankfish]

In my ten gallon I have some rocks and a few fake plants and recently I just switched to an automatic timer for the light. I leave the light on for about 8 hours a day but i still seem to be getting algae and/or mold growing on the rocks and plants. I've kept my fish in the dark for a couple days now to hopefully stop that from happening. How long should i leave my light on during a day?



p.s. its the standard light that came with the tank, it's 15 watts.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Do you have any algae eaters or pleco's or snails in your tank?

 

[fishtankfish]

i have a clown loach....?

does that count?

 

[QTOFFER]

Could you describe the algae - is it green, brown, white, fuzzy, stringy, or powdery?
Also how often and much do you feed?
What wattage is the bulb? It's usually printed on the end of the bulb.

 

[malkore]

How big is this tank? It sounds like a 10-20gallon tank...I just want to make sure you know that clown loaches reach sizes over 8", and prefer to be in groups of 4 or more. I want to make sure you have plans to upgrade the size of your tank, within the year. A clown loach hits 2-2.75" in the first year, and that's too large for a 10 gallon, and I wouldn't really recommend a 20gallon.

 

[fishtankfish]

As stated in the first post....it is a ten gallon with a 15 watt bulb.


I feed once a day. I was feeding twice a day but the tank would get cloudy so i cut back and now it doesnt get cloudy. The stuff on the rocks is green and the stuff on the plants is brown. Hope that helps.

 

[sonoma2nv]

whats your water params?how long has it been set up?

 

[frog girl]

Well the loach won't do the job. Clown loaches are pretty happy about eating snails though if you are having any trouble with them.

With a small tank like that I would get some ottos. They love to clean rocks & glass & probably even fake plants. You just can't have other fish that will pick on them. Or you could go with a mystery snail.

 

[Guest]

never ever say snails i never found any use of them

eewww i hate those guys try to get rid of them.... nothing works

 

[QTOFFER]

The brown stuff is diatoms. Frog girl suggested oto cats - they're the only fish that really eats diatoms to any extent. Personally, I can't seem to keep the poor things alive, so I just wipe diatoms off at every water change - fortunately, it comes off very easily.

The green algae can be kept under control by putting in some easy to keep live plants like Java fern or Java moss - they will absorb excess nutrients. Siamese algae eaters, otos, snails, and dwarf ancistrus plecos will eat green algae.

I also want to agree with Malkore about the clown loach. They are not happy being solitary, and even one will outgrow a 10 gal before long.

 

[Felf]

in 1 week 2 otos rid my tank of brown algae