I just returned from a 4 week vacation to find that my 20 gallon has exploded with green algae!! I had a friend taking care of it doing close to weekly water changes and feeding 2x weekly, so I don't think it's possible that she was overfeeding. She was dosing twice a week with liquid CO2 and a liquid plant fertilizer. I have two 23W (I think, they might be 13W. I'll have to double check) 6500K CFE bulbs that were on a timer for 8 hours a day. I have since added twice the amount of plants, 5 little Marimo moss balls my sister gave me for christmas, and I already have 3 nerite snails. I turned the light down to 6 hours a day. What can I do to get rid of the algae? Should I turn off one of the lights? Turn the time down more? Get more snails? It's EVERYWHERE. On the substrate, on the walls, coating my plants! Ahhh!
Help, algae explosion!
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Sk3lly
Aquarium Advice Addict
Im about to try using hydrogen peroxide to spot treat in my tank. Very important to look at dosage as it can harm fish and plants otherwise. Thats more of a short term fix as you wouldnt be getting to the bottom of why its happening
jehenry89
Aquarium Advice Freak
It could possibly be an excess of phosphates or nitrates? A lot of planted aquariums have green algae, it has nothing to do with bad water conditions to my knowledge anyway. If you have co2, you could try increasing it a little that normally helps my green algae from coming back. Hopefully someone can give you are more definite answer.
A black out will work to get rid of what is present, then you just have to fight it from coming back lol.
A black out will work to get rid of what is present, then you just have to fight it from coming back lol.
Yeah, I'm thinking it's an excess of fertilization for the amount of plants I had in it, plus excess light....there is SO MUCH algae there's no way I could spot treat it. And I don't want to get rid of it completely, my snails need some to eat. I just don't want it coating everything in my tank and killing my plants.
jehenry89
Aquarium Advice Freak
Your snails would be fine though a blackout for a few days. Just feed them something alternative such as cucumber, squash or spinach until you see regrowth starting. Other than that you will have to do it the hard way ><. Do bleach dips, a serious vaccume, wipe down all the walls and a large water change. Maybe some other people will have some other options for you.
I don't think a blackout is really an option though because I have plants and I don't want them to die. Maybe some other options? I also have sand so vacuuming algae from that would be a pain in the butt. Is wiping it off really enough to get rid of it though? Also, my snails won't eat cucumber or lettuce, but I have another little tank I can put them in with a bunch of diatoms to eat.
plecostomuch
Aquarium Advice Regular
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2014
- Messages
- 61
algae
Couple of things. I'm not sure if you mentioned this but how mature is this tank? If it's not a mature tank you will go through periods likes this but as things equalize and as you mentioned, the additional of even more plants will help establish your environment and out-compete the algae. Also, I'm not sure if you mentioned this as well but where is the tank located? Of course you know not to have it exposed to the sun and you can block off a sidewall of the tank (I assume you have a background already) so you would only have 2 sides visible the front and one side. Once the algae dies back you can uncover the side or like me, grow so accustomed to it that you don't even notice it covered any more.
Additionally, I'm not sure of your existing stock besides the snail mentioned but you may need to bring on some natural help. Can you run down to the LFS and perhaps pick up say, 3 Siamese Algae Eaters and 3 Ottos or some combination of the 2. Maybe 2 more snails well.
Also, depending on how established your plants are (and it sounds like they are somewhat established by your account of things) do not fear if they do not get light for 3 or at worst 5 days. They might look weary when its over but they recover right away and will be absolutely fine.
Last but not least are chemicals. There is obviously a imbalance in your environment. It's possible the 2x per week feeding by your "tank sitter" was an over eager attempt to over compensate for the psychological guilt of only feeding a living being only 2x per week (and of course not realizing that by giving more food only worsens the situation, but again it satisfies the need of the care taker because she/he can feel better). Being fed too much 2x per week can and will spoil the tank. 1 flake per fish per day is all that is required at this time. But aside from that there are chemicals and more specifically ferts that will help your plants outcompete the alage. After all, that's one of the benefits of keeping live plants in first place. I'm not sure of which specific ones work but someone smarter then me will likely comment on that....and that google sure is a wiz. Good luck tho!
Couple of things. I'm not sure if you mentioned this but how mature is this tank? If it's not a mature tank you will go through periods likes this but as things equalize and as you mentioned, the additional of even more plants will help establish your environment and out-compete the algae. Also, I'm not sure if you mentioned this as well but where is the tank located? Of course you know not to have it exposed to the sun and you can block off a sidewall of the tank (I assume you have a background already) so you would only have 2 sides visible the front and one side. Once the algae dies back you can uncover the side or like me, grow so accustomed to it that you don't even notice it covered any more.
Additionally, I'm not sure of your existing stock besides the snail mentioned but you may need to bring on some natural help. Can you run down to the LFS and perhaps pick up say, 3 Siamese Algae Eaters and 3 Ottos or some combination of the 2. Maybe 2 more snails well.
Also, depending on how established your plants are (and it sounds like they are somewhat established by your account of things) do not fear if they do not get light for 3 or at worst 5 days. They might look weary when its over but they recover right away and will be absolutely fine.
Last but not least are chemicals. There is obviously a imbalance in your environment. It's possible the 2x per week feeding by your "tank sitter" was an over eager attempt to over compensate for the psychological guilt of only feeding a living being only 2x per week (and of course not realizing that by giving more food only worsens the situation, but again it satisfies the need of the care taker because she/he can feel better). Being fed too much 2x per week can and will spoil the tank. 1 flake per fish per day is all that is required at this time. But aside from that there are chemicals and more specifically ferts that will help your plants outcompete the alage. After all, that's one of the benefits of keeping live plants in first place. I'm not sure of which specific ones work but someone smarter then me will likely comment on that....and that google sure is a wiz. Good luck tho!
Thanks! The tank is only 4 1/2 weeks old, but when I set it up I moved the filter and some gravel from my older tank that was 4+ months old. I have a male betta, 9 neon tetras, and 3 kuhli loaches in addition to the snails. I told my friend to feed 1 flake per fish, but I don't know if that's actually what she did. I guess I'll turn the light off for a few days and maybe augment my algae eaters by getting a few more snails or maybe a pleco. My tank is on the other side of the room from my window, not in direct light, but the only way I could protect it from the light is possible by covering up the front of the tank during the day, which doesn't seem like a good solution. Thanks for the advice. Anyone else have further suggestions?
Sk3lly
Aquarium Advice Addict
When you buy live plants online how do you think this works?? They get boxed up in the dark and may take 3 or 4 days to arrive. Plants are hardy things, a 3 day blackout will be fine
Mebbid
Aquarium Advice Addict
Could you post a picture?
A few things to note:
Liquid carbon only lasts for about 12 hours in the tank. You might want to look at adding it in daily. It is also a natural algaecide so you can increase the dose to have additional algae killing effects. You can use up to 1ml / gallon. If you want to save yourself some money on it then look at buying metricide 14 day sterilizing solution. It'll be about $30 for a gallon from eBay and you only need to dose half as much as excel.
What are the parameters for this tank? Usually algae doesn't grow in fresh water systems unless there's a lack of nutrients. I keep my planted tanks at about 30ppm nitrate and 4 ppm phosphate.
Compact flourescent lights are actually pretty powerful depending on the reflector. It might be worthwhile to reduce the photoperiod down to 6 hours. Is it possible that your friend accidentally left the lights on for an extended period?
A few things to note:
Liquid carbon only lasts for about 12 hours in the tank. You might want to look at adding it in daily. It is also a natural algaecide so you can increase the dose to have additional algae killing effects. You can use up to 1ml / gallon. If you want to save yourself some money on it then look at buying metricide 14 day sterilizing solution. It'll be about $30 for a gallon from eBay and you only need to dose half as much as excel.
What are the parameters for this tank? Usually algae doesn't grow in fresh water systems unless there's a lack of nutrients. I keep my planted tanks at about 30ppm nitrate and 4 ppm phosphate.
Compact flourescent lights are actually pretty powerful depending on the reflector. It might be worthwhile to reduce the photoperiod down to 6 hours. Is it possible that your friend accidentally left the lights on for an extended period?
Well, there's not much to take a picture of now as I've scrubbed the walls and decor and it hasn't come back...yet. I have a picture from when I first got home that I can upload later today if you'd like.
I did turn the lights down to 6 hours, but I turned them completely off since yesterday and they were probably on for 4 hours the day before. My tank is covered with a blanket today. I usually do dose with CO2 every day, 2 ml, but I wasn't going to ask my friend to come over daily for a whole month for that. My plants were split between my 10 and 20 gal, but I told her to use the full strength plant fert, so the tank was getting twice the amount of nutrients for half the amount of plants as it was before. I think that's likely the biggest problem.
The lights were originally on for 10 hours too (I have a timer), which I'm sure was too much. She turned them down to 8, and I turned them down to 6. I tested my water with my new API test kit last night for the first time! Ammonia and nitrites were 0, nitrates were maybe 2.5 ppm. I'm surprised it wasn't higher as usually I have around 10 according to the LPS tests. pH was 7.2 (normal, my tap water is even higher straight from the tap) I don't have a test for phosphate, or kh or gh, but I know my city has very hard water.
This tank is not aquascaped yet, but I'm going to my LFS tonight to get some more plants, wood, 3 more loaches, and maybe another nerite snail. I'd love to get a small pleco, but everything I've read says they get too big or the bioload is too high.
I was thinking of turning the lights back on tomorrow. Should I be doing anything differently?
I did turn the lights down to 6 hours, but I turned them completely off since yesterday and they were probably on for 4 hours the day before. My tank is covered with a blanket today. I usually do dose with CO2 every day, 2 ml, but I wasn't going to ask my friend to come over daily for a whole month for that. My plants were split between my 10 and 20 gal, but I told her to use the full strength plant fert, so the tank was getting twice the amount of nutrients for half the amount of plants as it was before. I think that's likely the biggest problem.
The lights were originally on for 10 hours too (I have a timer), which I'm sure was too much. She turned them down to 8, and I turned them down to 6. I tested my water with my new API test kit last night for the first time! Ammonia and nitrites were 0, nitrates were maybe 2.5 ppm. I'm surprised it wasn't higher as usually I have around 10 according to the LPS tests. pH was 7.2 (normal, my tap water is even higher straight from the tap) I don't have a test for phosphate, or kh or gh, but I know my city has very hard water.
This tank is not aquascaped yet, but I'm going to my LFS tonight to get some more plants, wood, 3 more loaches, and maybe another nerite snail. I'd love to get a small pleco, but everything I've read says they get too big or the bioload is too high.
I was thinking of turning the lights back on tomorrow. Should I be doing anything differently?
plecostomuch
Aquarium Advice Regular
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2014
- Messages
- 61
Hey I have a feeling the loaches will eat all your snails. How many loaches do you have anyway? Bristlenose and rubber lip plecos don't get much bigger then 5-6 inches but do need drift wood. Have you tried aqaquatics.com ? They have a great calculator that can give you a rough idea of your stock.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
I have 4 loaches now, planning to get 2 more soon. I have nerite snails, which are about 1" each, so kuhlis are not going to eat them. I had a recent explosion of MTS and itty bitty apple snails, and my loaches didn't even touch them, so they don't seem to have an affinity for snails anyway. I've decided against a pleco for now because I don't want to get rid of my neons, and I'd need to in order to have something else that big. I've used aqadvisor before and I really like it, but I haven't tried aquatics.
Old Scales
Aquarium Advice Addict
Option of whole tank treatment of algae
I found this interesting article on one way to whole tank treat a massive algae outbreak. I saved it as a "just in case" scenario. OS.
The "One-Two Punch" Whole Tank Algae Treatment
I found this interesting article on one way to whole tank treat a massive algae outbreak. I saved it as a "just in case" scenario. OS.
The "One-Two Punch" Whole Tank Algae Treatment
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