Algae Issue Problems

[chris_rw]

Ive been having some issues with algae for a couple months. It's a green algae that slowly creeps over everything. My girlfriend and I just recently spent a couple hours taking everything out, scrubbing it down to remove the algae. But within a matter of days, it was almost completely back. I have also added in a chemical garbage that supposed to kill off algae, I turn off the light at night and have a couple completly worthless bottom feeders. I have live plants, not sure if that helps or hinders. Would love to get some advice on how to help with this. Thanks!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Need more info.....

How long has tank been set up?
How much light?
How many hours lights are on?
Dosing ferts? If so, how much?
CO2?
Substrate type?
Tank size?
Ammonia?
Nitrite?
Nitrate?
Phosphate?
gh and kh?
ph?
temp?

Did I cover evrything? LOL

 

[chris_rw]

Wow, thats a lot of 'more info'... Well I can give you the easy ones right off the bat. The others would require some research/testing!

Set up for about a year.
17w Aquarium light
Lights are on probably 12-16 hours a day
Dont know what dosing ferts are, so I'll say no!
40 gallon aquarium
75'ish degrees

 

[rhymeswithbear]

Plecostomuses is a word

Just...get a plecostomus. I, too, once had algae. Then I got a plecostomus. I have never had to scrape algae since. My pleco spends his time diligently removing all the algae for me. Although, I got kind of attached to him when he was cute and three inches long and now that he is a ten inch monster I don't have the heart to trade him in for a smaller one. Anyway, he's kind of messy so maybe you should get a something like a clown pleco or another one of those dinky little plecos that never reaches a foot in length. That might be cleaner but I don't know because I've never had one.

 

[joannde]

Is the "green algae" hard to take off or does it come off easily in sheets ? If it comes off easily it may not be algae at all - it may be cyanobacteria, otherwise known as Blue Green Algae.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

That seems like alot of time for the lights to be on too... cut back to say 10-12 hours and see if that doesn't help some. Is the tank being hit with any direct or indirect sunlight?

 

[7Enigma]

What plants are you growing? Your under 1/2 a wpg so I'm assuming that your plants are growing from direct/indirect sunlight. That is a no/no in the planted tank as your just begging for algae when no ferts are being dosed...

 

[chris_rw]

Im not sure what types my plants are. Just some generic petco bought ones. There is a window probably 20 feet from the tank, so it gets some bounced light from that I'm sure, but its in no way direct light.

The algae was very hard to scrape off, but I tried some algae killing solution in the tank, and it comes off quite a bit easier now.

 

[7Enigma]

Im not sure what types my plants are. Just some generic petco bought ones. There is a window probably 20 feet from the tank, so it gets some bounced light from that I'm sure, but its in no way direct light.

The algae was very hard to scrape off, but I tried some algae killing solution in the tank, and it comes off quite a bit easier now.

I'd recommend against using the algae killing solution in the future. A lot of these chemicals can also hurt your biological filter/fish/snails and even your plants.

If looking for an active solution to the algae head over to my thread in this forum about Killing algae using peroxide/Excel/bleach. We're in the process of developing safe(r) procedures for the tank that will eliminate algae. So far the preliminary results look promising.