joemomma456
Aquarium Advice Activist
Is there a way to stop algea from growing in my ten gallon tank?
Algea
- Thread starter joemomma456
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Basically, no, unless you add chemicals and/or shut the lights off.
While algae is unsightly, it is not harmful and if you have lights, which most of us do, you will get it.
If it bothers you, i would just remove it from stones etc by wiping it off. Frequent water changes will help too.
While algae is unsightly, it is not harmful and if you have lights, which most of us do, you will get it.
If it bothers you, i would just remove it from stones etc by wiping it off. Frequent water changes will help too.
Khuligirl93
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2013
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- 1,945
Are you doing regular gravel vacuuming and water changes? I have found gravel vacuuming turns over and mixes up the rocks to make algae on them less visible. And water changes are essential for keeping fish healthy and nutrients (like nitrates) low. High nitrates are just fuel for algae growth. Also keeping your light on less time helps. How long do you keep it on? And does your tank get any sunlight from windows? If you don't have live plants you might be better off keeping the lights off all the time except for when viewing the tank.
But like gilpi said, even if you do everything perfectly, a little bit of algae is unavoidable. I use an old toothbrush to scrub it off the glass every week when I do my water changes
about to go do that right now actually!
But like gilpi said, even if you do everything perfectly, a little bit of algae is unavoidable. I use an old toothbrush to scrub it off the glass every week when I do my water changes
about to go do that right now actually!
OP
OP
joemomma456
Aquarium Advice Activist
Do u think a real plant would help?
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Sent from my SCH-I535 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
First off how long has your tank been set up? It appears to be diatoms which are almost always present in new setups. Diatoms are self limiting and once excess silicates are used up they go away. If you have no live plants in the tank you can add phosphate remover to your filter which will remove silicates. Another thing is often people leave tank lights on way too long which can cause a variety of different algae to grow. Until the diatom phase is gone only run lighting 6 hours to help slow them down and you can get nerite snails (2 or 3) to help keep any small amount of diatoms cleaned up. You also need to be doing weekly 50% WC's to keep toxins and excess nutrient levels low. Is the tank cycled? What is your stock?
