How to handle algae outbreaks

[TheDude]

Hey all, I have some serious algae growth, brown and green algae. I've been cutting light down to 7 hours at the most the past week. I have shrimp and don't want to use any algae killer in my tank. Anyone have any other tips to control the growth?

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[Brookster123]

Light and tank size? Height? Dosing any ferts?

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[TheDude]

I forget the wattage for the light but it's a strong fluval light with different settings on a remote. I've been doing seachem iron and flourish along with a Co2 set up. Roughly a bubble per second. It's in a 20 gal long. Kh and Gh are OK, kh is a little above what I want it at but a water change will fix that.

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[libertybelle]

well without knowing the wattage all I can say is algae usually means too much light for the amount of c02 or ferts.

something is out of balance.

the brown stuff is likely diatoms that will clear as your tank gets established

 

[Benwitz2]

This happened to me. I turned off all lighting and covered the tank with a towel for 4 days. Without light all the algae died and when I took off the towel the water went from green to crystal clear. Just do a significant water change afterwards to get rid of dead algae.


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