Chemicals

[InxayonFinland]

My mom and I are debating on how to get rid of my algae in my tank. She says that I need to get this one kind of chemical called Algae Magic but i say i need to get more crabs and snails. Which one do you think i should do?

 

[Fluff]

Get more critters. Those snake oil treatments are useless.
Water changes will also help in your battle with algae. I dont' know what our water change regimen is but try doubling up or doing larger water changes and see if that help.

 

[InxayonFinland]

I do 2 gallons a week. How many more critters do you think i should get and what kind?

 

[Fluff]

What size is your tank and what/how many critters do you currently have?

 

[melosu58]

PWC and feed less.

 

[tecwzrd]

I do 2 gallons a week.

I assume that’s for your 12 gal tank which is sufficient.

po4 is likely contributing greatly to your algae problems.

I would keep doing pwc until your no3 drops to <5 ppm and check for po4 from either your water source (both in your tank and before adding to your tank) or food sources.

To test for po4 coming from your food put a small amount (1/4 teaspoon of flake or ¼ of a cube of frozen food in about a gal of water and let sit for 4+ hours) and then see if your food sources are contributing.

If possible buy po4 free food and if you use frozen then thaw in a small amount of tank water and rinse using a fine mesh sleeve before adding to the tank to reduce the po4 found in the water used to package the frozen.

With your fish/invert load every other day feedings of 1/4 to 1/2 a cube of frozen should be all your fish require and if that isn’t consumed within 3-5 minutes then I’d reduce feeding even more.

Overfeeding or lack of doing pwc as others have mentioned are probably contributing to excessive algae and adding more critters will help but getting to the source of what’s causing the algae will help more in the long run.

 

[InxayonFinland]

alright thanks for the help!

I forgot to mention something. I just have the regular filteration on my tank ( nano ). It includes: 3 foam pads, bio-balls, and something else. If i replace this with lr rubble, will it help with the algae?