How To Stop Algae Before It Starts?

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Satsumas

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Jan 29, 2005
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Location
Cambridge, England (UK)
I have just cycled my new tank and everything is ready to plant up and add fish. The tank in question is a 20gal long and there is a 96W CF light hanging over it so if i dont get a hold of it there could be a big algae outbreak.

There is a current outbreak of diatoms and i've noticed that there is some algae on the glass which i think would get very thick and leggy if i dont stop it. I have a few plants in there which should be soaking up the nutrients like cabomba and elodea but i can only think that there arent enough nutrients for them as they dont look too healthy. I have cleaned the glass with an algae scraper and it seems to completely dissapear but i'd rather not be doing this if there is a way around it.

I would start to plant the tank up but i can't make any orders at the moment as postage is a problem this time of year.

Any help will be appriciated. TIA
 
There is some sunlight that could get to the tank but there hasn't been much at all recently, also the tank would only recieve a small amount of direct sunlight a day.
I don't think sunlight is the problem here but it could add to it.
 
Satsumas said:
I don't think sunlight is the problem here but it could add to it.

I do. Any sunlight, combined with excess nutrients (overfeeding and/or not enough plants) are your two main enemies....a tank canopy light on more than 12 hours daily will prmote algae, too.
 
overfeeding isnt a problem is the water is changed weekly i feel, but "overfeeding" is a broad term.

light is a big factor i feel, in my saltwater tank, the fish are usually fed just once a day, but algae blossoms, and its not the normal algae, its this stringy and/or clumpy algae from hell. the snails and the shrimp finish all the left overs, so it must be the light, simply with the combo of fish
 
hc8719 said:
overfeeding isnt a problem is the water is changed weekly i feel, but "overfeeding" is a broad term.

It is a problem, and something that mere weekly water-changes (especially changes of less than 75%) are going to address in any significant manner. Now, overfeeding without sufficient light will do little more than foul the water, but add just enough light (and especially if the light is too great intensity, on too long, or the wrong wavelengths), and algae will take quick advantage of all those excess nutrients.
 
mere weekly water-changes (especially changes of less than 75%

As a quick point of interest Toirtis, and for clarification: do you mean anything less than a weekly 75% water change is insufficient in general? The reason I ask is because I wonder how sensitive fish and/or the necessity for maintaining consistent conditions factor into this number.
 
hc8719 said:
overfeeding isnt a problem is the water is changed weekly i feel, but "overfeeding" is a broad term.

*note i said "broad term" in the sense, i dont know how much you or anyone else overfeeds their fish. some people, overfeeding means the fish miss a few flakes, others, the fish miss a whole serving of flakes.

as many of you are aware, i feed my fish 3x daily, because of the holidays i havent done a water change in 2 weeks, water is clear, and no algae, despite the fact the tank is up against a west window
 
coldmachineUK said:
mere weekly water-changes (especially changes of less than 75%

As a quick point of interest Toirtis, and for clarification: do you mean anything less than a weekly 75% water change is insufficient in general? The reason I ask is because I wonder how sensitive fish and/or the necessity for maintaining consistent conditions factor into this number.

No, I was referring to this specific situation (to remove most of the excess nutrients from overfeeding), but with most fish, changing 50%-75% of water weekly (or even as frequently as every 4-5 days) can make a significant impact on the health and size of the fish.
 
Right, i've got it now. CO2 is the answer!

I had prepared everything but i just left it as my light took a few weeks to arrive and i guess i put the CO2 to the back of my mind.
I dont know if i have any yeast but i'll go and have a look anyway.

Thanks for the help.
 
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