Will alge control hurt my alge eater?

[Marccregan]

I have cloudy water and the presence of green alge on the gravel stone. I would like to control it, but I am concerned that an alge control product will hurt my alge eater. Should I be? What is the best course of action? Thanks

 

[aquandrew]

welcome to the forum! exactly what kind of algae eater do you have?

 

[molliwopp]

I guess depending how bad it is, i woukd clean it and supplement with algae wafers.

 

[Marccregan]

It is a pleco. I want to say rubbernose but I am not sure. I have a nice piece of wood (I forget the name of the wood) that he loves to chow on. I am assuming that the cludy water is a result of an alge bloom. Could it be something else?

 

[molliwopp]

A bristlenose pleco? Cloudy water could be an algae bloom if its intermitant and not constantly cloudy. It Could be other things like filtration. How big is your tank, often and how much water do you change? Also Do you test your water? Water changes are the key to clear water.

 

[Marccregan]

No my water is not constantly cloudy - and this is coming off a 30% water change, a good vacuum of the gravel and I changed the charcoal filter. I did all that on Sunday.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello marc...

Algae grows naturally in a tank that hasn't been running long. The combination of new water, light, fish and plants will need to work for some time before the tank settles. Don't worry about it. It's a good food supplement for your fish. There are all kinds of small animals that live it that are good food for your fish. The plant also helps filter the tank water.

You can help control it and clear the water by doing large, weekly water changes. Add a stem plant called Anacharis. It grows just floating on the tank surface and produces a mild toxin that slows the growth of many kinds of algae. Keep the food to a minimum. A little a couple of times a week is plenty for adult fish, fry can be fed a little every other day.

Ramshorn snails will help remove the algae too. There are several natural ways of dealing with it. I wouldn't put any chemicals into the tank water, though.

B

 

[Marccregan]

- no it is a common pleco.

 

[molliwopp]

Yeah, its more than likely an bacteria bloom if its after a water change, its something that happends sometimes.

You probably already know but when cleaning a filter dont clean all media at once, alternate the medias you clean.

 

[Marccregan]

Thanks for the info all. B, to follow up on your post. Mt tank has been running for months. I do water changes approx 2-3 weeks, usually when I can tell the water is dirty. I might leave the light on too long... and I may be over feeding. Is there an advantage to having a light on/off schedule?

 

[Marccregan]

I do not think I know that tip, Molly - what's a media?

 

[molliwopp]

Common plecos get giagantic as they get older and are dirty fishy wishies. How big is your tank? Waiting untill its visibly dirty probably isnt the best idea. I change 15% of my water every 3rd or 4th day which is easy to keep on top of if you only have afew tanks. Doing weekly changes would be much better because the nitrate will build up.

If you fish are producing more nitrate than youre 30% is changing out each time, it will continue to grow. Also nitrate build up could be the reason for excess algae as it can fuel growth.

 

[molliwopp]

For an easy example:


If your fish produce 120ppm of nitrate per week per.
And you have a weekly change of 50%

120ppm cut in half is 60ppm which is 50% of 120.

So after the first change you have 60ppm, a week ago by and the fish produce abother 120ppm.

You now have 180ppm. 50% of 180 is 90ppm
Another week of nitrates arrive, so now its 120+ the 90 already in the water.. 210. 50% of 210 is 105.. and so on.

This is just an example to make it easy to understand and the numbers are not a true relfection of my fishes nitrate production.

 

[gravereaper0]

Seems to me like a

Filtration issue. What tank and filter you running.

 

[jwh0818]

No my water is not constantly cloudy - and this is coming off a 30% water change, a good vacuum of the gravel and I changed the charcoal filter. I did all that on Sunday.

I think yall missed this. You shouldnt change your filter pads out unless they are falling apart. Chances are its a bacterial bloom because the beneficial bacteria grows mainly on your filter pad. When you change it your taking away your tank support system. When you do a water change, you should rinse the pads in a bucket of old tank water to preserve the BB (beneficial bacteria) so your tank doesn't go through a cycle. The cloudiness your seeing is probably a BB bloom. It will go away soon but in the meantime, you should monitor your water parameters with an API Master Test Kit