Fun for 3 weeks now Algae everywhere

[rob_dixon]

Need help from you guys on actual best advice algae control.

• Fully "fish free" cycled tank for many weeks
• Added live plants of all sorts
• Added fish (guppies), they have been in there for 3 or 4 weeks now
• Water tests are perfect still!
• Using Fluval Biosoil
• 1 Water change so far (1/3 of tank)

Not bad for a new fish keeper! Tank was gorgeous, but now about 3 weeks after adding the fish my plants look poor (although i read in here leaf melt is normal) and I am getting a ton of algae growth on the plants and tank walls, and rocks.

One issue is the tank gets a lot of sun. But what are some best methods to use here? Some places said to dip plants in solution of 10% bleach, but i am not so sure. I have a scraper, and use that but is this normal growth as it would seem i would need to use it every 2-3 days.

And when do i clean the filter?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Algae will likely grow out of control if the tank gets direct sunlight. Only thing you can do about that is either move the tank away from sunlight or get some good blinds or curtains and keep them closed. I would say a normal amount of manual algae clean up would be every 2 to 4 weeks. You might find the water starts to turn green too, and thats something you cant manually clean up.

You could try upping your water change schedule, this will remove nutrients you probably arent testing for and also be replenishing essential minerals in the water. I would be looking at 25% water change every 2 weeks, even if you think you dont need it.

Plant melt is normal, but you may find that the algae growth is taking up nutrients faster than your plants are able to and thats effecting plant growth too. When you say water tests are perfect, what are they exactly? You should be seeing zero ammonia and nitrite and some nitrate. Plants need nitrogen which generally means nitrate, if your nitrate is very low you might want to look at an all in one liquid fertiliser that has a good amount of nitrate in there. Without dealing with the excess light first however, adding nitrate will just be nutrients for the algae though.

 

[NStalgia]

I've tried that dipping in bleach thing. It takes a while for it to be effective. The algae turns white. The problem is some plants can handle it, some cant and melt after a while. Took a while to kill all the algae on the plants but some of my plants didn't survive.

 

[ColdKoi]

Algae is just one of those things most aquarists will have to put up with for a while with a newer tank. It’s just so easy to trigger an algae bloom!

Reduced feeding, reduced lighting and much more frequent water changes will help

As far as the plants, melting is quite normal but if you’re getting loads of algae on the foliage it can actually start blocking the light from getting to the foliage and the plant will suffer also.

 

[Danio8]

You could also try getting a mystery snail or some nerites. My nerites keep my algae under control pretty well.

 

[Coryking]

I do agree with getting snails but this is sunlight they will do a good job but they will fall behind after a while. If possible you could paint the tank that would stop some sunlight but it would be best to move the tank. In a normal case I would get some Ottos and ammo shrimp they are both one of the best algae eaters and together you get practically no alage