Deep clean?

[KreativJustin]

Hello everyone,

So I have been in a battle with this very dark green algae. I was using plant substrate and live plants for awhile, but the algae just got too bad and I took the live plants out and switched to artificial, but I still cannot get the algae under control. Within 4 days its coating the edges of the substrate.

I used a substrate that comes with plant nutrients built in, plus I was using water nutrients, and root tabs.. so I really just think I was pumping in food for algae. Well I've had the fake plants in there for a little over 2 weeks and I still get this really dark algae on the rocks and the edge of the tank at the rocks.

I want to take out the fish, then the rocks and rinse them properly and give the tank glass a quick cleaning. I really do not like to use any chemicals in the tank unless I have to.

Now that you know that, here are my questions..

Question 1: How long can the fish survive in a 5gal bucket next to the aquarium while I clean it.
Question 2: Will this properly eliminate all "extra" nutrients from being an issue causing the algae.
Question 3: How much of the original water should I put back into the tank after cleaning?

Any and ALL help is appreciated. I'm experienced, but not a professional, so go easy on me

 

[Colin_T]

Can you post a picture of the algae so we can identify it?

Algae is normally caused by too much light, or too many nutrients, or not enough live plants to use the light and nutrients. If you have a plant substrate, add a plant fertiliser, and have lots of light on the tank, then removing the live plants will only make the problem worse.

If it is blue green algae (Cyanobacter bacteria), that is a photosynthetic bacteria (bacteria that can use light) and it loves nutrients, red light, low oxygen levels and slow water movement. You treat this by reducing nutrients and improving water movement, aerating the water and adjusting the colour spectrum of the light. However, we need to see the algae first to find out what it actually is.

 

[KreativJustin]

My aquarium is a 20 gallon tall by the way. I do plan on upgrading to a 75 within the next 6 months.

I can have my wife take a picture of the algae when she gets home from work, but that wont be for another 6 hours or so. It does look similar to blue green algae though.. very similar to this: https://www.thesprucepets.com/thmb/.../Blue-GreenAlgae-5c523484c9e77c00016f3c87.jpg

I have a MarineLand 200 Power Filter, which has a very strong current, so I have very few dead spots. I change the filter regularly.

I do not use an aerator, but will add one if that will help.

My lights are on for 9 hours a day. My light has no adjustment, and is not SUPER bright by any means. This is my light:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0811QTHCM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

**edit** My aquarium sits in my dining room and has natural light and a hanging light that it gets light from, but does not actually "light" up the aquarium until the LED lights are turned on for the aquarium.

I would like to eventually go back to live plants if I can reliably keep the algae at bay, but once the algae started, it took over the plants fairly quick and would not come off of them without scrubbing.

 

[KreativJustin]

Ok, the wife was able to get me some pictures. I've attached them to this post.

 

[Colin_T]

It's a pretty colour, isn't it

Yeah it's blue green algae (aka: BGA or Cyanobacteria), and it comes in a wide range of colours including dark blue, green, purple, pink, brown and black. You have a nice dark green variety

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a couple of weeks. Try to physically remove as much of the stuff as possible. Hopefully after a few weeks of clean water and clean gravel, it will die off.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Minimise dry food going into the tank during this time because uneaten dry food encourages it.

Stop adding plant fertiliser.

If you have plenty of water movement from the filter, angle the filter outlet down towards the bottom of the tank to help push more water movement over the Cyanobacteria.

Your light is fine and won't be causing this. I would say it's just nutrients from the plant substrate.

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If this doesn't fix the problem, then you can strip the tank down and wash it all out under tap water. Don't wash the filter media under tap water, but you can wash the filter case and hoses under tap water.

If you have a 20 litre bucket (5 gallons) that is 2/3s full of aquarium water, and have an airstone bubbling away in it, the fish should be fine for a few hours (depending on how many fish you have and how big they are).
Have a lid fitted loosely on the bucket to stop the fish jumping out.

Washing the substrate out should remove a lot of the BGA and nutrients and reduce the chance of it coming back. Washing the tank out with tap water and wiping it out with a clean sponge will also help.

Try not to add any of the old water to the tank once it has been cleaned. The BGA can be in the water and start all over again.

Wash the tank and substrate out with tap water.
Set the tank back up and fill it with dechlorinated water. Use a double dose of declorinator.
Aerate/ circulate the water in the tank for an hour or so with the filter (or an air pump and airstone) but leave the filter media in a bucket of tank water during this time. Then put the filter media back in the filter and let it run for another hour before moving the fish back into the tank.

Don't feed the fish on the day you do this or the day before you flush the tank out. They will be fine for a day or two without food and if they have empty stomachs, the water in the holding bucket will remain cleaner for longer. You can feed them the day after you flush the tank out.

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When you say you change the filter regularly, what do you mean by change?
If you are replacing the filter media/ materials with new media, that is going to encourage this sort of issue and potentially poison the fish with ammonia.

Power filters should be cleaned once a month and the filter media should be washed (squeezed out) in a bucket of aquarium water. The filter media gets re-used and the bucket of dirty water gets poured on the lawn/ garden outside.

If you have carbon (black granules) in the filter, that can be replaced or just removed completely. It will absorb plant fertiliser and is not normally needed on most aquariums.

 

[KreativJustin]

When you say you change the filter regularly, what do you mean by change?
If you are replacing the filter media/ materials with new media, that is going to encourage this sort of issue and potentially poison the fish with ammonia.

Power filters should be cleaned once a month and the filter media should be washed (squeezed out) in a bucket of aquarium water. The filter media gets re-used and the bucket of dirty water gets poured on the lawn/ garden outside.

If you have carbon (black granules) in the filter, that can be replaced or just removed completely. It will absorb plant fertiliser and is not normally needed on most aquariums.

I usually rinse the filter off with tap water for about 3 weeks, then replace when I feel like its been in there for a while. I have wondered if the carbon was actually necessary.

The main reason for me wanting to take out the substrate is because when I try to siphon it out, there is A LOT of stuff underneath it (I believe from the root tabs). The past few weeks I've been able to get a lot by just siphoning the stones, but I just feel like I've been in the aquarium a lot moving stuff and kicking all of that crap up from the bottom, so I do not want to continually subject the fish to this. I feel confident that there is still a lot of crap in/under the substrate.


I can get an aerator tonight and see if that will help too.

 

[Colin_T]

If you have filter pads/ cartridges in the filter, you can add sponges instead or in addition to what you already have. Then when you remove the old filter pads, you leave the sponges. Sponges last for years and only need replacing when they start to fall apart. You can buy sponges for different brands of filter and use a pair of scissors to cut them to fit in your filter. You clean sponges by squeezing them out in a bucket of tank water and re-using the sponge. The bucket of dirty water goes on the lawn outside.

I would stop using carbon and put a sponge in the filter where the carbon normally goes.

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If you don't like the substrate or have concerns about it, just remove it when you flush the tank out and put some clean gravel back in the tank. If you do this, try to wash the new gravel out the day before and have it in a bucket so you can add it straight away after you have cleaned the aquarium and put it back on the stand.

Don't bother adding plant substrates.

If you want to use a plant fertiliser, look for a liquid iron based aquarium plant fertiliser. Most aquatic plants tank in nutrients via their leaves and the liquid fertilisers don't leave sediment or gunk in the substrate. I used Sera Florena but there are other brands too. If you use an iron based plant fertiliser, get an iron (Fe) test kit and monitor the iron levels. You want it on 1mg/l (1ppm).

Don't use liquid carbon in aquariums. It contains Glutaraldehyde, which is a preservative and poison to fish and other aquatic organisms.

 

[KreativJustin]

This is the substrate I used (I did not drain the liquids that came in it, nor rinse as instructed by them). I used 2 bags.
https://www.petsmart.com/fish/decor...-aquarium-substrate-44058.html?fmethod=Search

I was using a liquid fertilizer Aqueon Plant Food and API Root tabs for pushing into the substrate by the Amazon sword. I have not added any nutrients since removing my live plants and putting in fake plants.

I honestly didn't siphon my rocks while the real plants were in there so I did not hurt any roots or knock the plants over. So the first time I stuck the siphon in there after removing the fake plants, I was blown away by how much crap is down in there.

I just cannot get it out of my head about how much nutrients were in there.

Would the sponge be in addition to the "blue" common filter, or a replacement to it?

 

[Colin_T]

sponges are normally used in addition to blue filter media pads (most of which are a type of sponge).

 

[Caliban07]

This is the substrate I used (I did not drain the liquids that came in it, nor rinse as instructed by them). I used 2 bags.
https://www.petsmart.com/fish/decor...-aquarium-substrate-44058.html?fmethod=Search

I was using a liquid fertilizer Aqueon Plant Food and API Root tabs for pushing into the substrate by the Amazon sword. I have not added any nutrients since removing my live plants and putting in fake plants.

I honestly didn't siphon my rocks while the real plants were in there so I did not hurt any roots or knock the plants over. So the first time I stuck the siphon in there after removing the fake plants, I was blown away by how much crap is down in there.

I just cannot get it out of my head about how much nutrients were in there.

Would the sponge be in addition to the "blue" common filter, or a replacement to it?

The liquid is probably some Mycorrhizal fungi or bacterial supplement.

Nutrients don’t cause algae [emoji846] This is a misconception that has been disproven countless times over the years. Nutrients are just positive or negative ions that plants and algae take in. Algae need a trigger for the spore to proliferate and that trigger is usually some kind of organic loading whether it be overfeeding or overstocking, dying plants/microbes etc.

What light and nutrients do is exacerbate an existing imbalance which accelerates algae growth.

The Cyanobacteria is feeding on something in the tank other than nutrients. You can up the water change game and eventually it will become weak and you can siphon it off.