Algae - How much is acceptable ?

[conks]

OK, firstly, here's the line-up:

2 x Tiger Barbs
2 x Blue Tiger Barbs
1 x Clown Barb
2 x Orange Barbs
2 x Useless, never seen, lazy Plecs.

They're all in a 3G Tank.

There seems to be a hell of a lot green Algae gathering on the bottom of the tank and also up the Glass sides.

The tank is more or less out of direct sunlight and I clean the Tank out, every week replacing 25% of the water and scraping off the soft green Algae.

More often than not, the next day, the Algae has returned.

My Dear Old Plecs seem to spend most of their time under a rock thing and don't seem to be doing their job very well !

I wondered if there was anything else I could do or even buy that would help.

Is that much Algae safe ?

 

[Phantom Thief]

3g? I am hoping that is a typo...

algae is always safe, by itself. However, its presence may indicate high levels of nitrate or phosphates.

P.T.

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

Dude/dudette,

Hopefully, you mean 30G, otherwise you'll need a bigger tank.

Since I am uncertain of your tank size, I won't suggest getting 2 or 3 Oto's/Dwarf Suckers/Algae Eaters to help you with your algae problem.

I apologise if I'm 'bitching' about this. Hope this helps.

 

[Phantom Thief]

Dude/dudette,

Hopefully, you mean 30G, otherwise you'll need a bigger tank.

Since I am uncertain of your tank size, I won't suggest getting 2 or 3 Oto's/Dwarf Suckers/Algae Eaters to help you with your algae problem.

I apologise if I'm 'bitching' about this. Hope this helps.

I think you suggested it already by mentioning that .

P.T.

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

Dang!

 

[jumpman]

If your algae is returning that quickly then there must be a large amount of phosphate/nitrate in the water...perhaps this is because you have such a small tank with too big a bioload?

do you have lighting on the tank?

jump

 

[tstenback]

The tank is more or less out of direct sunlight

Well, is it or is it not out of direct sun. If not then this is most likely your problem. Any direct sun on the tank and you will have algae problems. the more sun the more algae.

As Phantom Thief said algae is safe but there must be an underlying cause for that much algae it could be the above or it could be high nitrates/phosphates or both. HTH