Algae removal help.

[Neleono]

Hey all! Hope everyone is having a great day!
Im having some trouble with what i am sure is algae. It grows in small green patches along the walls of my tank and on my rocks. I have an algae eater and always have had one in the tank, but he dosent even seem to do much work on the green stuff. Ive tried many methods of cleaning including the brush with a magnet that goes on the inner and outer part of the tank, ive tried a simple rag and scrubbing it, ive tried an Algae brush and all it did was make it a little less algae covered after 2 days of trying. Nothing seems to get rid of the stuff. Its starting to grow on my fake rocks and corals and turning them green and a layer forms on occasion on my gravel floor. Any tips or sticks to get rid of the stuff? I clean regularly and i am sure to scrub the walls weekly but nothing. Thanks, Nele.

Side note, it isn't supper serious and dosent seem to effect my fish, just an eyesore.

 

[Naughts]

Please add a photo of the algae in your tank.
What are the specifications of your lighting? How long is it on for?
What fertilisers do you use and how much?

I use filter floss to scrub the walls and a hard toothbrush on the rocks. I do large (50%+) weekly water changes and feed sparingly to keep nitrate and phosphate low.

 

[FishBearer9845]

What algae eater have you got in the tank, some are renowned for not even eating a lot
of it.

 

[Essjay]

And some types of algae are not eaten by anything.

 

[Neleono]

I use an LED light in my tank were the roof is, its on for 10-12 hours a day (during the daytime). I dont have any fertilizers in my tank (I dont know what those are) and i will attach some pictures of the algae (The fist one is of the structure in my tank and the other of my gravel). Im not sure what kind of algae eater i have, my profile pic is a picture of him if that helps.

 

[FishBearer9845]

How often do you clean/water change your tank?

 

[Neleono]

I do the hose cleaning and a 33% waterchange weekly and a 50% change monthly

 

[FishBearer9845]

Do you use a gravel vac? A lot of us here also change 50-75% per week including cleaning the substrate. I'm wondering if increasing this will help you?

 

[Neleono]

I think its a gravel vac, it uses the flow of water to suck up the rocks and dirty water, like a plastic cylinder connected to a long tube. I will start doing more water changes more often but how do i rid the algae in the mean time?

 

[FishBearer9845]

Do all your plants in the tank need the 10-12 hours of light? Are you able to use a dimmer option on the lights to prevent the harshness of it?
What exact fertiliser do you use and how much/how often?

 

[Neleono]

I dont have a dimmer but i will try to get one, ill try to decrease the light.

 

[Essjay]

Algae is caused by an imbalance between lighting and fertiliser. Too much or too little of one, and algae results. If you are not using a fertiliser, you need to reduce the length of time the lights are on for.

 

[Naughts]

I use an LED light in my tank were the roof is, its on for 10-12 hours a day (during the daytime). I dont have any fertilizers in my tank (I dont know what those are) and i will attach some pictures of the algae (The fist one is of the structure in my tank and the other of my gravel). Im not sure what kind of algae eater i have, my profile pic is a picture of him if that helps.View attachment 116180View attachment 116181

Fertilisers are nutrients for live plants, they can be a liquid additive or tabs put into the substrate. If you don't have these reduce your lighting time to 6 hours. Once the algae stops growing you can try increasing the lighting duration if you want to but maybe only up to 8 hours. Get back to us in a couple of weeks to let us know if it is improving.

 

[Neleono]

Thanks everyone for the help

 

[Colin_T]

If it grows in a film then it's blue green algae (Cyanobacter bacteria).