Alge and cleaning tank

[kgrehm]

I was thinking of everything that i have been doing for my fish and i am pretty pleased (so far) how they are doing. They are really active and swin around alot.

What i am wondering is when there is alge like on the glass, do i clean if off or leave some on because it helps treat the nitrates?

Also how often should i really clean the tank ex. gravel and such. And how do i do that?

Thanks

 

[heresmike]

You should really clean the algae off the glass. It doesn't treat nitrate, and nitrate needs no treating. The only reason I can think of to leave algae in the tank is if you have algae eating fish that only eat algae. Nitrate levels is something you want to reduce with regular (weekly or bi-weekly) partial water changes. Along with these water changes, you should vacuum the junk out of the gravel with a gravel vac.

 

[DanL]

I would suggest keeping it off the glass, if its left on the glass and your algea eating crew doenst clean it off after time your tank lights will make it difficult to clean. if you have rocks in your aquarium let the algea grow on them, it makes the tank look more natural and feed your algea cleaning crew...