Battleing Alge Bloom

[GuppyDude]

May have mentioned this a little while back on a related post but iv lost track of it. iv been fighting alge bloom for a couple months now in 2 of my four long time established tanks. they have been running for a little under a year now and up untill recently the alge has been under controlle via an alge eater and a pleco. unfortunately the alge has leaped from the glass and into the water causeing it to become so green that im not even sure how many fish are in there any more, i literally cant see to the back of the tank. i have tried water changes and "natural treatments" of all sorts, i have been trying my best to steer clear of chemicles as i have killed many a fish usieng teh alge killers that i have purchased in the past (and yes i did read the directions). if i list my tank specs do you think i could get a recommendation on what kind of chemicles or treatments i could use?

20 Gallon
Fish
- 3 adult male guppys and 1 juvie
- 1 algea eater
- A number of ramshorn babys (not too attached to them)
Water
- Ph is typically 8.0 (sounds high but the fish have cultured just fine to it)
- Temp between 70-75 degrees F'
Equiptment
- 20g hanging filtration system
- 1 inch gravel substrate
- Various caves

10 Gallon
Fish
- 2 adult bronze corys (one albino)
- 1 adult female guppy
Water
- Ph is typically 8.0
- Temp between 70-75 degrees F'
Equiptment
- 10g hanging filtration system
- 1 inch sand substrate

*** I add nothing to the water in teh way of chemicles, its all pure well water that the fish have always done fine in. even with the alge bloom teh fish appear to be acting normal.

 

[mandy82]

How often are you doing water changes?

 

[rixy]

i had the same at christmas time.leave the lights off for 48hrs and do a 40% ish water change every day.it took about 4 days with no lights on and approx 4 water changes to get better and approx a week to be totally gone.

 

[Bloo]

What are your Nitrates in the tanks ?

Have you tried a phosphate remover ? they don't remove algae as such - just the phosphates that often cause these problems.

 

[trace1]

either that or try a uv sterlizer i have this is my 55 gal tank as i had the same problem & didn't want to use chemicals.
this is the 1 i've got it doesn't need to be attached to the filter in any way just plug & go so to speak lol

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/FISH-R-FUN-24-WATT-I...1QQcmdZViewItem
mine cost me £60 not off ebay

my tank took a couple of days to clear but now i don't have any problem at all with it hth
trace

 

[Bloo]

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/FISH-R-FUN-24-WATT-I...1QQcmdZViewItem
mine cost me £60 not off ebay

my tank took a couple of days to clear but now i don't have any problem at all with it hth
trace

That link doesn't seem to work, but this one might

 

[trace1]

thanks bloozoo, thought it worked cos it worked for me .

 

[Lisa Peters]

Had a similar problem with our 65 gallon. Fine for a long time then, algae bloom! Couldn't get rid of it. 50% water change and next day it was just as bad. Finally invested in an in-line UV filter. Within a day or so it was clear. Some may see it as a bandaid, but there was no obvious cause. The UV filter did the trick, and saved some of my sanity.

 

[Ginge]

Did you get an internal uv or an external one?

 

[GuppyDude]

How often are you doing water changes?

Not as often as i should, dont mess with the tank unless somethings wrong, the last water change on the 20g was a month ago, the last water change on the 10g was 2 weeks ago.

Im going to try the no lights and water changes method first, still afraid of the chems, and i guess i go the UV filter if the low lights and water changes dont work, dont want to put any more money into this than i have too. thank you guys for all the help, ill let you know how it pans out.

 

[Bloo]

That's really not a great tank regime on a long term basis Ideally 20% should be changed weekly - or else you will see a build up of waste and other toxic product. Prevention is better than cure. Fish like clean fresh water - just as we like clean fresh air

 

[GuppyDude]

you are right, and i know i slack off on water changes, iv gotta starte getting into a routine, but at the moment it would really help if i could see whats in there.

 

[Mariposa]

Gradual water changes (10 to 20 per cent) worked best during my war on algae ... at first I did a 40 per cent change which actually made things much worse. As I researched it, I found out that if you have lots of phosphates inyour tap water, doing a big change only fuels the algae. Good luck.