Green Algae - Losing the will to live

[JPMcQueen]

I have a recurring green algae problem with my tank. The water is clear, its growth on rocks thats the problem. About two weeks ago I removed everything from the tank, bleached the rocks, cleaned the gravel, large water change etc. but I'm now starting to see the green tinge coming back on the rocks. Is there anything that I can do about this as I cant keep having to fully rebuild the tank every 4-6 weeks.

The tank has been running for about 8 months. Water parameters are fine (water hardness is high but thats because of the quality of water where I live and its aquifer source) and I'm doing 30% water changes twice weekly. Filter has purigen and phosguard in it and I use Prime as a dechlorinator. Lights are on for about 5 hours a day.

 

[JxsPxxle]

I’m not sure if this would solve the problem but I think 5 hours is a little short for the lights. I personally would do something more like 6-8 hours. I probably spend 5 hours just admiring my tanks anyway

 

[Colin_T]

Pictures of the tank and the algae?

 

[Barry Tetra]

Is the title references to star wars?

 

[Byron]

What you describe is likely perfectly normal. Do you have live plants in the tank? If not, then the light (any duration) and nutrients will cause algae, which is normal and beneficial. Algae like higher plants use nutrients and light to photosynthesize and this produces oxygen, though not as much as higher plants would. It is only if you have plants, and then only if the algae is increasing on the plant leaves, that you have any algae "problem." Within reason, of course. A photo would help.

 

[JPMcQueen]

Sorry for the delay - been at work. I've attached a couple of photos. As you can see, there's just the beginning of a green tinge to the rocks. I could live with having to do a full rebuild every 2-3 months, but every months is killing me.

The only thing I havent tried yet is RO water or a UV unit in the filter line.

 

[Byron]

You are never going to get it different from those photos. And you should not want to, as this is natural and a good sign that the biological system is likely in good shape.

There is a huge difference between "algae" and "problem algae." Any aquarium with fish is going to have algae growing in the biofilms. Biofilms cover every surface under water. Fish graze these for microscopic food (infusoria) and algae. The algae is not harming the surfaces.

Problem algae refers to algae that has/is proliferating to such an extent that it is either symptomatic of an underlying biological problem [such as overstocking, overfeeding, insufficient water changes, insufficient filter cleaning, insufficient substrate cleaning] or increasing on the leaves of live plants which can suffocate and kill them [this caused by an imbalance of light/nutrients which must be adequate for the plants to use but not in excess to encourage algae].

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Byron's right. A certain amount of algae is inevitable and beneficial. That doesn't look bad to me. Are those live anubias? If so, they look very healthy.

 

[threecharacters]

What kind of light? Are the Anubias nana the only plants in the tank?

 

[seangee]

Yes algae is inevitable. Those anubias are slow growing so do not take very much nutrient from the water (which leaves more for algae). They also look like they are getting too much light, by which I mean too bright rather than too long. Again this benefits the algae. If you add fast growing surface plants like water sprite or frogbit you will kill two birds with one stone. They will take nutrients out of the water and diffuse the light so you kill two birds with one stone. Regular large water changes also keep the nutrients in check.

The tank in my signature has algae, just like every tank, but in the 6 years it has been running I have never cleaned algae off the wood or rocks. Completely rebuilding a tank every few weeks is really not sustainable when you are trying to create a stable ecosystem.

 

[vanalisa]

The rock looks great, to me.
Just like terrestrial rock gets moss.
It's natural.

 

[JPMcQueen]

Again, sorry for the delay in replying to everyone. The rocks are still relatively clean and only just starting to show the algae growth again after three weeks. Problem is, within another 3-4 weeks they'll be completely overgrown again.

The tank is an eheim Incipria 530. According to their site the lighting is 1x powerLED+ daylight; 1x powerLED+ plants and, as a I say, they're on for about 5 hours a day.

The anubias are the only plants in the tank as they're the only ones I've been able to put in that the fish didnt eat. I knew they're slow growing so I stocked about 20 plants in there and get new leaves every few weeks. I might try the floating plants to diffuse the lights, so long as they dont get eaten

 

[JPMcQueen]

I think I need to rethink the floating plants. I'd forgotten just how much goldfish destroy plants. I put in some natans and they managed to eat their way through them all in 3 days.

Also, I've repositioned the lighting and the green algae has now gone a distinct shade of brown. Not sure if they're diatoms or just plain old dirt feeding through the
filter