kingmed
Fish Crazy
I have a 55 gallon tank that is in my dinning room and has been setup for over 2 years, it has pool filter sand as the substrate (which was cleaned very good before adding to tank), the inhabitants are 4 tiny baby angelfish, 1 adult angelfish, 5 yo yo loaches,1 synodontis catfish and 1 spotted raphael along with 3 baby bristlenose that are there to take care of the algae on the sides of the tank which they have done a great job. The tank also has 3 large mopani driftwoods, run by a singel AquaClear 110 filter.
The problem I have had since around the beginning of 2009 is that the sand gets algae growing on it and it don't stop, I can suction the top of the sand which is kind of crusty with a film of aprox. 1/16" algae but it just takes more of the sand out of the tank plus it really doesn't help that much. The fish seem to be doing great and the water perimeters are good, it's just this darn algae---tried keeping lights off for days on end and even cutting back alot on feeding fish with no help. The stock I have now has only been this way for about 4 months so this has been going on for a long time. There are no live plants in the tank, I do at least a 25-30% water change at least weekly to clean out the crap and algae, today I did a major 50% change which I do every month or so. The tank is setting about 12-14 feet from the dining room windows which the blinds are hardly ever open and even then since the house next door blocks the sun we don't get alot of that through the windows.
Tell me if I'm wrong PLEASE--I thought about gradually suctioning out all the sand in the next few water changes and then either adding new sand or gravel to the tank. I figure that if I brought the water down to about 30-40% full then add the sand or gravel to one end of the tank with the fish in the tank and then level out the subtrate. I need alot of advise on what to do here, I love the tank and it's going to be modified shortly once I get my other two tanks cycled in the next 4-6 weeks, it's just that the algae makes it horrible to look at and my wife really does like it that way, you know when the wife ain't happy something has to be done. I appreciate any professional or non professional help/advise. Thanks for all the help.
The problem I have had since around the beginning of 2009 is that the sand gets algae growing on it and it don't stop, I can suction the top of the sand which is kind of crusty with a film of aprox. 1/16" algae but it just takes more of the sand out of the tank plus it really doesn't help that much. The fish seem to be doing great and the water perimeters are good, it's just this darn algae---tried keeping lights off for days on end and even cutting back alot on feeding fish with no help. The stock I have now has only been this way for about 4 months so this has been going on for a long time. There are no live plants in the tank, I do at least a 25-30% water change at least weekly to clean out the crap and algae, today I did a major 50% change which I do every month or so. The tank is setting about 12-14 feet from the dining room windows which the blinds are hardly ever open and even then since the house next door blocks the sun we don't get alot of that through the windows.
Tell me if I'm wrong PLEASE--I thought about gradually suctioning out all the sand in the next few water changes and then either adding new sand or gravel to the tank. I figure that if I brought the water down to about 30-40% full then add the sand or gravel to one end of the tank with the fish in the tank and then level out the subtrate. I need alot of advise on what to do here, I love the tank and it's going to be modified shortly once I get my other two tanks cycled in the next 4-6 weeks, it's just that the algae makes it horrible to look at and my wife really does like it that way, you know when the wife ain't happy something has to be done. I appreciate any professional or non professional help/advise. Thanks for all the help.
