How do you take care of your algae problems?

[lilhurleybunny]

Hey everyone! My tank is a bit covered in algae at the moment . I am posting this to find the best methods to keep it down in the future after i wash off alot of my stuff in the tank this afternoon . Plus I figured this may be a helpful poll to more people then just myself, if it's not, oh well! Polls are fun anyways . Whenever you guys post pictures of your tanks it always looks spotless of algae and very clean so you must have some sort of secret!

Thanks guys!

 

[Tempestuousfury]

I use an algae scrubber and elbow grease.

The only algae problems I have is in my ten gallon tank, which is lighted with incandescent bulbs. Not sure why my 55 (fluorescent lights) doesn't have algae, though. I'd think it'd have more than the 10. Anyways, I've got a plec, and AE, and livebearers. All of them nibble or feast on algae, so they probably take care of the problems. (No AE in my 10, by the way)

 

[LoveMyOscar]

...

 

[thecichlidaddict]

The fact that my nitrates don't go beyond 10 is helpful.

I voted lights off however, in any aquarium that does not have live plants I just leave the lights on for most of the day and turn them on when I am actually there to view the tank.

In my planted tank I've found that a couple of ghost shrimp keep it pretty spotless, with a little help from me. I don't like to overdo it with algae eaters, if I use any, because they are very messy on an aquarium.

 

[Yenko]

My plants kill the alage growing on them, but, I use a razor blade to remove it from the glass. If you get alage growing on plants a bit of fertilizer seems to help.

 

[Brattina88]

I use an algae scrubber and elbow grease.

Thats me
Never had a problem in my 20g, with the guppies and the AE and the plants
I have to wipe out the 10g sometimes, my 3g tank more often

 

[diVer]

My otos and pleco, along with frequent water changes, keeps it down.

 

[Alien_spawn]

The wierd thing was I only had my algae problem when I had live plants, I tried various methods to remove it none worked.

I seemed to find the root cause of the algae it was having real plants!!!! I switched back to fake ones and the algae is no more

I've kinder given up on real plants now

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

easy, I don't.
Although the algae is very ugly, my fish enjoy snacking on it, and my water is a little to Basic for a algae eater (around 8-8.2). But I was doing some research, and hopefully I will be able to find a suitable one soon.

 

[Sea_Monster87]

I use a razor blade to remove algae, however, if your tank is acrylic (sp?)
DON'T use a razor blade.

 

[Pointy_kitty]

too much plant fertilizor always causes algae in my tanks
i accidentally put the monthly dose in twice )
i should really wright that down....
anyhoodles,
my flying fox became fat and my tank was spottless,
but if you have a tiny tank i would suggest a smaller algae eater (flying foxes can get 5" and they are territorial like sharks as they get older )
OR
if you just have a bit of brown algae a simple algae sponge usually is fast and effective for a long time!
if you have no plants or algae waffers in the water it usually takes a LONG time for algae to built up and it is in the tiniest amounts!

 

[Pointy_kitty]

i just thought i would add that i didn't think that my algae eater was eating enough so i started to pop in an algae waffer every second day and he stopped eating the tanks algae to eat the waffers
by the end of the week the tank had exploded with algae!
he was doing a bang up job until i spoiled him

 

[Stacey269]

I've had a 10 g since Dec now. I do monthly water changes, but all of a sudden, I've been getting inundated with brown algae. I have a guppy, 2 mollies, and an otto, all of whom like to eat the algae. Why am I all of a sudden having this problem, and how to you get the algae off your decorations and gravel?

 

[Pointy_kitty]

I've had a 10 g since Dec now. I do monthly water changes, but all of a sudden, I've been getting inundated with brown algae. I have a guppy, 2 mollies, and an otto, all of whom like to eat the algae. Why am I all of a sudden having this problem, and how to you get the algae off your decorations and gravel?

do you have plants in your tank?
if so do you use fertilizers?
what is the type/wattage of your light
how long do you leave the light on?
do you put algae waffers/disks in for your otto?
if so how much and how often?

for the decorations i would use an algae sponge
as for the gravel i have never had that before....
try getting another otto

 

[Stacey269]

I don't have live plants, I don't use algae wafers or fertilizer, I leave the light off all day while I'm at work, but do like to turn it on when I get home. I usually leave it on during the day on weekends, but I have been doing this since the start. It just seemed weird that this ocurred so much so fast. Do you take out the decorations to use the algae sponge. I have one of those long-handled ones that I use to clean the sides sometimes. It's all over and in the gravel too all of a sudden. This has happened within the last few days. I did just recently change the filter pad too, so I'm not sure what to think the cause could be. Maybe I should clean it all up and get another otto?