Two aquarium questions

[Country joe]

Hi I'm having an algae problem I have slight hair algae it's not too bad
but its there, and Green algae on the glass, the tank is in my bedroom, and I now keep the blind closed permanently. I've cut the light hours on a timer from 10 hours to 8 hours, will this help or should I cut my light hours to 6.
My second question, I like to do weekly water changes in my 125 litre tank, should I change 10% weekly or 20%, I'm thinking of doing the ten, but what would do you think would be best.
Thanks.

 

[GaryE]

Question one: my view is it may be question 2. Algae needs nutrients. I do a minimum 30% every 7 days on my tanks, and feed carefully. I don't get much algae, even in tanks near windows. So rather than lighting period, consider your feeding and water changing routines. Most of us overfeed. For algae problems, it's all interconnected.

If you were to do 30 or even 40% water changes every week, you'd likely reduce the algae growth. Cut back on how much you feed, and you may be getting somewhere. Light alone isn't the issue.

 

[Country joe]

I know what you mean by overfeeding but I had this problem when I was doing a fishless cycle therefore not feeding

 

[MaloK]

Many species of algae thrive on nearly nitrate alone an essential nutrient for algae growth.

Add a little phosphorus some carbon dioxide. And BLOOM !

 

[sharkweek178]

Hi I'm having an algae problem I have slight hair algae it's not too bad
but its there, and Green algae on the glass, the tank is in my bedroom, and I now keep the blind closed permanently. I've cut the light hours on a timer from 10 hours to 8 hours, will this help or should I cut my light hours to 6.
My second question, I like to do weekly water changes in my 125 litre tank, should I change 10% weekly or 20%, I'm thinking of doing the ten, but what would do you think would be best.
Thanks.

Water changes dilute the excess nutrients that algae needs. The larger your water change, the more dilution. Cutting the light will help too. A timer is invaluable, whether it's an electrical plug in timer or one that's built into the lights.

 

[gwand]

Hi I'm having an algae problem I have slight hair algae it's not too bad
but its there, and Green algae on the glass, the tank is in my bedroom, and I now keep the blind closed permanently. I've cut the light hours on a timer from 10 hours to 8 hours, will this help or should I cut my light hours to 6.
My second question, I like to do weekly water changes in my 125 litre tank, should I change 10% weekly or 20%, I'm thinking of doing the ten, but what would do you think would be best.
Thanks.

I limit artificial light from 8AM -Noon. This took care of my algae problem. Of course continue good water exchange maintenance.

 

[Naughts]

Live plants, especially floating, will use nutrients so there is less for the algae.
Larger water changes can be a bit more effort (depending on the system - 50% drained and refilled by hose is easier than 10 or 20% by bucket), but are worth it. The water clarity is improved and everything looks lighter and brighter, as well as the benefits for the fish.

 

[Ram419]

I've had a terrible green hair algae issue in a 5 gallon for a while. I've recently just cut the artificial light altogether. The tank gets indirect sunlight from the windows and floating plants and other plants in the tank are growing although slower then before. I actually like that the frogbit is growing slower. They are greener and more full. With the light on they would always propegate itself to new stems. There's currently only one fish in there as well, and some shrimp. So the tank doesn't have that much food added to it.

Turning off the light seems to have stunted the hair algae growth but I have yet to do a good cleanup of it since I've turned the lights off and have it run for a while longer to really tell if helping at all.

 

[Colin_T]

Picture of the tank so we can see how many and what type of live plants you have in it?

Algae grows from an imbalance in the system. Too much light, or too many nutrients, or not enough live plants to use the light and nutrients will allow algae to grow instead.

 

[Fishfunn]

Hi I'm having an algae problem I have slight hair algae it's not too bad
but its there, and Green algae on the glass, the tank is in my bedroom, and I now keep the blind closed permanently. I've cut the light hours on a timer from 10 hours to 8 hours, will this help or should I cut my light hours to 6.

I got hair algae in a tank from plants I bought at a LFS. I been successful battling it by cutting back the light intensity and having floating duckweed on the surface. The floating duckweed is great for cutting light and absorbing nutrients in the water. The duckweed I got is twice as large as normal duckweed, and I like how the roots dangle down from the surface. It is a 20 gallon display tank and has an AquaClear 30 HOB filter.

My second question, I like to do weekly water changes in my 125 litre tank, should I change 10% weekly or 20%, I'm thinking of doing the ten, but what would do you think would be best.

It depends on your bio-load. If you have a lot of fish or if you possibly overfeed, then 20% weekly is what I would do.

 

[GaryE]

Given a choice between duckweed and hair algae, I would take hair algae anytime. As pests go, duckweed is one that has driven me crazy for years. Getting rid of it is a slow process.
You have to consider that when you use a pest to defeat a pest.
The longer I keep tanks, the more I find a connection between what I see in the waters around me and what I see in my tanks. We tend to think of our water as stripped of everything, squeaky clean, but I expect algaes get through filtration plants. If I have a flare up of a certain type of algae in my tanks, I can almost guarantee a trip down to the local freshwater will show me the exact type of algae there. I don't collect form local water bodies or have any net transfer.

In many places, these issues can come in with the water, and can be seasonal. In our aquarium club, we were informally tracking Cyanobacter in our tanks, and had noted that it started in everyone's tanks in the same week, and faded out the same way in well maintained tanks.

This makes me think the advice we offer might work better for some than others, through no fault of their own. There are good ideas to try here, but eventually, with a headstart from advice here, you can work out your own local response. Then you move and the learning curve restarts in a new environment.

 

[Lcc86]

I would try some floating plants like dwarf lettuce, and much bigger water changes. I have the same size tank (almost) and I do about 60-70% weekly. More effort but easier to keep the nasties at bay.

 

[Country joe]

Thanks for that I've made up my mind I'm going to go for 50% water change weekly

 

[Magnum Man]

actually I'm convinced one of the easiest methods to control algae is with plants, that outcompete the algae for nutrients... I have my lights on my tanks at my hours... like 18 hours of bright lights, per day, & my mature tanks have no algae... but I have 6-12 Terrestrial plants growing out of each tank...

 

[Country joe]

I have about 12 live plants in my 125 tank