very bad algae

[j@mie]

hi guys, i have a 15 gal tank which was fine when i had neons etc, but over the past 6 months ive had 2 convicts in it alone because they are a breeding pair. Things were going fine then all of a sudden green algae started to appear which looks digusting, and if i leave it just grows and grows until its floating around the tank. So i moved the convicts to another tank because i thought they were just dirty fish and this was the prob, i then took the tank into my garden and jet washed all the algae away and left it starting empty for 3 days to dry.

I decided to fill the tank ready for new stock, so at present there are no fish in it, but again this algae is growing !!!! i just dont know what the problem is here, it never appeared before i got the convicts, but now i just cant seem to get rid of it.

please help me.

thanks

p.s the tank has always been under my window, so please dont say the problem is because its in sunlight, its never happened before. Also when i cleaned the tank, i throughly cleaned the filter, heater etc, so im just at a loss.

thanks

 

[j@mie]

i just want to stock this tank with fresh fish, neons, platies and plant it, but i cant with this mess

 

[Snailguy101]

Well if I were you id just go and get some green away or somthing that destroys or eats algae Snails are great alge eaters if I do say so my self like mysters snails apple snails and ramshorns are all great alge eaters

 

[rdd1952]

p.s the tank has always been under my window, so please dont say the problem is because its in sunlight, its never happened before.

The direct sunlight could still be the problem depending on how long you previously ran it. As the seasons change, the sun moves so it could be getting considerably more sunlight now than it was before. If you had it running for a full year without problems though, that would probably not be the problem. If you cleaned it and have it set up without fish or fish food (source for nutrients for the algae) then I can't imagine how the algae is growing (finding food) unless there is a significant amount of nitrates in your tap water.

Edit: It sounds like what you have is blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). If that is the case, there aren't any algae eaters that will eat it. A 3 day blackout will probably work but unless you find the food source for the algae and eliminate it, the algae will come back.

 

[j@mie]

i just bought 2 plecos, im hoping they will clear this up for me

 

[houndour]

are you going to take the plecs back to the shop?

 

[j@mie]

are you going to take the plecs back to the shop?

nope why

 

[houndour]

i think a lot of plecs grow _really_ big. Do you know what species you have?

 

[j@mie]

i think a lot of plecs grow _really_ big. Do you know what species you have?

bristlenose, and size isnt a prob for me - i know quite alot about fish so dont worry