what is this stuff on my glass?

[Retired Viking]

I would do a 75% this week and try and do a 50% once a week from now on. I always try and vacuum my tank when I do water changes but others do not.

 

[wtusa17]

I would do a 75% this week and try and do a 50% once a week from now on. I always try and vacuum my tank when I do water changes but others do not.

I always try to vacuum but it’s difficult with sand

 

[Retired Viking]

I bend the hose to shut off the suction when the sand starts to raise up in the vacuum tube.

 

[wtusa17]

I bend the hose to shut off the suction when the sand starts to raise up in the vacuum tube.

Ok thanks

 

[Colin_T]

a lot of it looks like sediment from poor filtration and uneaten food.

reduce the feeding, try frozen (but defrosted) foods instead of pellet foods.

make sure your filter is working properly

 

[wtusa17]

a lot of it looks like sediment from poor filtration and uneaten food.

reduce the feeding, try frozen (but defrosted) foods instead of pellet foods.

make sure your filter is working properly

The stuff on the glass?

 

[Colin_T]

yes the mud on the glass looks like sediment from uneaten food, in particular pellet foods.

 

[wtusa17]

yes the mud on the glass looks like sediment from uneaten food, in particular pellet foods.

It’s not mud. It’s these clear/white things on the glass

 

[Byron]

I agree with Colin on what this is; from the photos I am seeing algae with particulate matter. This should be easy to deal with. The reason it keeps coming back after you remove it is because the source/cause is still there, and that is what must be rectified.

First, you are feeeding way too much food. Once a day maximum for mature fish (fry need more frequent feedings, but the fish in the photos are way larger than new fry). One day or two days a week with no food (call them fast days) is fine. Also, make sure you do not feed too much; upper fish should eat all the flake/small pellet food you feed them within a matter of seconds. Substrate fish like cories and loaches and most catfish need more time and should be fed on sinking foods like tablets, pellets, disks. My cories can take 2 hours to get rhough some of these because the sinking foods tend to be "hard" so they do not disintegrate and fish can feed off of them.

Second, the foods themselves, as Colin mentioned. Quality prepared foods (flake, pellet, sinking foods) fed sparingly, with treats of frozen daphnia or brine shrimp.

Third, regular (once each week on the same weekday each time) partial water changes of 60-70% of the tank volume; do a good clean into the substrate. If sand, someone mentioned how to deal with this, plus you can hold the water changer just above the sand and sort of stir it a bit and the loose detritus will usually pull up without the sand.

Specifically for the algae, reducing the nutrients (fish foods) will obviously be a big thing in getting rid of this. Plants use nutrients, which is why your planted tanks do not have this as much. Without plants, algae will always be more obvious because of the nutrients and light, but keeping organics minimal by water changes, filter cleanings often, substrate vacuuming, reducing food...all will help.

 

[wtusa17]

I agree with Colin on what this is; from the photos I am seeing algae with particulate matter. This should be easy to deal with. The reason it keeps coming back after you remove it is because the source/cause is still there, and that is what must be rectified.

First, you are feeeding way too much food. Once a day maximum for mature fish (fry need more frequent feedings, but the fish in the photos are way larger than new fry). One day or two days a week with no food (call them fast days) is fine. Also, make sure you do not feed too much; upper fish should eat all the flake/small pellet food you feed them within a matter of seconds. Substrate fish like cories and loaches and most catfish need more time and should be fed on sinking foods like tablets, pellets, disks. My cories can take 2 hours to get rhough some of these because the sinking foods tend to be "hard" so they do not disintegrate and fish can feed off of them.

Second, the foods themselves, as Colin mentioned. Quality prepared foods (flake, pellet, sinking foods) fed sparingly, with treats of frozen daphnia or brine shrimp.

Third, regular (once each week on the same weekday each time) partial water changes of 60-70% of the tank volume; do a good clean into the substrate. If sand, someone mentioned how to deal with this, plus you can hold the water changer just above the sand and sort of stir it a bit and the loose detritus will usually pull up without the sand.

Specifically for the algae, reducing the nutrients (fish foods) will obviously be a big thing in getting rid of this. Plants use nutrients, which is why your planted tanks do not have this as much. Without plants, algae will always be more obvious because of the nutrients and light, but keeping organics minimal by water changes, filter cleanings often, substrate vacuuming, reducing food...all will help.

Thanks. I’ll start to feed less and try to get more gunk when I do water changes.

 

[Byron]

One thing I forgot previously that also helps...floating plants. Even in tanks without lower plants, a cover of floating is always a good idea because fish appreciate less light and floating plants are fast growing which means they take up more nutrients so algae is further disadvantaged.

 

[wtusa17]

One thing I forgot previously that also helps...floating plants. Even in tanks without lower plants, a cover of floating is always a good idea because fish appreciate less light and floating plants are fast growing which means they take up more nutrients so algae is further disadvantaged.

I’ve seen that method used for algae before. Where do you get them? They don’t have them at my lfs

 

[Byron]

I’ve seen that method used for algae before. Where do you get them? They don’t have them at my lfs

Some fish stores may not carry live plants, other may. You can look online, as you are in the USA you should be able to find online aquarium plant dealers. Order them in warmer weather (rather than colder, depending where the plants are coming from) but most online retailers likely have reliable plants.

One of the best floaters is Water Sprite, Ceratopteris cornuta; you only need one or two as once established/settled it will grow and produce many adventitious plants on alternate fronds (it is a true fern so the "leaves" are fronds). Tropical Frogbit is a favourite of many, just make sure it is the true tropical species, Limnobium laevigatum, and not the temperate which does not do as well in a tropical tank. And another is Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes).

Some stem plants do well left floating.

 

[wtusa17]

Some fish stores may not carry live plants, other may. You can look online, as you are in the USA you should be able to find online aquarium plant dealers. Order them in warmer weather (rather than colder, depending where the plants are coming from) but most online retailers likely have reliable plants.

One of the best floaters is Water Sprite, Ceratopteris cornuta; you only need one or two as once established/settled it will grow and produce many adventitious plants on alternate fronds (it is a true fern so the "leaves" are fronds). Tropical Frogbit is a favourite of many, just make sure it is the true tropical species, Limnobium laevigatum, and not the temperate which does not do as well in a tropical tank. And another is Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes).

Some stem plants do well left floating.

Ok thanks

 

[Retired Viking]

Anacharis, moneywort, and hornwort are some more floating plants, easy to care for and you can plant them in the sand if you want. I have floating plants in all my tanks and like @Byron stated water sprite is one of the best.