Whats The Best Way To Get Rid Of Algae

[grimmy]

?

 

[Squid]

Sorry if this answer sounds either obvious or negative (it's not meant to be ) , but it's really about finding the cause.

How often do you do water changes?
Is the tank in direct sunlight?
Do you have plants in the tank?
Do you use fertlisiation or CO2?
Do you have any algae eating fish?
What type of algae problem do you have?

Cheers
Squid

 

[grimmy]

How often do you do water changes? once a week
Is the tank in direct sunlight? yes
Do you have plants in the tank? yes
Do you use fertlisiation or CO2? no
Do you have any algae eating fish? yes
What type of algae problem do you have? brownish algae

 

[brads]

Plants Plants and more plants fast growers do the trick. Worked on my tank.
Brads

 

[Squid]

How often do you do water changes? once a week
Is the tank in direct sunlight? yes
Do you have plants in the tank? yes
Do you use fertlisiation or CO2? no
Do you have any algae eating fish? yes
What type of algae problem do you have? brownish algae

Ok.. so water changes look ok..

Tank in direct sunlight might not be helping the the algae issue. Especially if you have your lighting on later in the day as well.

As previously mentioned, fast growing plants can help to reduce the algae. They use the nutrients that the algae has been using to grow.. cunning eh. Some people find adding CO2 can help reduce algae too. Hygrophilia polysperma plants have been good growers in my tank.

With regards to ferts i get a little confused. If you are not using ferts then there may be some nutrients that the plants need missing, but the algae can continue to grow, and if you are over ferting (which you are not) this may provide algae nutrition too. Perhaps someone with more nouse here could expand for me.

Algae eating fish is a good start - I have a couple of otos and a BN plec which help. I have recently asked a question as to how often i should feed these chaps, wondering whether me feeding them algae wafers stops them cleaning my tank, but i have no conclusions on this yet.

Brownish alge. hmm.. that sounds like the algae i had as part of the very early days of my tank cycling. How long has the tank been up and running?

Cheers
Squid

 

[grimmy]

one month

 

[Squid]

sounds like diatoms to me. see here - this link

Although this suggests too little light, this is not necessarily the case here, but may depend on how long you have the lights on for. Although if it is in sunlight i don't think this is the case To be honest, most new tanks will have this type of alge, and it can dissapear as quick as it came.

Hope that helps. If you search this forum for diatoms you will see it gets mentioned all over the place, and should not be a long term problem.

Squid

 

[XPANDA]

adding moss balls helps, they are actually algae themselves and they compete with the algae you dont want for nutrients - and win. they look cool too. good luck.

 

[Dave Spencer]

A picture of the type is needed, really, but it sounds like brown diatoms to me. This a pretty interesting type of algae as it lives inside a shell it makes from silicates in the water. Generally speaking, it is associated with immature set ups, possibly due to the presence of NH4 (including levels our test kits can`t detect).

Tank in direct sunlight might not be helping the the algae issue. Especially if you have your lighting on later in the day as well.

Light is a major driver for algae growth in the aquarium. You may well need to address the issue of sunlight falling directly on to your tank.

With regards to ferts i get a little confused. If you are not using ferts then there may be some nutrients that the plants need missing, but the algae can continue to grow, and if you are over ferting (which you are not) this may provide algae nutrition too. Perhaps someone with more nouse here could expand for me.

Algae can grow in RO water and it can grow in heavily planted, high growth tanks. Water column nutrient levels will not cause algae, but they will feed it. I have dosed an algae suppressed planted tank way beyond the nutrient requirements of the plants and not induced algae. If I was to stop adding the nutrients, the health of the plants will eventually suffer, causing them to leach ammonia in to the water column, which is an algae trigger.

Fortunately, brown diatoms are just about the easiest type of algae to remove, be it through elbow grease or buying a few Otos, which are great for this job. This type of algae has also been known to disappear over time as the tank become more mature and stable.

It has been attributed to low light conditions, but I seem to be able to produce it in 3.4WPG.

Dave.

 

[Squid]

Thanks for clearing that up Dave, dosing ferts is an area of confusion for me (if you have any nice links to read i would appreciate it)..

I agree with you on the oto front too, they love the stuff. My only concern is whether an oto would be best placed in a new tank. They are fragile little critters at the best of times.

Cheers,
Squid

If I was to stop adding the nutrients, the health of the plants will eventually suffer, causing them to leach ammonia in to the water column, which is an algae trigger.
Dave.

This is ringing bells with me (unfortunately, alarm bells) ;-)

Squid

 

[omega59]

remove fom natural light will help

 

[grimmy]

will this work http/www.petco.com/product/3346/Jungle-N...nk-Buddies.aspx or http/www.petco.com/product/9683/Mag-Floa...m-Cleaners.aspx

 

[Squid]

Well personally I avoid adding things like the first link, as i prefer to figure out why there is algae there, but the second looks exactly the same as the one i use.. Should sort the glass out for you at least ;-)

Squid