I have a 20 long tank with a aqua clear 50 I have four live plants and two fake plants. my tank has 15 small fish no bigger than an inch and two plecos. I am using an airator. My tank has been set up for about a year and just now it started to show up everything is normal Ammonia and Nitrite are zero and ph is at 7.0. I do a 30% water change and clean the gravel every mounth and I don't over feed, I feed them for 30 seconds and scoop out the uneaten food. What can I do to make the algae go away or should I just leave it alone.
2006-12-03 11:01:14 · 6 answers · asked by CAPTAIN GENIUS !! 5 in Pets ➔ Fish
You are waiting too long between water changes. You should be changing 25-30% of the water every week (never change 100% of the water). That will keep the nitrates at or near 0. I have tanks that have been set up for as long as five years without a teardown and 100% change. As long as you are siphoning the gravel once a month, that is good enough. Nitrates are used by plants (algae is a plant) to grow. If your other live plants are healthy, they should out compete the algae for the available nutrients left in the water after the water changes.
Live plants need about 8-10 hours of light per day. More will just cause the algae to bloom. Feed them once a day. You can even skip a day once a week without causing the fish any harm. I do this with my fish.
2006-12-03 12:07:46 · answer #1 · answered by 8 In the corner 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Keep your lights off as much as possible as this is necessary for algae growth, and also keep your nitrates low (by changing the tank water often). In addition, you could also get an algae eating fish or invertabrate, such as plecos or japonica shrimp.
2006-12-03 19:04:47 · answer #2 · answered by Brian C 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you leave it alone it will go everywhere, so you should get algae eaters. I have two algae eaters a plecustomus and a Chinese algae eater (I have a ten gallon tank and I have had for almost a year). You can get them at Walmart or Meijer.
2006-12-03 19:59:19 · answer #3 · answered by Jill 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well as long as it is not turning your water green it should be fine, if it is just algae growing on the glass but your waters clear just get another or couple of plecos... may i say a golden nugget or something with less appeptite for plants because you do have live plants.
or just scrape it off your glass using a scraper form the pet stores or just get a paper towel and take it off or just use your hands.
2006-12-03 19:07:15 · answer #4 · answered by azn.balla 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
some algae is normal and natural, it is caused by the amount of light the tank receives, you can reduce the amount of algae by turning off the light when not needed
2006-12-04 04:55:41 · answer #5 · answered by Loollea 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Is there day light shining on your tank at all? Sunlight contributes to algae like you wouldn't believe
2006-12-03 20:51:45 · answer #6 · answered by Boxer Lover 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋