how to get rid of algae?

Question

i got a serious problem with it in my tropical tank, it grows on the glass, the gravel, the rocks, the filters, the plants even!

I emptied and fully cleaned every part of the tank 2 weeks ago, scrubbed every trace of algae away and already the problem is back.

I give it 12 hours light a day as i also have plants so less light is not really an option.

I am going to get some algae eating fish this week but i doubt even they could eat the ammount that grows.

What else can i do?

Answer 1

The fact of the matter is that Algae is the sign of a really healthy tank. The fish like it in there and it is really only for our viewing pleasure that we get rid of it.

The best (and in fact only thing) you should do is get yourself a plec. This is a type of catfish that will munch the algae quite happily and clear your tank within a couple of weeks or so. Be warned that Plec's will grow proportional to the size of your tank and can grow to up to 3ft long. It is therefore not good to have more than one in a tank so don't buy a whole legion of them thinking it will fix the problem faster.

Use a razor blade to clean algae from the glass (the fish shop should have them mounted on a sort of stick thing for this very purpose).

This you MUST NOT do:

1. DON'T put any kind of chemical drops or things in there. It will seriously unbalance the delicate eco-system of your tank. If you have algae your tank is healthy!

2. Don't remove all the water to clean the tank out. To do that you need to remove the fish and it will really stress them out. Stress can kill fish so that's really bad. Use a siphon to clean the gravel and remove 10% of your tank's water every week. Replace that 10% with tap water that you have put some water conditioner into. You can take items out of the tank for cleaning but you should only do this by running them under cold water. Don't use anything to scrub them etc except brushes that are dedicated for fish tank cleaning and are used for nothing else.

If you follow this advice, and get yourself a plec, you will have shiny clean tank within a few weeks. I have 3 tanks of my own, they look gorgeous and this is the stuff I do to them.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Very simple. Either lower your phosphate levels as algae thrive on it (you can buy sachets from your local aquatic shop). Or you could purchase or get from a friend some ordinary pond snails. Not easy to get this time of year but i have seen about half a dozen clean a 3 foot tank in a day. They tolerate the warm water, dont eat your plants. They will not overun your tank as fish love their eggs and are big enough to remove when you like. You will never find an algae eating fish that will do half the job these snails do. I keep a small pond in the garden and just let them breed out there. Good luck.

Answer 3

Okay, don't don't don't DON'T use bleach, ever. You *could* use it, and then rinse a million times with dechlor, but why? There are better options.
Firstly, it is vital to identify WHICH type of algae you have. Not all algae is eaten by algae eating fish.
Do you have Black Beard Algae aka Red Algae? (BBA)
It is usually hard green in colour and fuzzy, and nearly impossible to scrape off: http://www.plantgeek.net/articles/gg_algae_faq/bba4.jpg
http://www.plantgeek.net/articles/gg_algae_faq/bba1.jpg
Algae eating fish will NOT eat BBA. If you have BBA, firstly, reduce your photoperiod. Plants do not need 12 hours of light; 9 is sufficient.
Secondly, get a CO2 infector, or a DIY. It's cheap and easy - take a 2L coke bottle (empty and rinsed), drill a hole in the cap for an airtube and seal around the airtube it with 100% rubber silicone. Then put 1tsp yeast and 1 cup sugar, swish in some warm water then fill it 2/3 with warm water, and close the bottle. You can attach your air line to an air stone or a water pump to diffuse the CO2 into your tank. You'll need to refill it every month (google DIY CO2 for more info). Also add trace macro/micro elements for plants - that, and the CO2, will encourage your plants to grow, thus not allowing algae to grow.

Do you have hair algae? It looks like bright green hair...
http://jerbaker.dhs.org/fish/images/algae-b.jpg
If so, CO2 / trace elements are recommended, but oto cats are great at eating that stuff. So are amano shrimp and cherry shrimp. If you supplement with an iron-based fertilizer, stop. Iron is what makes this stuff grow.

Do you have green algae? I don't think that's what you have, because these hard green spots of algae often appear on glass, and on the leaves of very slow-growing plants, but not on everything. Can't do much about this stuff but CO2/trace (to encourage plant growth to suck the nutrients away from algae). A BN pleco or oto cats may help a little.


A word about algae eaters: Chinese algae eaters are voracious algae eaters in their youth. However, they rapidly grow into irritable 8" carnivores who WILL eat your fish, and will not eat algae.
If you want a fish to help control algae, consider a school of oto cats, or a rubberlip or bushynose pleco if you have room.

Amano shrimp is THE algae eating shrimp, and if your fish aren't big enough to eat them (I'd say anything over 6" is too big), then get a group of them.

Answer 4

I used to keep tropical fish and I'm sure that I had the same problem I remember having to decant the fish into another tank whilst I emptied out the real one and put some mild bleach solution or Milton babies sterilizer and made sure the tank was really clean. Obviously you MUST make sure there is no trace of this before the fish go back by rinsing thoroughly. Algae is affected by light and therefore make sure the tank is not in sunlight if at all possible.

Answer 5

certain fish are good for clearing this problem, you can also get certain plants which also help. I have seen medicine as such to put a few drops into the water, they had it a pets at home. Have you got any snails, they eat the algae, are they getting direct sun light, this causes algae. Is your filter old or pump, maybe its time to buy a new one. You can get filters now with a carbon filter inside which helps. part from that, im afraid i dont no. Good luck.

Answer 6

It looks such as you have spot algae. That form of algae is definitely not undemanding to take off the partitions of your tank even however your scrubbing it off with a coarse sponges. Plecos will possibly not likely eat it as its not undemanding to scrape off the wall. do not attempt snails. even however they are able to eat off spot algae of the partitions, it does not recommend that they are going to eat all of it. I had some apple snails and you're able to desire to work out the areas which they wiped clean and the spots the place they did not. My answer is to shrink the scale of how long your lighting fixtures are on normally happening. Mine is desperate to 12hours in my planted tank(flowers outcompete with algae on food), whilst my different tank is desperate to ten hours (no algae or very minimum). To do away with the algae on the partitions, use your scrubber that has a manage and basically scrub the partitions till ultimately it comes off.

Answer 7

How often do you feed your fish? You may be feeding them too much. 12 hours of light is also a bit too much, do you mean the light is for the plants inside the tank??
Algae eaters are very good

Answer 8

clean the tank, put algae eaters in. make sure the tank is away from a window. algae seems to grow faster around a window. algae eaters are amazing. they will be able to keep the tank clean for you. 1 per every ten gallons should do the trick

Answer 9

If you want rid of the algae you will have to keep the light out.Your fish come first get rid of some of the plants.

Answer 10

Get a plecco, a catfish, a few goldfish and get some snails.

Also, try to limit sunlight to the tank. Artificial light is fine, but sunlight makes it grow faster.