My tank has long green algae.?

Question

It looks like hair, and it is stuck on the bottom of the tank, on the rocks. What is this from? Do I need to get rid of it?

This tank has never been stocked, I set it up, and let it cycle for weeks, and have been using the light as a night light. This is a fresh water tank, not saltwater.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

well first, you want to clean it. you DON'T want to use any cleaners, that will kill the fish. then you want to get the cleaner that is made for cleaning the gravel, maybe called a gravel vaccume. after this, your tank might look better. you might want to take any decoration out, and cleaning that.

Answer 2

If the algae is hard to remove and almost brushy or hairy looking, this is called "beard algae" also known as "hair" or "brush" algae. It is a rough algae that most fish don't like to eat. 'gold barbs' eat the algae If you have room get a few.

It is also over growing from too much light. You might cut back to 8 or 9 hours, phosphates can be elevated and cause excess algae as well. Try getting phosphate pads ( I don't reccoment to keep adding chemicals when there are other healther answers to your tank). These pads can be added to your filter just like a filter. Expect to see a change in less than a week. Remember to rinse out the pads when you clean your tank filter as well.

You can remove the BULK of the algae by using a dowl rod and wrapping the algae around it....if the algae it isn't too short. Also, scrap the sides of your tank and use an aquarium syphone to remove the loose algae. Do this on your next water change to save you and the fish from added aggrivation

You can also try adding a lower uv light to the hood. If you must keep the light on. Less UV will not allow the algae to grow as fast.

Lots of luck

Answer 3

Its never a good idea to leave the light on all night. This will not only mess with your fish's sleeping, but it will cause algae and other bacteria to grow in the tank like crazy because it will have constant light! Turn off the lights at night.
Clean out the tank using a siphon and get all of the algae out.

Answer 4

DO NOT use chemicals to kill the algae. Not even chemicals that claim to be aquarium safe. They cause rapid Ph swings which are harmful to fish. They also have other chemicals that will hurt fish. Weekly water changes and a good algae brush/scraper will do the job just fine. You don't want to leave your lights on for more than 6-8 hours a day.

Answer 5

it is called hair algae , there are products that take care of it called algae fix , keep the lights off as much as possible and you will have to scrap the sides of the tank b/c the product will not destroy and break it down . also remove the carbon and foam from your filter and a partial water change will need to be done when you are finished with the product

Answer 6

as everyone else has answered turn off the lights and make sure it is not in any direct sunlight. Also do a test on your phosphates, the higher they are the more algea you'll get. You can buy products to get rid of it but a few water changes, cleaning the decorations and managing the light and phosphates will do it as well. good luck

Answer 7

The algae is a good sign of water quality but it is caused by too much light.It is harmless to fish but if you dont like it then turn the light off.

Answer 8

Algea eaters, snails (a couple of big ones) they will eat it. You tank has a good ph, just too much light. This will make it so that you don't have to move your tank or keep the light off.

Answer 9

take it out of the sun light, and u wash the stuff over