Algae bloom

[cor]

Recently did a huge gravel vac job and a 50% water change and a few days later woke up to this.

Also, here is a tank I picked up for $3 at a garage sale and let my wife pick out a parrot fish.

 

[sushiray]

did you clean your filtration also? I think they say hi nitrates & extended lighting causes blooms. can you do your testing?

also, $3 - that's unheard of! it looks like it was new!! what a deal of a steal!! good for you & your wife!

 

[cor]

I haven't tested the water after the bloom. I have cut back feeding and have the lights on for only 4 hours a day.

I believe the cause was the sheer amount of waste stirred up from the python.

I'll ride it out and hope it goes away naturally.

 

[its_an_obsession]

get some 50 micron filter pads. they work wonders at getting rid of algae blooms. i keep them in my aquaclears all the time now and the water is crystal clear.

 

[cor]

Now that you mention it, I used to run a single micro pad in my XP1 but have sense removed as I didn't believe it was doing anything.

I have an AC110 as well, what brand of micro pad do you run that fits well in the ac110?

 

[sushiray]

get some 50 micron filter pads. they work wonders at getting rid of algae blooms. i keep them in my aquaclears all the time now and the water is crystal clear.

may I ask how the micropads work in removing algae stuck on everything & anything in the tank? unless you're scrubbing them loose to float free in the water then I can see the filter & micropads do its thing.

after I just did a major scrubbing yesterday & 80% w/c & lots of vac-ing & cleaning out my filters & every surface object I am on day one of crystal clear waters (+ have to reduce my light usage but can't reduce my feedings as I have juvie discus).

 

[cor]

Shushiray, that sounds like you may have done to much cleaning and may have removed some of your good bacteria.

The microfilter pads in theory could capture some of the free floating particles that a normal poarise sponge won't be able to pull out of the water.

I was going to wait out my algae bloom but after 4 days I broke down and did a simple 50% water change....no gravel vac or filter cleaning yet.

 

[fcamargo6thave]

had the same problem I tried doing water changes and keeping the lights off but no use i had to buy alge destroyer liquid.. Last resort but it worked no problems eversince but i still have cloudy water

 

[cor]

I ended up breaking down and buying "Algae Destroyer".

I added it before going to work and when I came home 10 hours later the water was perfectly clear. I was very surprised it worked as well as it did in just a short time.

I still need to get to the root of my problem.

 

[FSM]

You probably stirred up a whole bunch of junk when you cleaned the gravel