Help My Algae Problem

[stewnew]

My 75 gallon african cichlid tank is being taken over by this soft green algae..

Its on the glass, its on the driftwood, its on the rocks, its on the filter, its everywhere.

Its even forming these little tufts of green fuzz in certain areas.

Ive got a giant 6.5" algae eater, who isnt helping the situation

And a smaller bn pleco who isnt doing it either.

What can i buy that will eat this algae?

Im tired of cleaning it.

 

[knifegill]

You could just let it grow on the back of your tank and it will stop trying to spread everywhere.

Adding fish probably won't help you much, but you could test your water for phosphates and other nutrients linked to algae blooms. Reduce feeding for awhile, too, to bring nitrates down (with big water changes, of course). There's actually a lot of threads like this already on here. Try searching for them to get a rounded dose of advice.

 

[sweeed]

Maybe a UV filter would work. Perhaps a 9V.

 

[stewnew]

Reduce feeding for awhile, too, to bring nitrates down

nitrates 0ppm

and uv kills more than just algae, i dont think its the right solution

 

[alu]

alright there are a few things you can do but more important you have to know why its happening or else its always gonna be happening. now first of its gonna take a while to clean out the tank of all the algae. ive read the other posts and yes a uv filter will deffinitatly help but there are other things with that you should do. fist of no more fish you got two plecos and believe it or not africans also eat algae. so thats not gonna help. algae starts with decaying matter. that means your not doing water changes enough and your filtration system is adequate for your setup. now if you told me what you did for weekly up keep and what you do for water changes and the chemicals you use in the tank i could help more. i would also take all the decorations you have in the tank and boil em that will kill the algae on it. then take the rocks for the most part out and do the same. before putting on this back in wipe out the tank and take a fine mesh net and swirl it in the water it should catch alot of the algae floating around. also watch you filter cause its going to suck up a lot of algae and maybe get clogged up. before you put the stuff back in the tank. place it in a bucket and fill it with water and treat it with a product called cycle or something that will add bacteria to the tank. leave em in the bucket for 24 hours. then place everything back in the tank. then add half of the recommend dossage of cycle to the tank to help build your bacteria colony back up quicker. now with this method you might get a milky looking water its ok. your bacteria colony got to big and thats what it looks like just do some water changes every two to three days 25% and it will level its self out. also watch your ph, nitrate, and nitrite. one of em might spike but it shouldnt. now you should be good. also when you do water changes if you dont know what kind of tap water you have then use cycle it gets rid of all the **** people put in water to make it clear and remove bad bacteria. and that stuff can kill your fish and also create algae. hope this helps if you need more info just post back with more info about your cleaning system and upkeep of the tank.

 

[Deaths Sting]

reduce the amount of light that the tank is being exposed too. windows, lamps etc.. etc..

 

[stewnew]

thanks for the post alu

i do a minimum of a 25% water change each week.

I guess I'll start with an intense cleaning. I dont know if i even have the means of boiling all my decor.



I think ill also turn back the light cycle

 

[Zander_The_RBP]

nitrates 0ppm

and uv kills more than just algae, i dont think its the right solution

Your nitrates are probably not 0ppm or else your tank is still cycling and the ammonia is what is feeding your algae.



And he's talking about a UV sterilizer which pumps water from your aquarium into it it does not shien directly on your tank. UV sterilizers realistically only kill alage and other things you don't want in your aqaurium anyway. But it may not be the right solution for you. From the sounds of this is is becuase of too much light or your feeding to much.

Retest your nitrates and then test your Ammonia and Nitrite. Nitrate should be anywhere from 5-40 (higher may cause algae problems) ammonia should be 0 (higher will harm your fish and also may cuase algae problems) and nitrite should be 0 (higher will harm your fish), and do water changes accordingly to bring them down if you have access to a phosphate test kit test for that too becuase any amount of phosphate will grow algae.

Nitrate can theretically be 0 but that really only happens in the most well taken care of high light/maintenance planted tanks or by use of an algae filter/refugium.

My advice is do all of that, and turn off the lights on your tank for a couple of days, reduce feeding and do as many water changes as you can.

if you can do what Alu said and boil all your decorations too and scrub off as much algae as you can by hand.


Good luck.

 

[stewnew]

yea im aware of what uv sterilizers are

the tank has been established for almost a year, and despite however many times i read "your nitrates cant be zero", my nitrates test at zero, as do my nitrites and ammonia.

at this point im suspecting the light. its a t5 and i may be leaving it on too long. ill cut it back, and try some manual removal of the algae, but im tired of my weekly maintenance including a thorough scub down of every surface in the tank. and all it takes is 1 week for it to reestablish itself

 

[Zander_The_RBP]

yea im aware of what uv sterilizers are

the tank has been established for almost a year, and despite however many times i read "your nitrates cant be zero", my nitrates test at zero, as do my nitrites and ammonia.

at this point im suspecting the light. its a t5 and i may be leaving it on too long. ill cut it back, and try some manual removal of the algae, but im tired of my weekly maintenance including a thorough scub down of every surface in the tank. and all it takes is 1 week for it to reestablish itself

so let me get this straight, your nitrates have always tested at 0? then there is either 1 something wrong with your nitrate test kit or 2 it's a user error( 2 is more likely). Nitrate test kits (API ones specifically) are the most misused things in the aquarium hobby because they require extensive shaking of the sample and reagents for an accurate test that alot of people don't realise they need to do. I suggest finding the manual that came with the test kit to see if your doing anything wrong.



yes T5 lights (especialy HO T5's) are very intense and will probably give you algae problems if they are on longer than 7-8 hours a day with no live plants in the tank.