How do you control algae?

[Hipporhyn]

How do you folks manage algae in a tank with a large, aggressive, territorial fish? I have a 10.5” red devil. Tank was set up a couple of weeks ago. I tried a 11.5” pleco but that is not working out. I am going to return him to LFS. Tank is 120 gallon. I have media that will (supposedly) consume nitrates, after 6 months. I have some plants glued to rocks (Anubias and Java Fern) and I change about 4 gallons of water daily. My hope was that, as the tank grows algae, the pleco would eat it and keep the algae to a minimum. That is not working out. Any suggestions?

 

[Fat Homer]

Depends on the type of algae there are different ways to battle it...

But without knowing anything about the tank itself its a crapshoot... coz it could be due to phosphates / lighting period / extra nutrient in the water / external lighting / etc etc...

 

[Gourami Swami]

How long has tank been set up?
Do you ever do a large water change? What are your nitrates reading at? 4g a day sounds pretty light to me, might be getting nitrate creep

 

[tlindsey]

How do you folks manage algae in a tank with a large, aggressive, territorial fish? I have a 10.5” red devil. Tank was set up a couple of weeks ago. I tried a 11.5” pleco but that is not working out. I am going to return him to LFS. Tank is 120 gallon. I have media that will (supposedly) consume nitrates, after 6 months. I have some plants glued to rocks (Anubias and Java Fern) and I change about 4 gallons of water daily. My hope was that, as the tank grows algae, the pleco would eat it and keep the algae to a minimum. That is not working out. Any suggestions?

Algae can be controlled by reducing time lights are on and water changes which reduce nutrients in the water for Algae to feed off.

 

[duanes]

I believe your 4 gallon per day water change will not have much impact, I usually do about a 20 - 30 gallon water change per day on similar sized tanks, and although there is a light film of algae on the glass, not much more.
I also use plants like Pothos, and Papyrus in tanks and sumps, to help use up the nutrients most algae feed on. The plant mass must outweigh the fish to be of any real control.


And have had some success controlling cyanobacteria (blue green/slime algae) using a pro-biotic bacteria such as Rid X in my sumps.

before Rid X above
a few weeks after starting to use Rid X below

 

[Hipporhyn]

How long has tank been set up?
Do you ever do a large water change? What are your nitrates reading at? 4g a day sounds pretty light to me, might be getting nitrate creep

The tank has only been set up for about 3 weeks.
I don’t have any algae yet. I was just hoping to keep it that way. Nitrates are close to 0. Water change if 4 gallons a day is 28 gallons a week= 23% weekly. If my nitrates creep up I will change more. I have not checked phosphates but I’m pretty on top of the water changes. Lighting 9 hours a day of full “daylight” from my 2 Current Orbit IC LED Loop lights (a 3’ and a 2’, The tank is 5’ long). Indirect external lighting, it is in an East facing room and not near the window.

 

[Hendre]

It's not equal to a single 23% weekly. Try pothos, very easy to grow.

 

[Drstrangelove]

The tank has only been set up for about 3 weeks. I don’t have any algae yet. I was just hoping to keep it that way. Nitrates are close to 0.

If you have a 2 x 10-12 inch fish in a 120 gallon, and are feeding the fish the proper amount, then you would be adding 5-7 ppm of nitrates per day. Removing 4 gallons (3%) per day would have a negligible effect on nitrates, at least nothing remotely close to keeping nitrates down close to zero.

And you are sure your tank is cycled?

 

[Hipporhyn]

Duanes.
Am I understanding you correctly? You are saying that you change 20 to 30 gallons, daily, in a 120 gallon tank. That means 140 to 210 gallons weekly. So you are changing out well over 100% (116 to 175%) of your aquarium water weekly?? Do yo

 

[Hipporhyn]

No. It is not fully cycled. However, I started it, 3 weeks ago, with a fully cycled canister filter, from another tank and 1 new canister filter.