New Cichlid Tank algea problems

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PKRLinNE

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 24, 2008
41
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Everett, MA USA
HI All,
About a month ago I set up a 90 gallon cichlid tank in our office. Added lots of rock for hiding spots, special cichlid sand to buffer the water, heater, canister filter (rated for 125 gallons). Thought I did it all right. Anyway I thought the high PH and water hardness due to the sand would make algae growth low. Not the case. I have an algea breakout of some type of brownish green on glass, rocks and in the edges of the sand.

Any ideas?
thanks
 
Yeah I figured I needed to go buy a test kit but I wasn;t sure what to test for. I will go pick one up that tests for nitrate levels. As far as the sunlight, no nothing direct but it is a sunny room.
 
once you figure out your problem and solve that if the algae does not go away right away cover that bad boy with a huge towel or blanket of some kind and turn the lights off for a few days. No light, no algae. Worked great for me, I had some stuff I couldnt get off the back glass, covered it when I went out of town for a few days. Came back, all the algae was gone, a little scrubbing and problem solved.
 
I'll try that - but when I get the kit what should the notrate levels be? And if they are off why and what do you do about it?

One of things I did do was everyone to stop feeding them as I was constantly trying to clean up the excess food. I figure that was the trigger.

Thanks for eveyone's help!
 
looks like it came out pretty good. hope it stays clean for ya.
 
That's diatoms, not algae. It's common with newly setup tanks. It'll go away on its own once your tank stabilizes. Limiting light has no impact at all on diatoms. Scrub the front glass when it gets bad and keep up your water changes.
 
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