To many water changes create algae?????

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Aquatik

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Dec 17, 2011
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Toronto
So I have a major brown and green algae problem, if you read online most of the information says high phosphates and high nitrates create algae, dirty water has lots of nutrients for algae to grow etc. etc.

Well I have kept fish for 8 years and never had this problem untill I came on this site and heard all of the major benifits of doing HUGE water changes frequently and keeping 0 nitrate levels. Well I used to do a 30 percent waterchange every 2 to 3 weeks having good filtration and have always had clean glass just maybe a little green algae on the rocks but thats about it, so this past year I have been doing 50 percenters once a week and my fish are growing a little bit faster but I have algae prolems. I couldnt figure it out I know it wasnt my lighting and every where I read it said bad water quality if you have a lot of waste in your tank and high nitrites or nitrates it feeds the algae but my tanks are well established and my water was perfect.

Came across a article that stated high phosphates does not fuel algae and high nitrates will but so will low nitrates a perfect tank should be balanced on every aspect.

very intersting just thought I would share my thought. What do you guys have to say about big frequent water changes? I am going to cut back on my water changes ( woooooo whooooo) I aint complaing about less work lol, and see what happens.
 
I do 2 50% WC weekly on most of my tanks only because they are moderately to almost overstocked. But don't seem to be having any issues with any algae. Seems kinda odd in your case... What's your stock and tank size? Is it by a light source?
 
Some water suppliers now add phosphate to their effluent water to control lead, and other minerals from leaching from pipes, into the drinking water, don't know if this is the case in Toronto, but phosphate does feed and promote algal growth. Most often the PO4 is added around 2ppm to prevent lead. My house went from norm of 35ppb lead, down to 5ppb after sitting 8 hours overnight, after the addition of phosphate was introduced.
 
One 8 inch red devil in a 45g. I haunt checked my phosphates yet, but just Googled my water source and the lake it comes from does have phosphogen problem! There is no daylight at all. I am living my brother was in the same house and had some tanks as well prior to mine and never had algae problem he went more extreme and barley did water changes where the water had a fowl smell lol.

Could it be that the frequent replenish of fresh tap water is keeping the phosphates high? Can phosphates decrease on there own once left in the tank maybe?

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Aquatik said:
One 8 inch red devil in a 45g. I haunt checked my phosphates yet, but just Googled my water source and the lake it comes from does have phosphogen problem! There is no daylight at all. I am living my brother was in the same house and had some tanks as well prior to mine and never had algae problem he went more extreme and barley did water changes where the water had a fowl smell lol.

Could it be that the frequent replenish of fresh tap water is keeping the phosphates high? Can phosphates decrease on there own once left in the tank maybe?

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Click to expand...

It could be, ud have to test ur water. There are phosphate removers on the market, media and solutions check online

What temp is ur tank and 50% 1x per week isnt a huge amount, nitrates could still be high.

Overfeeding can also be a prob + the type of food.

#1 S. Vettel
 
Lake Ontario is a bit eutrophic, and phosphorus levels may require you to run your water change water thru a phoshate removing media.
Normal nitrate levels in the lake are less than 1mg/L, although the treatment process may add a little more if your provider uses chloramine, like mine does.
And as stated above, a 50% change per week is not that much.
I try to do a 20% change daily, or if I miss a day, 30-40% every other day.
But like you, I live on a great lake, and our water is cheap, abundant and it is recycled in the water/waste water process.
 
I get my water from lake simcoe, 50 percent i guess is not much bit more then im used to doing, did one today and nitrates barley droped, im cuting my lighting doen to 8 hrs a day.instead of 12 i think that mighy be yhe issue, and im gonna try foing 30 percenters every other day.

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I honestly try to stay out of my tanks. The best tanks and the cleanest tanks ive owned are the ones I neglect lmao. Im having the same issue with fogging in my 180. My tank is a white fog. Green in the bucked when I do water changes. NEVER had this problem before untill I started doign 2x a week 20% water changes... My exedon tank i set up 7 months ago... done maybe one water change on it, running an older HOB filter i found in my closet... Fish are healthy as crap and water is crystal clear...
 
I think cutting down on the lighting will definitely help. I had brown algae show up in a couple of my tanks, then I realized I was leaving the lights on from when I left for work (6:00 am) till about 9:00 pm. Way too long... after I cut it back a few hours I haven't noticed any new growth. Also, just curious, are you treating your water with anything or just using straight tap?
 
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