About two weeks ago had a tank that was a complete nightmare green murky algae stuff all over it was so bad could hardly see in, even no there are plecs that are in there they dont eat it all up.
The trigger was to much sunlight and moved tank.
Now took out the gravel undergravel filter kit and emptyied about 60 per cent off the tank put the other 40 per cent back in with new fresh cholrine free water and nitrate ammonia low.
When everything went back in rocks etc that were still green couldnt get the stuff off and drained through gravel and when the water decholrined and the water went back into the tank it all settled and was clear for about 3 days.
Then it went back to being green and its starting up again not as bad but getting there.
Now the problem is even with cleaning the stuff and getting it off the glass and turning power head on it comes back.
Why does it do this, the rocks are green but didnt think it would spread to the whole tank.
The fish seem fine but even with filter aid it never goes clear now.
The tank is in shade and out of direct light.
Will a product work like algae killer etc anything like that.
Or should take all rocks out that are algae covered.
Algae thrives on imbalance and once it takes hold it is difficult to shift.
What artificial lighting have you got and how long is it on for. What are the other tank parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate). Do you add CO2?
One you know what the imbalance is you can start to get the algae under control and take the rocks out - thouroughly clean them and add them back etc. There is no point removing anything until you know the problem.
what about live plants - do you have any - if not then it may be that the algae is thriving on the ammonia etc that the plants would usually use. You say your ammonia reading is low - it should be zero, if not zero then the algae will be using this (it's also bad for your fish!).
Give us some more info as above and hopefully we will help you get to the bottom of it.
1xTrigon 1903 Clown Loaches,14 Cardinal Tetras,8 Rummynose Tetras,6 Cory Trileneatus,6 Hatchetfish,4 otocinclus,1 SAE,1 Bristlenose,, 10 amano Shrimp
Anubius Barteri,Crinum thianum,Limnophilia sessiflora, Echinodorus Blehri, nymphaea lotus, Ammania Senegelis, Crinum calimustratum, java moss, 1xRekord 60Empty at Present
12 litre tank - 4 japonica shrimp, 4 Red crystal shrimp, 5 High Spot Rasbora
Anubias Barteri, Glossostigma Elatanoides, Ammania Senegalisis, Limnophilia Sessiflora, Bacopa amplexicaulis
Sorry the tank has no real plants it has ornaments ie bridge pillars and rainbow rocks, which are covered in algae.
Also the gravel is covered in algae to.
The lighting is an 18 w fluroscent blub the normal kind and it is on alot so maybe that might help turning that off at night.
The ph is high over 8 more then likely as its very alkaline.
The nitrate is very low as is the ammonia there isnt any way of showing how hard soft the water is but have am sure its quite hard around here.
Fish in there are two hong kong plecs, three female siamese, one catfish dont no what sort, one rasbora.
Light may be your first problem.
I have mine timed - two five hour periods during the day with a 2 hour break between them and then off over night.
Have you thought about real plants - some fast growing plants would out compete the algae for nutrients, this coupled with shorter photo period may help. Would clean as much off as you could though before introducing them.
Also how about some amano shrimp - they eat a lot of different algae.
I agree with Dave that an imbalance can have a great deal to do with bad algae growth.
Also it sounds like your lights are on too long. We also have a break between two 5 hour periods and the lights go off at 10pm until 9am the next morning. They do not need to be on during the night at all
I also suggest getting some real plants. Again as Dave says fast growing ones
Just wanted to add having a clear tank is no proof of good water quality, but ive found that if you add some fine filter wool (you can get pond stuff that like a tenner for a large amount) to your filter it will polish the water and remove those very fine particals, just squeese it out in old tank water every month or so and it lasts for months. di
Any updates bob?
Would just like to agree with the suggestions that you should get real plants.
I used to have a Blue lobster who was fascinating to have in the tank, but destroyed any living plant that went in, so I had to have artificial ones. I had no end of problems with algae, even dreaded hair algea and the horrible slimey smelly stuff!
I no longer have the lobster (he pased away toward the end of last year). This has now meant that I can now have live plants in the tank. After a fairly short period of time, the algea problem improved (and the hair algea vanished) and I can now say that, after 6 or so months, the tank is looking better than it's ever been with only minor algea growth on the glass, which only gets noticable if I leave it longer than a few weeks between scrapings.
Good luck.
Heh wooks63,
I have a lobster in one of my tanks and find that algae can become a problem........soloution - regularly cleaning it (every week) including removing rocks and scrubbing them, a nitrate and phospahte remover - which can get expensive, low light levels, shorter photo period. I had a couple of anubias in that lasted about 3 months! Have added some floating plants recently (thanks Glub) to see if that will help. However, I caught the bloomin lobster stalking, jumping, catching and eating it the other day, so hopefully it will grow quicker than he can eat it!!!!
As I said before live plants are the best form of algae control
Bluedave,
I tried all sorts of plants with my Lobster. Like yours, he would climb up the heater or outlet tube in order to get at floating plants. Nothing grew faster than he was able to destroy them!
As much as I loved him and the fact that he was a real draw to the tank whenever visitors came, I can't say that I miss him now. Looking after my tank has now become pleasurable again, instead of a constant battle, which is how it should be.