Alae Control

[acula]

I went to a LFS for a snail to help keep algae in check but they warned me off because they breed so fast.

Any other options?

 

[tenohfive]

Otocinclus. Otos are great little fish, you can pick them up pretty small and they love algae.

 

[martyn413]

Hi acula,

If your tank is big enough you could get a BN Plec (about 6in when fully grown).

Algae will grow really fast with the help of light (sun light or from light bulbs) and the build up of nitrates. How often do you perform water changes? What is the nitrate level in your tap water?

Live plants will also reduce nitrates.

Martyn

 

[rdd1952]

Before you go out and buy a fish for algae control, you need to first identify the algae you have. Different fish and inverts eat different types. If it happens to be the dreaded blue-green algae, nothing will eat it. Here and here are 2 pretty good sites to help you ID it.

Having said that, buying a fish to eat it is not the best solution. You really need to figure out what type algae you have and what is causing it. Eliminating the problem is better than treating the symptoms.

How old is the tank?
How long has it been set up?
What size?
What fish do you have in it?
Is it ever exposed to direct sunlight?
How often do you feed the fish and how much?
How long are your tank lights on each day?

There are numerous causes for algae but the prime ones are too much light and overfeeding (resulting in extra nitrates for the algae to feed on).

 

[acula]

From the site you linked me to there id say its "Green Dust"

Now to answer the Q's

How old is the tank? Little over a month, brand new

How long has it been set up? Been Cycled now for about a month

What size? (Aquastart 320) i think its 28l

What fish do you have in it? 5 Neons, 4 Orange Glow, 3 mini Guppies and 1 Betta (they get along fine b4 anyone says )

Is it ever exposed to direct sunlight? Yes unfortunetly i need to keep it by the window. However im soon moving house and will fine more suitable position

How often do you feed the fish and how much? A pinch of flake and pinch of FD bloodworms

How long are your tank lights on each day?From about 9am til 7pm

My test strips indicate very low levels of Nitrate and Nitrites and i keep it at about 78/80 temp

 

[Dave Spencer]

Hi acula,

If your tank is big enough you could get a BN Plec (about 6in when fully grown).

Algae will grow really fast with the help of light (sun light or from light bulbs) and the build up of nitrates. How often do you perform water changes? What is the nitrate level in your tap water?

Live plants will also reduce nitrates.

Martyn

Whilst the nitrates will be feeding the algae, they won`t have been the cause. Nitrate reduction to starve algae is nigh on impossible. I have proven this to myself by growing algae in water of a purity of 0.02 microSiemens/cm using just sunlight.

People in the S.E. of England have tap water nitrate levels at 40ppm, yet they don`t all have algae.

You will need to get to the root cause of the algae and defeat it by depriving it of this trigger. Small ammonia levels from sources such as substrate disturbance, unstable CO2 (BBA and staghorn in my experience). Of them all, light will be the single greatest trigger.

Dave.

 

[rdd1952]

If it's green dust algae, then it's most likely there just because it's a new set up and will probably run it's course. The direct sunlight though, coupled with the tank lights being on for 10 hours a day, could very quickly lead to blue-green algae which is all but impossible to get rid of.

The fact that you say you have low levels of nitrate and nitrite is concerning. Ammonia and nitrite should always be at zero and since you are fairly heavily stocked (12 fish in a new 7 gallon tank), your nitrates should climb pretty quickly in a cycled tank. You mentioned that you use strips. Are the 5-in-1 strips and do they test for ammonia? I know that's totally seperate from the algae issue but if you have low nitrite and nitrate, you could still have ammonia present. Since it is strips though, it's possible that you have 0 nitrite since strips are so inaccurate they aren't reliable.

EDIT: On a side note, I see that you feed freeze-dried bloodworms. I'm not certian if they are as high in protein as frozen or live ones but if so, they should be a weekly treat only. The high protein content can lead to constipation and swim bladder problems, especially in the betta, if fed too often.

 

[acula]

I have 5 in 1 test strips Water hardness x 2, Ph, Nitrite and nitrate (API)

I use a separate ammonia test kit, in drops