Algae Bloom

[osiris]

in my 250 litre tank, the water has suddenly turned merky green, at first i thought it could be because of the food i was giving them, - algae wafers, but also i now think it could be due to natural light.

is there any way in which i can get rid of this algae?

 

[aaronnorth]

natural light doesnt hurt, but direct sunlight can trigger algae blooms. fix - move tank or cover up window.

It is also riggered by ammonia and it is often the main cause. How much food and when are you giving them? If there is left over food then it could be rotting and producing ammonia.

 

[osiris]

yea, ammonia, nitrate, pH levels are all normal and there is no food left over. My LFS said it is likely to a natural increase in Phosphates so i have added some moss balls and i am getting some more plants because they should reduce phosphates.

 

[Truck]

moss balls wont reduce phosphates very quickly as they are VERY slow growers, and are actually algae!

buy some duck weed and fast growing stems, if you light isnt to high and everything else is spot on phosphates wont be causing algae, but direct sunlight will.

 

[aaronnorth]

ammonia can go undetected on a hobby test kit as it measure levels safe for fish (0ppm) so that still could be an issue. PO4 is blamed for all algae species, it isn't true. If it was then somebody explain to me why people can dose PO4 without getting algae?

Does the tank get any sunlight on it?

Get some fast growing weeds such as egeria densa (pond weed) and hygrophillia species. Moss balls are slow growers so they wont use many nutrients.

algae blooms can be hard to get rid off, so plants will take a long time although they will help in the future.

Large water changes do not seem to always help, but you could try doing an 80% water change, followed by a 3 day blackout, followed by another 80% water change. The large water changes will help to remove the majority of the algae spores.

A UV steriliser will clear it up very quickly but it can be expensive.

 

[osiris]

ok, thanks, il try doing the 80% water change but my only concern about that is the three day black-out? would my fish not get stressed??

 

[aaronnorth]

they will be fine, once the blackout is finished, let some daylight in, and slowly "acclimatise" them to light

 

[osiris]

Great! thanks alot

 

[Davo86]

Great! thanks alot

Glad you got this problem sorted,
Aaron knows his stuff on plants so if you follow his advice things should improve,

btw it was me who suggested the moss balls to help with the bloom, although in my defense since i added 10 moss balls to my tank, i haven't seen a bit of algae.