Algae - Help!

[VikkiM]

I have a Juwel Rekord 60 (54 litre?) tank, which has been on the go since mid-July.

Gradually we have added 4 platies, 7 cardinal tetras and (thanks to my partner who bought them before I got a reply to a posting about extra fish) 2 black mollies, who all seem perfectly happy and healthy.

We feed them about 8-10 flakes of dry food once a day (which is all gone in a minute or two) and a cooked pea or two a week (which they go mad for!).

No live plants, all artificial.

All tests look fine apart from the nitrates look a little high towards the end of the week, when we do a 10-20% water change and clean. We don't use any dechlorinator, we spray the water into buckets 12-24 hours before and leave it to dechlorinate itself. My partner works for the water board and I have a testing kit, so I know that works!

The problem is that we have LOADS of browny-green algae growing on the gravel, ornaments and walls of the tank. It grows in different places every week. I know we should expect some, but there is LOADS! The mollies made a heroic effort when they came along, but they have got bored with keeping up with it.

The tank is in my son's bedroom, the tank lights are on from 7am-1pm and then from 6pm-10pm (10 hours), plus obviously his curtains are open during hours of daylight. Could it be this low-level lighting that is causing the problem?

Please let me know if you can see anything obvious (or non-obvious) that I am doing wrong. We are loathe to use any chemicals if they are unnecessary.

Thanks!

Vikki
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[sylvia]

I think more light or direct sunlight would increase algae growth and that the main problem is high nitrates. Getting real plants would help and you could also try a couple of algae-eating shrimp of some kind. Personally, I actualy LIKE algae - it looks more natural - but none of my tanks ever have any!!! I mean... how annoying is that?

 

[jerryjr569]

Snails are cool and will eat it

Apple snails
or
Mystery snails they don't breed very much well never for me

alge eater might help if don't have one

 

[BobK]

How about getting a pleco? I got a common pleco that keeps my 75g spotless. Unless you want a huge fish, get another type of pleco that doesn't get as big. You can get some algae eaters, but I read that when they get older they don't eat as much and they can get agressive. I agree the nitrates could be the problem. Is the tank in direct sunlight? If so, that's the biggest problem.

 

[blue_ram]

IME, I've found that brown-green algae appears when there is very high nitrate level and low light intensity. Increasing the light intensity will only change the brown-green to an all green type of algae.

I suggest that you get a pair of otocinclus. They seem to like this type of algae, and are small enough so that they won't tax your bio filter. BTW, I suggest you don't add any more fish other than oto; your tank is already heavily stocked.

Another option is to plant LOW-LIGHT tolerant plants. Good choice would be java moss, java fern, anubia, and crypt (wendtii). Just make sure you add some fertilizer tabs under them 2 or 3 times a year.

Or, do both. Depending on lighting condition, the plants won't be able to out compete algae by themselves. They'll most likely need oto's help.

 

[yhbae]

What is your level of nitrates? The two most obvious things you can do, for now, is to reduce your total lighting time and add some plants as suggested already. Ottos will help - they like brown algae but I never had luck with them as far as cleaning green algae.

 

[VikkiM]

Thanks for all your replies... I am going to get a couple of plants and reduce the lighting time. Funnily enough, I have kept my son's bedroom curtains closed during the day and we haven't had such a splurge of algae this week.

I have been looking for otos for ages, but have never seen them for sale around here. I will keep my eye out... although I have a MAJOR overstocking problem at the moment as my black mollies are now the proud owners of 4 children, I think they might have eaten the rest but these have lasted four days now.... eek! Looks like that bigger tank will be coming sooner rather than later!

Thanks very much for your help.

Regards.

Vikki

PS. Nitrate level with my testing kit today was 25? Much lower than recently (50!!).