Algae On Sand

schooly20 · Jun 16, 2008

Alright so it wasnt too long ago that I changed my substrate from gravel to sand. Well as time has gone on algae has begun to grow on the sand, it almost looks like little small algae balls. well when I try to syphon them out, they're too heavy so they dont get sucked up. Any ideas on what I can do to try and get it off my sand?? Another question I have is would washing the decor in the tank that has some algae on it help reduce algae? Thanks for the help!

Straydum · Jun 16, 2008

algae on the sand is new to me and yes washing will reduce (remove) the algae momentarily but it'd still grow back given the same conditions as offer previously.

schooly20 · Jun 17, 2008

Yeah I cant figure it out, do you think just turning the sand over would kill the algae thats on the sand? Once it's covered it wont have any light to grow on?

Soaup · Jun 17, 2008

My guess would be probably not. I would say the algae would just spread from the bottom side to the top where the light is exposed. Plus its sand i cant see you fully turning all of it over.... and there breaks in the sand so i dont think the light would ever be cut off from the bottom sand.

shelaghfishface · Jun 17, 2008

i had this problem, and ended up sucking the surface of the sand into a bucket, it looked awful, this happened when i was treating for whitespot and had he temp up to 80

shelagh xxx

stumpy57 · Jun 17, 2008

this is one of the resons i am not a keen lover of sand

Honeythorn · Jun 17, 2008

I get this sometimes. I also found out the syphon doesn't suck it up, so I scoop it up into a net and dump it outside.

Bignose · Jun 17, 2008

Rather than treating the symptom, why don't you treat the problem. What's the cause of the algae? Too much lighting? Not enough lighting? Not enough plants? Too much feeding? Too many nitrates in the water? Lots of different possibilities, but if you eliminate the root cause of the algae, then it won't be such a problem.

Also from a different perspective, algae is a part of nature, and is just a consequence of keeping a small part of nature in your house. It's not evil or anything. It's a part of nature, and just accepting it as such can be a "solution" to this "problem" as well.

schooly20 · Jun 17, 2008

With lighting I have just a basic single floresent hood light that is on for 9 and a half hours a day. I'm working on planting my tank but that could be a possibility that I dont have enough live plants. I only feed my fish once a day and its only enough for them to eat in 2 min. I also drop some pellets to the bottom for my corys and loachs so they get food. As far as nitrates in my water about 9 out of 10 times I test nitrates are at 0 and the 10th time its at about 5 ppm.

About it being part of nature, you're right, and I really dont mind a little algae here and there, but I like the look of my sand when its white, not green.