Algae problem...

[FishNoob]

I have a problem with algae in my 5 gallon tank. It had finished cycling last week, 0 ammonia - 0 nitrites - 20 nitrates, did a 20% water change to get the nitrates down a bit. Also there is some brown looking stuff all over the gravel and on some of the decorations and filter, along with the green algae. Anyway to get rid of this stuff? When is a good time to change the filter? The tank has been running for around 8 weeks.

Thanks,
Ed

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Why do you want to "change the filter"? Could you be overfeeding or is your tank in direct sun-light?

 

[heresmike]

The brown stuff is algae also. This is common in a newly cycled tank, and often goes away on its own.

How long do you leave the light on? If it's excessive, say over 10 hours per day, you should cut back on the lighting.

Another idea is to add some live plants. That worked like a charm for me! The plants and the algae compete for the same stuff to grow, and the plants will win.

Also, as Cheese indicated, you shouldn't change your filter. If you're using floss and/or charcoal, you should periodically change that. Once per month on the charcoal, and more often on the floss... depends on how quickly it gets dirty. The bio-medium should never be changed. If that doesn't make sense, maybe you can tell us what kind of filter you're using.

Good Luck!

 

[FishNoob]

Thanks, for the replies. No the tank is not in direct sunlight, and the light is only on for maybe 7-8 hours per day. Overfeeding may be a possibility, but I only feed once per day and only as much as they can eat in a couple of minutes. Snacks like bloodworms or baby brine shrimp every few days.

I have a Whisper 2-5 power filter in the tank, it has a cartridge that uses activated carbon in it. The filter cartridge has never been touched since the tank has been up and running. From the replies, I should leave the filter cartridge alone and change the carbon, right? The hard part is that the carbon is inside the filter medium...to change it, I would have to take out the filter cartridge, take it apart, remove old carbon, put in new carbon, put filter cartridge back together. Is there an easy way to do this? Under old tank water maybe, so the bacteria are not out of the water?

Also, how and where do I go about putting in media and gravel from my 5 gallon into my 29 gallon to help it get some bacteria to start cycling?

Thanks again,
Ed

 

[heresmike]

Yes, you might be overfeeding. I feed once a day and they usually have it cleaned up in about 30 seconds or less. I think my fish are part pig

I'm not familiar with that filter, so maybe someone can help with that.

To seed the 29 gal, you could take a handful of gravel from your cycled tank and stick it in a nylon stocking and put it in the 29 gal. When I cycled my 29 gal, I nicked some of the bio-max cylinder thingys from my cycled tank's filter and put it in the new filter. Again, I'm not familiar with your filter, so I don't have any advice on what you could transfer to your new filter.

 

[Perky]

Empty water into a bucket for a water change then change the carbon and give the filter a clean. All you do is gently massage the filter and DON'T squeeze or scrape or vigourously rub it. Just gently. It doesn't have to be clean, it can be brown, just try to remove the sludge that gets in it.

 

[tstenback]

sounds like overfeeding. This creates excess phosphates which induce algae growth. keep going with the water changes and a good scrub of the green algae and it should clear up. If not the phosphates may be coming fromthe tap water. If you can take a sample of your tank and tap water to the lfs and get them to measure for phosphates. This will indicate where the problem lies. I believe there are treatments to remove phosphate from the tap water. HTH