Algae With Fake Plants?

[gulp]

Hi everyone,

I have not posted anything for a while but I was cleaning my Goldfish, 48 litre tank and was wondering why I seem to have algae problems when I only have a few fake plants in my tank?

Also I have gravel in my tank which I find difficult to clean. I know you can buy sand for tanks and I was just wondering whether sand would be easier to keep clean rather than gravel.

Any help to theses two questions would be very helpful.

Thanks,

gulp

(ps. I apologize if this is in the wrong section of the forum)

 

[Truck]

algae is normal in an aqaurium, as for gravel stick with it and by a gravel vac

 

[fishyfeet]

hi, id clean the gravel thoughly with a gravel vac, you will have algae with fake plants, it doesnt have anything to compete with for nutriments so the algae gets the lot, to control the algae i have timers on my lights, fast growing plants to use up excess nutriments, (thats the nitrate converted from ammonia by your filter) algae eaters such as snails, sae, ottos, plecs and i still have some algae although when i had goldfish it was a weekly battle and now its under control but not gone. di

 

[Jazzzz]

Live plants would reduce the ammount of algea as they would compete for the algeas food, i think thats right

 

[fishyfeet]

Live plants would reduce the ammount of algea as they would compete for the algeas food, i think thats right

yes but its hard to grow plants in coldwater tanks, also the amount of cleaning with goldfish in greater, you could try potted plants, also floating plants like riccia will reduce nitrates and moss balls are really good too. di

 

[aaronnorth]

It seems as though you are saying live plants = algae! Algae grow of ammonia (and other factors aswell) but it may be a problem bacause of the goldfish which are very messy, so you will be getting more ammonia production, so check the stocking levels & filtration.

yes but its hard to grow plants in coldwater tanks

Not if you give them the right conditions, there is no reason why they wont grow perfectly fine.

 

[gulp]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your help.

I have had real plants in tropical and coldwater tanks and I havn't been very successful and they all just die. Thats why I decided to go with fake plants. I have also tryed using anti-algae treatment but it just makes the algae go from green to brown.

 

[chipster55]

You may want to check the phosphate levels in your tap water..My tap water has high phosphate levels and I had the same problem until I put some phosphate remover in my filter...It cleared mine up slowly over a 2 month period..My problem was Green Spot Algae (GSA).Just a suggestion..Good Luck