Algae

[MAM]

when i started with fish i was warned about algae problems and snails. (snails aren't and issue and won't ever be). well, i have an unplanted tank with mollies and cory cats right now, and some betta tanks. non have algae. what causes some tanks to develop major algae problems? does it have to do with lighting or amount of direct sunlight on a tank? do plants contribute to or help eliminate algae? not that i really want algae, just curious..................

 

[goldfishattack]

I'm trying to grow some more right now, i've been trying for about a day or two and already getting results. i just got a tiny bit of algae out of my pond and rinced it then put in the tank, after some time it will spread. but if you just do water changes every month that will work to, just be sure not to clean your rocks.

 

[aquarius]

Algae needs light and nutrients to grow. I think that plants help eliminate algae because they will be competing for the same nutrients. And the more the light is on, the more likely algae will grow. And if the tank is near a window, getting direct sunlight, it's almost a guarantee, you will have algae. I'm tryng to get rid of algae right now, so i try to keep the light on less hours per day.

goldfishattack, if you want algae to grow, you can try adding fertilizer

 

[MAM]

oh, i don't necessarily want algae per se, its just that so many people get on here to complain about and ask for advice on how to get rid of it, that its seems to be a common enough occurence, and was just curious as to why i havent experienced this problem. (not that i'm complaining, i'm just wondering)

 

[goldfishattack]

no I'm good, I'm getting fast results.

 

[goldfishattack]

Ohhhhhhh! well now you know, just in case you would want to grow it.

 

[MAM]

ah, that explains it. none of my tanks get any direct sunlight and i leave the lights off for the most part. i only have them on to put food in or to do a quick little poop clean up every day (mollies are major poopers), and sometimes for just a couple of hours at night while i'm in the living room , as i like the glow from the tanks. the lights seem to bother my mollies and make them skittish, and of course the cats hide if left on too long, so i just keep a lamp nearby and use the tank lights sparingly. my future puffer tank will get direct sunlight, but i'm planning on plants and two otos so algae shouldn't get to be too much of problem.
thanks for clearing that up for me!!!!!

 

[aquarius]

I was trying to figure out what algae I have and how to get rid of it and I finally found the site and it said that mollies will eat this type of algae. That explains why my molly keeps nibbling on the plants!

 

[MAM]

i have seen them doing what looks like eating something off the glass, so maybe i have had algae, i just couldn't see it yet, and they take care of it. i forgot that theyre known to do that (after all, they do like greens in the diet,like spirula (sp/)). either way, its all good. (with so many people asking about what to do about algae, i just wanted to be sure i wasn't doing something wrong that i wasn't having algae probs too. )
thanks!!!!!!

 

[Lithril]

Normal green algae is generally high nitrates and too much light, if you have high nitrates but low levels of light you can often get brown algae. I've got a problem with hair algae in my 30 gal tank, trouble is its got puffers in, the bristlenose ignores it so does the ottos and anything else I could put in there will most likely get eaten by the puffers so I'm reducted to removing it by hand