Algae

[saratogaslim]

Hi all! Would love some help or advice in regards to algae. I've done some reading, but I am slightly confused on the cause of this problem.

I have a light coating of dark brown algae on everything...rocks, plants (live and plastic), sides of tank, gravel, everything! My fish nibble on it now and then, but otherwise it just grows. Every water change, I clean it off the tank, the rocks, and try to gently clean it off the leaves of the plants, but I've broken a few now. It's just kind of ugly and I'd love to have a better way of doing this.

Tank is 20 gallon long, 6 Tiger Barbs, 3 Kribs. 6 live plants and 5 fake ones, I use gravel for substrate, lots of rocks and caves, etc. Cycled of course, PH hangs around 8.2, and I do a water change every Saturday. I leave the light on about 10 hours a day...the tank is nowhere close to sunlight and would actually be pretty dark during the day if I didn't turn the light on.

Do I need to change the water more often? Change something else? I'm not sure what to do. I don't believe I over-feed my fish...they gobble what they're given in LESS than 2 minutes, and they are quite the little beggars...you'd think they'd never eaten. I thought about getting a couple of Otos, but a) I don't think I have room for more than one more small fish and don't they need buddies? and b) I think my Kribs might pick at them.

Any ideas are MUCH appreciated (except maybe by my fish, who like the extra snack )!

 

[joel.uejio]

10 hours of light per day may be too much. Try cutting back to 8 or 7 or so...

 

[mbsqw1d]

Try and get a plant called Elodea Densa if you havent already. If you're in the U.S you might struggle to get some as its banned in some parts. It releases a chemical which prevents blue/green algae growths. My tank has alot more algae growth since my Dwarf Gourami ripped all my Elodea Densa out

http/www.tropica.com/productcard_1.asp?id=058

 

[saratogaslim]

10 hours of light per day may be too much. Try cutting back to 8 or 7 or so...

That's kinda what I have been thinking I will try next. Only issue is, I am gone about 8 hours a day. I do like to have the light on when I'm home as it's awfully fun to watch them...Will that mess things up for them to only have the lights on about 2-4 hours a day? Otherwise, I have to do what I do now. =/

Try and get a plant called Elodea Densa if you havent already. If you're in the U.S you might struggle to get some as its banned in some parts. It releases a chemical which prevents blue/green algae growths. My tank has alot more algae growth since my Dwarf Gourami ripped all my Elodea Densa out

http/www.tropica.com/productcard_1.asp?id=058

Well, a couple of my plastic plants look like that! But I am in the US so probably can't get one. The tank is planted with 2 Amazon Swords, 2 Java Ferns, and 2 "I'm not sure whats" since they came with the tank.

 

[mbsqw1d]

if you get a plug timer another method that has been found effective at controlling algae is to have a 'siesta' in the lighting period. I have read on TFF somewhere where they recommended turning off the lights for 2-4 hours during the day - like a siesta. The rhythm they recommend is 4-5 hours light in the morning, then 2-4 hours without light and again 4-7 hours light in the afternoon or evening. Plants are able to take a break from photosynthesis, the fish don't mind (and get used to it), but algae is'nt able to adapt to the breaks in the photoperiod.

 

[saratogaslim]

if you get a plug timer another method that has been found effective at controlling algae is to have a 'siesta' in the lighting period. I have read on TFF somewhere where they recommended turning off the lights for 2-4 hours during the day - like a siesta. The rhythm they recommend is 4-5 hours light in the morning, then 2-4 hours without light and again 4-7 hours light in the afternoon or evening. Plants are able to take a break from photosynthesis, the fish don't mind (and get used to it), but algae is'nt able to adapt to the breaks in the photoperiod.

That's a great idea! That way I could have the lights on when I'm home to enjoy them, and they can snooze mid-afternoon. Is this the kind of thing you could find at a hardware store?

So light does sound like it's the problem, then? The water changes seemed frequent enough to me, and the water is *crystal* clear.

Tell you what, this is all terribly addictive as I am now contemplating getting another tank

 

[Truck]

actually the siesta period gives algae the upper hand, those articles are old and outdated, the algae is the most adaptable of the two, and will take advantage, the only good thing I can see from a siesta, is a period that allows CO2 levels to build back up for the secondary photoperiod.

Also the aleopathy theory has been proven not to work, finding the cause of the algae is a better solution.

 

[saratogaslim]

actually the siesta period gives algae the upper hand, those articles are old and outdated, the algae is the most adaptable of the two, and will take advantage, the only good thing I can see from a siesta, is a period that allows CO2 levels to build back up for the secondary photoperiod.

Also the aleopathy theory has been proven not to work, finding the cause of the algae is a better solution.

I guess the cause is what I am looking for help with...do you see anything in my description that sends off alarm bells for you in regards to a cause of this?

 

[Truck]

what plants are you keeping? how many watts of light do you have and are they T8's or T5's?

 

[saratogaslim]

what plants are you keeping? how many watts of light do you have and are they T8's or T5's?

Plants described above, and I'll look at the watts when I get home and type when I get home. It's blueish, if that makes a difference. Thank you!

 

[Truck]

you'll be fine to half the lighting in that case, cut it down to 4 hours, remove all algae and then see if it makes a difference, Ideally you could replace the unit, but a cheaper fix is to add a few floating plants to block our the light, or just keep it at 4 hours.

 

[OldMan47]

Bluish light is often a light with a high temperature spectrum. A recent lecture at a club meeting included the idea that light with a rating of 10000K plus are more likely to grow algae than lights with a lower temperature spectrum. This was a lecture from a biologist who has some of the nicest plants that I have ever seen in his tanks. He does a primarily natural planted tank approach with moderately high light and no CO2 or added water column fertilizers. His tanks are almost algae free and the plants grow like weeds. To paraphrase something he said, the plants we keep in our tanks are weeds in the wild so they should grow like weeds.
Egeria densa is sold in many places in bunches as anacharis.

 

[waterdrop]

I agree. The thing that jumps out are all those hours of light (and possibly the intense spectrum to a small extent.) Once you chop those hours way down you may find that does the trick.

If you first go down to four hours, you should be able to just turn the lights on for late afternoon and evening hours and not need a timer. If you don't have that many hours in your evening's viewing or decide to bring the number of hours back up a bit higher than 4 then I think a timer might work ok for you. Its true that siesta's don't solve algae problems but I also have not seen much evidence that they hurt much (but truck does more planted I think, so may easily know things I don't), so a timer could allow you to enjoy the tank some in the morning and then then the evening and of course you can always manually switch on the lights for maintenance etc.

Algae is funny in the sense that a common thing will trigger the spores (light + trace ammonia = algae) and help you "get" algae but once you got it then each individual type is fought against in different ways. Aaron has a nice "Back to Basics" article in the planted section which has some algae links. Here's one which has some suggestions for dealing with different types:

Jame's guide

~~waterdrop~~

 

[mbsqw1d]

I agree. The thing that jumps out are all those hours of light (and possibly the intense spectrum to a small extent.) Once you chop those hours way down you may find that does the trick.

If you first go down to four hours, you should be able to just turn the lights on for late afternoon and evening hours and not need a timer. If you don't have that many hours in your evening's viewing or decide to bring the number of hours back up a bit higher than 4 then I think a timer might work ok for you. Its true that siesta's don't solve algae problems but I also have not seen much evidence that they hurt much (but truck does more planted I think, so may easily know things I don't), so a timer could allow you to enjoy the tank some in the morning and then then the evening and of course you can always manually switch on the lights for maintenance etc.

Algae is funny in the sense that a common thing will trigger the spores (light + trace ammonia = algae) and help you "get" algae but once you got it then each individual type is fought against in different ways. Aaron has a nice "Back to Basics" article in the planted section which has some algae links. Here's one which has some suggestions for dealing with different types:

Jame's guide

~~waterdrop~~

thanks waterdrop, found that guide v helpful in identifying and going about clearing some of my algae!

sorry saratogaslim for giving you duff advice about the 'light off for a couple of hours' info

 

[OldMan47]

We are all here to learn as well as to help each other mbsqw1d. That means we are all wrong at one point or another in our journey to learning.