Algea question..

[ThatDarnDragon]

Hi

A stupid question, really.

I have 7 1 gal tanks, all the same with the hooded lights. its the 1 gal tank that is triangular shaped (That I noticed several of you have)

out of those 7 tanks, only two has algea growth. all the lights are the same, and they all are in the same area, no sunlight hits them and no additional lights hit them.

What I find strange is that algea only grows in only 2 of the 7 tanks.

Can someone answer me why?

and the best way to stop it? I've been doing regular water changes on all of them, scraping out those algea.

 

[bettaboi]

weird i was gunna guess sun light but i guess not

 

[FishEnthusiast]

Do you have live plants in any of your tanks? Algae is usually caused by sunlight, but you have ruled that out. It can also be caused by excess nutrients in the water. Perhaps the 2 tanks that have algae also have 2 bettas that poop more? What kind of algae is it?

If it is caused by excess nutrients, adding a live plant or 2 might help, as they will outcompete the algae for the nutrients. Good low light plants are Java Moss, Java Fern, Cabomba(it grows like mad), and anubias var. nana. IMO live plants are nicer and cheaper than their artificial counterparts.

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

maybe I should add some live plants. I have a bunch in my 10 gal that I could move over.

and maybe they're just more messy. its just weird..

thanks, I'll buy some more live plants instead of transferring the other ones. I'll get that during the week.

 

[aquagirl]

Could be the amount of waste in each tank...

 

[Synirr]

If they're anywhere closer to place with more light, that would be the reason. I have a tank sitting by a window, and even though I always have the blinds closed enough light comes through for algae to grow. Also, on my betta shelf the tank closest to the light source (which is just a desk lamp with a 40watt bulb) grows a bit of algae.