Cloudy water from green algae - how to clear up?

[Murf.]

I have a cycled 10 gallon with 3 red cherry shrimp, 2 neon tetras, oto, and a galaxy rasbora. Plants are amazon sword, crypt spiralis, jungle val, and crypt wenditi. I let the algae grow on back of tank and one side for the oto. He is fat and happy and won't eat anything else. I have LED lights and had them on for 10 hours a day. Also put some osmocote, about 4 places in tank (4 or 5 beads each) in substrate. This has been fine for awhile.

I now have green cloudy water. So I just set light timer down to 8 hours a day starting yesterday.

How do I keep the algae on sides of tank alive for the oto, enough light to keep the plants alive, and yet not have green algae floating and clouding the water?

Thanks

 

[Br@in]

Make sure your tank isn’t near a window (natural light). They do sell a liquid solution to clear up algae clouds. In the meantime, it doesn’t hurt to buy algae wafers for your oto if you take too much algae out.

 

[Essjay]

I wouldn't use any chemical to remove the algae, especially not with shrimps in the tank.

The first step is finding the cause - turning down the lighting duration is one thing to try. Do you over feed the other plants?

 

[Colin_T]

Put some floating plants in the tank but have them confined to one side so the algae can grow on the glass but the water won't turn green.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

Stepping down the lights was a good first step. Wipe off the glass if you want to remove the algae then water change. You can supplement the oto's diet with blanched veggies and algae wafers. There should probably still be some algae in the tank for them to eat. That's all I would do for now. Give the reduced lighting a chance to take effect. Also - do you have a super bright light on a 'low tech' tank? I have low light plants but a super powerful light so in addition to only having it on 7 hours a day I have to attach a Nicrew timer / dimmer and ratchet it down to 40% intensity.

 

[Murf.]

Thanks everyone. There is a window about six feet away from tank. It is on the north side of house and part of the roof sticks over it so it will never have direct sunlight. I also have a 29 gal tank and the water in it is clear, but no algae on glass. The lights on 10 gal are white and blue LED. 7 lights total - what came in the top fin aquarium kit. So they are not some super high quality bright lights.
I will try just leaving algae on back of tank only and changing water today. Only have lights on from 9 to 5. When I say algae, I don't mean long hairy stuff growing. Just a little green patches that oto feeds on.
I have put Omega One Veggie rounds in the tank and he has set on them briefly, but he doesn't tear into it until it is gone. I have also tried blanched zucchini. He didn't even touch it.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Agree with the others on cutting back on the lighting....and BTW, otocinclus are social fish, they do better in groups...as are the tetras.

 

[StevenF]

there are two things you can do to attack the green water issue without affecting you to's algae garden.

Add a UV sterilizer to the tank. This would have a small pump and would circulate water round a UV lamp.. The UV would kill anything flouting in the water around the bulb. The bulb is completely encased in the unit so you, your fish, and the shrimp will not be exposed to UV liight. That cold completely clear the water in a couple of days.

You could also a polishing pad to the inside of your filter that would filter out the microscopic plants that cause green water water. Your local fish store may have something that would work. In the US I use this product. I don't know if it is available in the UK. Pollishing pads will eventually clog up and will need to be replaced.

I had green water in the past and was able to resolve it buy just reducing my lighting a bit. And then I put the polishing pad in the filter to to prevent a reoccurrence. I considered getting a UV sterilizer but never did.

 

[Murf.]

I hope the shrimp breed and don't want the baby shrimp to be eaten so I am moving the neon tetras and galaxy rasbora to the 29 gallon. I had 6 neon tetras and 2 ember tetras and ich wiped them out. I'm done with neon tetras! I don't think they are very hardy. So the 2 will have to hang out with 4 ember tetras.
I have the carbon filter in it for several days, but it does nothing. I may try some poly-fil and see if that works like the polishing pad you are talking about.
Thanks