Glass Algae, I Think What Will Get Rid Of It

[guineapigqueen]

I must apologise for the state of my tank, I have been trying for the last two weeks get ahold of a Juwel light unit and finially with success it arrived today so my fish have been negelected for a few weeks.

What kind of algae is on my tank and my poor bristlenose doesn't like it and cant keep up with the cleaning...

Its very long hair like and I assume its algae, I keep cleaning it off with a rough pad as its seems to sick itself to the glass with little balls, its all over my wood and stones also.

Emma x

 

[Renate]

Have you tried flourish excell. It is sold as a replacement for Co2 but kills many algae.

One person told me he kept apple snails in his tank and they kept his rock very clean. If your water is soft they won't live long. Someone people have problems with snails taking over the tank and thus add clown loaches to keep the snail population in check.

The-Wolf posted this:
algae needs 2(main) things to grow, light & food.
excessive light will promote an algae bloom, as will high phosphates and nitrates.

Have you tested for nitrates/phosphates, if so what are the levels?
how much light do the tank get per day?

 

[guineapigqueen]

Well I have cleaned my tank out it looks a lot better...

The tank is directly oppsite a window and rhe light is left on for around 12hours a day. Unfortunately their isnt any place within my flat apart from the toilet where the light isnt going to be constantly shining in.
I am gonna go out this weekend and get new testing kits as we have lost ours and will check the levels.

Emma x

 

[Dave Spencer]

Save yourself some money and don`t bother with the test kits. Spend it on Flourish Excel.

Why don`t you need to test? Your algae looks like a very bad case of BBA, which will most likely be CO2 related. The Excel will give your plants the carbon they need in organic form, and it will kill that BBA.

The algae guide on this forum is very out of date, and very inaccurate (not to undermine the work done by the author). Forget about targetting phophates and nitrates, they are not the root of the problem.

You will need to address the CO2 problems though. Hopefully, dosing Excel will be the answer for you.

Dave.

 

[Renate]

Why don't you decrease the light time?

 

[aaronnorth]

algae needs 2(main) things to grow, light & food.
excessive light will promote an algae bloom, as will high phosphates and nitrates.

algae needs light yes,
nutrients, no.

Light controls everything, more light = more CO2 & nutrients needed and vice versa.

If you have the correct balance of light, Co2 & nutrients - then algae will have no chance.

BBA In a high light tank it is an indication of low or fluctuating CO2 levels or not enough water circulation around the plants. In a low light tank it is often due to changing CO2 levels. In a high light tank you will need to increase your levels of CO2 and/or improve water circulation around the plants. Scrub and cut off as much as you can first. Increase levels slowly to 30ppm or more but watch the fish to see if they are respiring heavily. Make sure you have good water flow around the whole tank along with some good surface movement. Adding a powerhead may help.
If you have a low light tank without CO2 injection then not doing any water changes will help. This is because tap water often has lots of CO2 dissolved in it which causes CO2 levels in your tank to fluctuate. The algae respond to this a lot quicker than the plants do.
Siamese Algae Eaters are known to eat BBA so can be used to control this algae.
Overdosing Flourish Excel will clear it up.