Green Algae

[bones]

Hi, was wondering if anyone could tell me if there is a tablet or something i could buy to get rid of the green algae in my tank. I have an african dwarf frog and a neon tetra in there at the moment.
The tank keeps getting a bad build up of algae. I have tried keeping the light off, have reduced feeding and am doing regular water changes but the algae seems to keep coming back.
Any advice would be appreciated

 

[Miss Wiggle]

there are a lot of factors that contribute to algae, how many hrs per day do you have the lights on for? do you have any live plants?

 

[Yazan]

Water changes, gravel vacs, tank algea scrub, low light, keep it up. If it doesn't happen to work yes, there are tablets that sink in the tank to remove algea.

But from my learning from books and other members i think you should get rid of it naturaly instead of puting in chemicals.

 

[bones]

there are a lot of factors that contribute to algae, how many hrs per day do you have the lights on for? do you have any live plants?

I have the light on for aprox. 3 hours a day. No i don't have any live plants

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the problem with chemical solutions is that you become dependant on them, they don't fix the problem they just mask it, meaning it will come back again and again and again. you then become dependant on an expensive product to keep it clean. It's much better and cheaper in the long run to try and find the root cause of the problem and resolve it than to just throw chemicals into your tank.

 

[Yazan]

there are a lot of factors that contribute to algae, how many hrs per day do you have the lights on for? do you have any live plants?

I have the light on for aprox. 3 hours a day. No i don't have any live plants

Is your tank in sunlight.

 

[bones]

the problem with chemical solutions is that you become dependant on them, they don't fix the problem they just mask it, meaning it will come back again and again and again. you then become dependant on an expensive product to keep it clean. It's much better and cheaper in the long run to try and find the root cause of the problem and resolve it than to just throw chemicals into your tank.

ok thanks for your advice. I think maybe i will keep the light off for a couple of weeks and see what happens.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

there are a lot of factors that contribute to algae, how many hrs per day do you have the lights on for? do you have any live plants?

I have the light on for aprox. 3 hours a day. No i don't have any live plants

live plants would help, the algae is using the light and the nutrients from the water to grow, live plants use the same things and the general idea is that your plants outcompete the algae and use up the nutrients first so the algae will not be able to grow and take hold as it has done.

you need to be realistic though, unless you want to get very complicated and spend a fair bit of money it;s unlikely you will ever completely erradicate algae from your tank, you still need to algae scrape the glass every few weeks. However if you just want a simple solution that should improve the problem but not completely resolve it then I would recommedn you give the tank as good a clean as you can, get rid of the algae so you start with a clean slate, get some quick growing plants like cabomba, hornwort and elodea densa and put those in the tank, increase the lighting to 6 hrs per day. Hopefully this combined with proper weekly maintenance should keep it at a manageable level.

if you want it all gone completely and don't care how much time/money it takes head over to the planted forum and check out EI

 

[bones]

there are a lot of factors that contribute to algae, how many hrs per day do you have the lights on for? do you have any live plants?

I have the light on for aprox. 3 hours a day. No i don't have any live plants

Is your tank in sunlight.

no tank isn't in sunlight

 

[Underwurlde]

crikey, next to no lighting & you have algae...

something else is going on here.

Q) What kind of algae is it?
Q) Has the tank cycled
Q) How often do you change the water / gravel vac.
Q) Tell me, how often, what and and how much do you feed

Good simple 'clean' way to reduce algae is to use an in-tank UV sterilizer. Only cost about a tenner from fleabay. One week after installing and your tank should be clean.

Andy

 

[bones]

crikey, next to no lighting & you have algae...

something else is going on here.

Q) What kind of algae is it?
Q) Has the tank cycled
Q) How often do you change the water / gravel vac.
Q) Tell me, how often, what and and how much do you feed

Good simple 'clean' way to reduce algae is to use an in-tank UV sterilizer. Only cost about a tenner from fleabay. One week after installing and your tank should be clean.

Andy

Not quite sure what kind of algae, but it is green and sort of furry lol
Yes the tank has cycled, have had it up and running about 2 years.
Have had a lot of conflicting advice as to how often i should do water changes, but try to do it once or twice a month.
My frog has frozen bloodworms once every other day, and my neon has less than half a flake once a day.

 

[Underwurlde]

From what I read, a weekly water change seem to be the 'average' advice. How much varies, 10% upwards really. IME water changes will have minimal effect on algae.

Let's see what kind of algae it is first:
http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

Andy

 

[bones]

Also would the temperature of the water have anything to do with it do u think?

 

[Underwurlde]

nah

 

[bones]

Looks like it is probably the green water algae. We had an algae bloom about a year ago, turned light off for about two weeks and it seemed to clear but now it keeps coming back and i can't get rid!