Help with algae problem

[Henry5]

Hi

I have an algea problem in my tropical fish tank which is slowly getting worse, despit my efforts.

It started about 4 weeks ago when i fed a catfish food tablet into the tank containing algae. Since then the water has progressively got greener.

A week after that i moved the tank 120 miles to a new house, and water changed at the same time (about 30% to try and get rid of algae). This did improve the water but then the algae came back. Could this be because the tank is re-cycling?

I am changing about 20% of the water a week at the moment. The water has still been getting greener. I have tried a product called "green away" with initial sucess and now have a phos-zorb sachet in the tank. The water is now quite green.

The tank is well stocked and is planted. The lights are on for 8 hours a day and i have cut back the fish food a little.

Any suggestions to cure the problem would be much appreciated.

Henry

 

[emma12321]

Hi Henry,

Black out your tank for 5-6 days and the tank should clear up. Wrap black bin bags or thick towels/ blankets around the tank and turn off the light. Feed the fish a normal amount before doing this and they will be fine without food for a few days. Don't let any light in at all then when you finally remove the wrapping do a normal water change, the tank should be crystal clear. If you search the forum you will see several similar topics.





Emma

 

[rdd1952]

Hi Henry and welcome to the forum.

It really depends on what type algae you have. Is the tank relatively new? What size is it? What does the algae look like? Is it simply green water?

You can rid most tanks of algae with the black out method. It isn't very good for your plants though. Generally 3 days will get rid of everything. You will, however, have to figure out what the cause is or it will just come back. The 2 top causes of algae are over feeding your fish (too many nitrates in the water) and too much light (8 hours isn't too much but is the tank in direct sunlight) or most likely a combination of the 2.

If it is simply green water, it will eventually clear up on it's own. It isn't necessarily bad for the fish. Water changes usually only have a very temporary effect for the obvious reasons. You take out 25% of the green water and replace with clear water. Presto, your tank is 25% clearer. The next day you're back to where you were. A UV Sterilizer will also clear it up if you don't want to wait on it to clear on it's own. They are however somewhat expensive. I successfully used a Coralife Turbo Twist 3X on both my 29 and 75 gallon tanks.

Here is a link to the thread I started with pics of my 29 gallon tank while I had the UV Sterilizer on it. the 75 gallon was even quicker and more dramatic.

 

[Ethos]

Those huge plecs I hear work good...except they grow huge!I should know the name seeing my cousin has one...

 

[zig]

Green water is usually caused by ammonia or ammonium NH3 and NH4, you may have had some sort of ammonia spike even a slight one can trigger green water, this is why it is so common in new tank setups as the tank is cycling. But many things can cause green water you may also have a nutrient imbalance as your tank contains plants, this can also trigger green water.

The simplist way to try and cure green water is with a blackout, usually 4 days if the green water is bad, by bad i mean you can hardly see the back of the tank, if the problem is less severe you could blackout for 3 days and this may cure it.

The tank needs to be totally blacked out, if the tank is planted and you are running co2, disconnect the co2, do a 50% water change immeaditaly before you start the blackout and clean the filter, when the blackout is over do another 50% water change. If the green water has not totally cleared after the blackout continue to do a 50% water change each day for a few days but do not clean the filter during these water changes, this should clear up any remaining green water if the blackout was not 100% successful.

As rdd has already mentioned a uv steriliser will also clear green water but a blackout is also usually effective if you do not own one.

Best of luck with it.

 

[Henry5]

thanks for the help. if i try the black out method, should i put an oxygen line in for the fisf?

 

[zig]

You will clean your filter and keep it running as normal during the blackout, providing an additional airstone in the tank will not do any harm.