How To Clean Up Algae?

[tropfishmelb]

Hi,
 
I was hoping someone could help identify the algae that is covering some of the plants in my tank?
 
A few days ago I added 3 Otocinclus catfish, but they seem to prefer cleaning the glass to the plants and driftwood. Do you think they will eventually get to the algae?
 
It is a 36 inch * 18 inch * 18 inch tank, and I have a 78w T5 light on for about 6.5 hours a day.
The substrate is aquasoil, and the tank has been recently cycled.
 
Ammonia, Nitrite are 0, Nirate aroun 5ppm.
 
Thanks

 

[BerryAttack]

you should not just let your fish just rely on eating algae, they need another food source. i don't know what kind of algae that would be, but it looks like you can just remove it.
you can do a black out for your tank.. you can read up about it on the site. lots of info on it and how to do it.
and also you can remove it with your hands, just use your nail gently on the leaves and it'll come off.

 

[tropfishmelb]

Thanks for the info BerryAttack.
You can see in the picture that there is also some zucchini in the tank for the Otocinclus.,I also feed flake food/frozen food once per day.
 
The algae is easy to remove, but time consuming.  After a few days it has re-covered plants that I have cleaned.
Would people advise that I reduce or increase the lighting period?
 
 
 
 

 

[Blondielovesfish]

You may want to also feed algae wafers for your Ottos.
 
What plants are you growing? If you aren't adding CO2 or don't have any high light plants, you may want to have a weaker light as that may be a cause for the algae.

 

[levahe]

We need to know a few things,


What ferts do you use and how often do you dose?
Do you use co2 or liquid co2 ?
Do you do water changes and how much and how often?
Do you do regular gravel vacs and keep the tank clean?
How often do you clean your filter?
I can't tell what algae it is, any chance of a close up?

 

[tropfishmelb]

What ferts do you use and how often do you dose?
- don't use anything, the tank has just finished cycling after about 3 weeks with Black Earth Aquasoil as the substrate
 
Do you use co2 or liquid co2 ?
- no
 
Do you do water changes and how much and how often?
- about 50% a week
 
Do you do regular gravel vacs and keep the tank clean?
- yes, the substrate is clean
 
How often do you clean your filter? 
- I have an eheim pro 2228 on the tank. Since it has only been 3 weeks I have not cleaned it yet, was told every 3 months
 
I can't tell what algae it is, any chance of a close up?
- please see the attached picture
 
The fish shop recommended the lighting. The only plants that would require that much at the moment would be the micro swords I am hoping will provide a nice foreground grass in the tank. The other plants are anubias, amazon frogbit, Mayaca, Rotala, Ambulia, Amazon Sword, Crypts, Java Fern, Java Moss, Ludwiga

 

[levahe]

It looks like diatoms - pretty much every tank gets these when they are first started and yours is only 3 weeks old. These should clear up on its own after a short time. You could help it in the meantime by sucking it out with a gravel cleaner and wiping it off leaves and so on.

Your lights are quite powerful so I think you are very likely to run into trouble with your plants if you are not dosing any plant nutrients. The bright light will make the plants want to grow quickly and they will run out of nutrients and become unhealthy, then algae will attack them. You also may find that just nutrients on their own might not be enough and you might need to add co2 as well. But only time will tell.
I recommend getting some nutrients and starting dosing those asap

 

[imbellis.my]

Hi everyone,Terminalia catappa is good for algae removal,moreover it's organic and enviromental friendly

 

 

[snowflake311]

You have brown hair algae that stuff is the worst! I had it in my tank really really bad. The thing that killed it for me was HIGH LIGHT. I increased my light bought a whole new light and just blasted it with light it died. BUT i got green hair algae next but I did not mind it because it is green. I since have moved the tank to a larger tank and I dose ferts and Excel my algae is going away. Also increased water movment helps a lot for most algae. The Gross brown hair algea that is slimy like what you have thrives off of low light or poor light and little water flow in the tank. 
 
I since have moved all plants and fish to a 36 gal bow front with the same LED light that is very bright. I got a better stronger canister filters too. I does the tank with a few types of ferts. I had to make some adjustments but I think I found my balance. 
 
That brown hair algae is the worst it will kill your plants too. I hate it to much. Good light. Look into getting a brighter light and add more water flow in your tank water movement is your friend. 
 
Here it is before and after i cleaned it. It took an hour to clean it and I had to remove a lot of plants that were infected. I used the small tube to suck up the algae. I think I did a 90% water change on it that day. I filled it and emptied like 2 times. It was no fun. As you can see from this before and after YES it can be cleaned up pretty good. BUT it will come right back if you don't find the cause and fix it. 
 
You could try dropping you light lower so it is closer to the tank. I would leave the lights on longer then 6 hours since this nasty stuff LOVES low light Black outs do not work I tried that too. Also old bulbs can be a problem since they are not running at full watts or as bright as new ones. Switch out the Bulbs for new ones. You should change your bulbs every year even if they still work. 
 

 
Now I moved everything in to this tank with with better filter and all is balanced and good again. 

 

[Bubbelzzz]

As the algae look very "hairy", they will not be diatoms. However, i still think your light might be an issue in combination with the fact that the tank was just set up. I guess, reduce the level of light a bit and remove as much algae as possible.
 

Hi everyone,Terminalia catappa is good for algae removal,moreover it's organic and enviromental friendly

 

 
it is shown by researches that catappa leaves can help with fighting diseases and preventing them. However, i have never heard of their ability to remove algae. Could you elaborate on this? and perhaps give some references?

 

[imbellis.my]

Yes, catappa leaves,help to remove algae and prevent the formation.I use to set up the aquarium under the sunshine,the water turned green,because of algae formation,then when I put a few catappa leaves,there was no algae formation though the water turned tea like color,Aquatic plants also grow very well.