I am going nuts trying to get rid of an alge problem.

Nosie_poker

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I bought a new tank, 6 months later it sprung a leak. It was clear, pristine, and had no problems. I had to put my fish in a new tank, new everything. I cleaned it all, let the filter run for three days, added everything I needed to prepare it for the fish. The numbers from both tank were almost the same, not off enough to make a difference. I have been fighting several types of alge ever sense I put my fish in the new tank.

It’s cloudy most of the time, I change out the tank as often as necessary ad then some. I pick out the alge with tweezers, in the stone bottom, off the plants, the two decorations. Had to take the wood out, it was slimy when you clean it, the bottom of the bucket has all this slimie hair like alge all over over the bottom.

I have tried everything to get rid of it, but can’t. I am thinking of getting a new tank, etc. I have sat for hours picking the stuff out, but it is back the next day. I have tried everything I have been told by so called experts, I’ve tried for over four months, and watched some of my fish die! Clean filters, use the proper amounts of bacteria and water clarifier, alge fix no luck. What’s next! Help please
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

Algae grows from excess light or too many nutrients. If you don't have many live plants then algae will grow due to the light and water.

If the water is milky cloudy there is a bacterial bloom. If the water is green cloudy then it is algae.

Stop adding things to the tank until we know what is going on.

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Can you post pictures of the algae so we know what type you have?
If the images are too big to fit on the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. Make sure you change the resolution back after otherwise all your pictures will be small. Check the pictures on your computer and find a couple that clearly show the algae. Then post those pics on here.

What type of light do you have on the tank and how long is the light on for?
How many watts is the light?
How old are the globes?

What sort of filter do you have?
How often do you clean the filter and how do you clean it?

How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do water changes?
What type of substrate do you have?

Have you tested the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH?
If yes, what are the results in numbers?

Do you add any plant fertilisers?

How often do you feed the fish and what do you feed them?

What fish/ shrimp do you have in the tank?

How long has the tank been running for?
 
Hey! First of all, where is your tank? If it is near a window or light source then you are always going to have algae problems unless you move it. What plants do you have? If you have plants that need a lot of light that might be a problem and also what fish do you have? What type of tank is it? How big is it?

Sorry lots of questions but if the tank is big enough I would reccomend some algae eaters. Maybe a tiger pleco or two or perhaps a school of loaches?

Hope I can help :)
 
Buying a fish to solve a problem is not the best way to go. We should only buy fish because we like them and our tank is suitable for them

There is no creature (fish, snail or shrimp) that will eat every type of algae, and there are some types of algae that nothing will eat. The best way to deal with algae is to find the cause and sort that out.

Most loaches do not eat algae, except the hillstream loaches.
 
Buying a fish to solve a problem is not the best way to go. We should only buy fish because we like them and our tank is suitable for them

There is no creature (fish, snail or shrimp) that will eat every type of algae, and there are some types of algae that nothing will eat. The best way to deal with algae is to find the cause and sort that out.

Most loaches do not eat algae, except the hillstream loaches.
Of course, it is important to buy a fish because you want them and can accommodate to their needs-I was never suggesting otherwise, however if that fish is also beneficial to your tank and can solve a problem, then that is a factor I would consider.
 
Basically what it takes to beat algae is a bigger and stronger filter with a good flow and ..yes,less light. When a planted tank starts? I would think 8 hours is plenty.when you get things going..then you can do 10 for a heavily planted tank..but 8-9 hours is enough for plants and not enough for gobs of algae..heck,you might want to even try just six hours a day...but six GOOD hours of quality light.
 
As Colin says all Algae is due to an imbalance between light and nutrients. The only way to deal with it is to get the balance right. Changing your filter or using chemicals cannot do this.

For example if your nutrients are too high and you reduce the light you get even more Algae. In this case you need to reduce the nutrients or increase the light and add more plants.

Note that l some have mentioned light duration, but intensity is a more important factor.
 
A few nerite or ramshorn snails may also help to maintain the tank once you get it under control.
 
Not entirely true 100% Sean. I had a terrific Algae problem myself..one thing I did to reduce it was to add more bio media to the filter. I had always made weekly water changes. Nothing had changed on that.
The second thing was to add Syngonium..yes,I know that's just an answer for me. But those roots just starved algae. The last I did was to cover where light was most intense from window sunlight..the pool sands with aquarium gravel. Sands are a great food for blue green algae along with hair and green spot.
As you can tell...hard to say "Do this,and its cured"..each tank is unique. But..more bio filtration and a shorter day length of light WILL make a difference.
btw,Stay away from Hydrogen Peroxide...it will kill algae as claimed...but if you dip too long..or forget to wash off treated plants,or apply it to plants rooted in the tank?..the leftover residue from HP is enough to kill off moss,ferns,Vals,..Ammania, at the very least. Its a slow death for them as it happens a week or two after you used the stuff to kill algae and thought "It works!"...sure it did...lol...
 
The second thing was to add Syngonium..yes,I know that's just an answer for me. But those roots just starved algae
That is adding more plants (even if not aquatic). More plants to reduce the nutrients is restoring the balance
The last I did was to cover where light was most intense from window sunlight..the pool sands with aquarium gravel
That is reducing the light. Again restoring the balance between light and nutrients. Reflected light is still light. I have increased my lighting duration by 2 hours since switching from light to dark sand.
Sands are a great food for blue green algae along with hair and green spot.
BGA or cyanobacteria is bacteria and not algae, so cannot be considered the same. Sand has no nutritional value for algae or plants.
 
It's a bacteria with chlorophyll...no light and it dies. My point is..,its well known that something about sands feeds blue green algae . Switch to gravel( white gravel too!) in sunlit areas..and it died off totally. Now,I've gotten BGA before in gravel..but that tank was soaking in nutrients from potting soils used for some plants..spilled,UG filter clogged with it and roots. But that has been the only gravel tank that ever came down with a bad case of BGA in my well over 40 years now.
Hair algae? From what I have seen is low iron,high light, and high phosphates is what they love most. Add iron and aquarium plants go green,start pulling nutrients besides just iron out of the water as hoped...hair algae is reduced near zero. I had been pulling out clumps of it twice a week!..in 240 gallons. It's nice to have moss again that's not infested with hair algae... a sure death for moss.
 
To add my thinking to the mix...first, Sean is correct on the balance and in his interpretation of post #9. All "problem" algae is due solely to the imbalance of light/nutrients. This can be too intense light, too weak light, too much nutrients, too little nutrients--all must be in balance for the plant species and numbers. It is easy to throw the balance out--the additional light (duration and brightness) entering in summer through a window, or the dimming of the tank lighting over time.

Cyanobacteria is caused by organics in the presence of light. As for sand, that suggests to me that the sand is less easy to clean than would be gravel, and the organic buildup is the cause of the cyano. Of course, the nutrients could be in the water column. Sand itself cannot possibly cause cyano if there are no nutrients present. Unless one does a scientifically controlled series of experiments with gravel in one and sand in another and all other factors absolutely identical--such as light and nutrients in the water or substrate--it cannot be said that sand alone causes cyano.
 
Sand makes a better habitat and I will always say..they feed on the silica atom,molecules..something faint but they thrive on it. Much more than gravels. It could be gravel tanks never get as eutrophic also..I could accept that.
I know that BGA was never as big a terror or the cause of so many posts when everybody had gravels..and sand by experts of the day was told as it was..they do nothing to help water quality and they are harder- much harder for plants to root into in an aquarium.
Funny thing is I did go sand in my 240 i set up in July 2018..to be modern I guess,and there it was BGA. Ok,I eventually covered that sand with white colored gravel and..stopped BGA being rampant. When my Syngonium got going and I added iron...it was all gone. The truth.
Amano used fine white sands...and the rest of the world thought it was what he used for his plants. No,he only used it for the front of the aquariums...the plants were in his own brand of gravels.
 

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