LOTS of algae...

[jeffrey]

Well I went on vacation for 3 weeks here (man was it awsome) but alas I am home and back to my daily grind.

I came home to my light still on in my tank, and algae gallor, the back wall is SOLID deep green, and all my rocks have a nice coat, and the front and side glass has a good amount of algae on it too, and there is like long hair algae on my filters inlet tube and where it come out a bit.

Fish are all good, and all tests come out good.

Seems my timer broke very short into my vacation, and my light (55 watts of them) stayed on all day and night. instead of the 2 hours a day they are normally on (the tank gets reflected natural light for the day too)
I know its lots of light, but its worked great for me for a long time.


So my question, the algae on the back doesnt really bother me, and I can scrape the front and sides.
But will having all this in my tank effect anything? or is there a fish that can "live" off of it?




Its a 25 US gallon tank that has guppies in it, about 40 with the fry, 6 full grown only though.

 

[rdd1952]

I don't think the algae will necessarily hurt anything. It usually just unsightly. Unfortunately, once you have algae, getting rid of it is not easy. If it is blue green algae, there aren't any algae eaters that will touch it. I would first try to identify what kind it is. Then you can start to figure out how to get rid of it. I don't use any chemicals except fertilizer in my planted tanks but if you DON"T have live plants, you could possibly use one of the algae removal chemicals. Before someone slams me for that last statement, I'm not recommending this course of action, merely suggesting as a possible solution.

 

[jeffrey]

how do I tell if its blue green or something else?

its a very deep green, like forest green.

 

[guppygirl]

Blue green is slimy and comes off in big slimy nasty sheets. Very easily removed, and has a dark green color. It's not actually an algae, but cyanobacteria.

Hair algae is green and has teeny little hairs that grow on everything. Hard to remove.

Beard algae is black and forms little tufts. I think it's kinda cute, but I've never had it on something that it wasn't allowed to be on.

 

[Iron Man]

What do you mean "live" off of it? There are plenty of fish/creatures that will have a hayday with such a lush forest green algae buildup such as yours.

You could try something small like an apple snail or one of the algae eating suckerfish everyone here likes so much such as the Siamese Algae Eaters, plecos, etc. But keep in mind a bristlenose pleco will be the max size of pleco you want in your tank...and its the smallest of them.

If you keep more than one then most likely they will have "exhausted" this source and will be looking for more so you MAY have to keep providing them supplemental food such as sinking algae wafers, etc.

If you only keep say one apple snail in there....he will munch his little heart out until he has eaten everything he can....and the algae growth after this may be enough to sustain him without anything being done on your part.

I'm curious though...why do you have 55 watts of light and direct sunlight on your tank if its not a live planted tank? It sounds like it was be PERFECT for some very nice plant growth! Also if you pack your tank with live plants they will outcompete for nutrients with the algae and you will have algae no more....likely.

Mine gets lots of sun too and there is already a lot of algae/plant growth. I have apple snails that work day and night munching what algae does grow and even my swordtails have been keeping the growth on the plants in check....and I have live plants I've already had to propagate TWICE in 3 weeks.

There is NO substitute for natural sunlight!

 

[Torrean]

You could try something small like an apple snail or one of the algae eating suckerfish everyone here likes so much such as the Siamese Algae Eaters, plecos, etc. But keep in mind a bristlenose pleco will be the max size of pleco you want in your tank...and its the smallest of them.

I hate to say it iron man but your wrong. What about rubbernose pleco's or otto's they are both algae eating pleco's that stay under four inches. There are a lot of plecos smaller than bristlenose's.

 

[Iron Man]

You could try something small like an apple snail or one of the algae eating suckerfish everyone here likes so much such as the Siamese Algae Eaters, plecos, etc. But keep in mind a bristlenose pleco will be the max size of pleco you want in your tank...and its the smallest of them.

I hate to say it iron man but your wrong. What about rubbernose pleco's or otto's they are both algae eating pleco's that stay under four inches. There are a lot of plecos smaller than bristlenose's.

I don't even consider ottos an option as I for one would never spend money on something that can, for no reason, drop like flies in your tank all of a sudden. And bristelnoses are among the smallest of the plecos....there are none smaller. The rubbernose is as small as the bristelnose but it by no means is smaller.

Both grow to 4" (generally).