Tips On Fighting Algae

[Hamsnacks]

Asking for a friend as I wasn't much help.

He has a 6ft 120 Gallon Tank he just recently started, plenty of plants. Hasn't started the nitrogen cycle (no food or fish in the tank)
First few days he noticed the white fuzz on some of his sand and wood, I told him that was very common and he could just siphon it out but it wasn't harmful.
He went away for 3 days and when he came back he noticed way too much green algae on his rocks and sand, he's now in a pickle on what to do?
His plants are growing beautifully though, but the decor is looking bad.

I told him to drop his hours of light from 8hrs to 7hrs.
Make sure there is water movement throughout the tank.

Any other tips?
Should he go dark for a couple of days? Did he put too many root tabs? Drop his light to 6hrs a day?
If he buys a few Ottos will that help?

Will he be able to remove the algae naturally or does he literally need to scrub it off his rocks?

Thank you!

 

[Colin_T]

Asking for a friend as I wasn't much help.

LOL, yeah I have heard that before. Hi Doc, my um friend has this weird red patch on his thingy, any idea what it is?

I give you a slap on the back of the head for not providing pictures.

We need to identify the algae or blue green algae (and the red patch on your friend's thingy) before offering advice.

Don't add fish to control algae, especially not Otocinculs. They need an established tank and don't do well in new tanks that might be cycling.

Algae normally grows from excess light, or excess nutrients, or not enough plants to use the light or nutrients. Reducing the lighting by an hour a day and monitoring for a couple of weeks is a good start. 7-8 hours is quite a short lighting period and I would try not to reduce lighting any more.

A picture of the tank and algae will help us in determining if there are sufficient plants and the species of algae. And tell us what fertiliser he is using.

 

[Featheryfish]

I'm pretty new at fish here, but in my limited and recent experience getting a new tank rolling, I found the algae in my tank bloomed and went nuts for a brief period, then died back on its own and did not return. Once the plants really got down to growing they out-competed the algae easily.

I did scrape the walls with a razorblade and siphon the loose algae out, and rubbed algae off a few plant leaves with my fingers and a toothbrush, but that's all really. Even that was probably unnecessary as it was diminishing on its own, I just wanted things to look good. Your friend could just wait a while, do water changes and see what happens. Unless you think it's BBA or something nasty like that.

I would think adding algae-eating fish to an uncycled tank would just make more ammonia for the algae spores to feast on, based on what I've read and been told. Also wouldn't be very pleasant or healthy for the poor fish. So... don't do that! Perhaps try adding more plants instead.

 

[Byron]

As this is a planted tank, "problem" algae is due to an imbalance as Colin mentioned. So we need the data...lighting (spectrum, type, etc), plant additives if any. And the photo of the tank so we can see the plant species. Finding the balance for the plants is not that difficult but it does require knowing the data.

Acquiring any fish to deal with algae is always a mistake. Every species that will (or might) eat algae has very particular preferences when it comes to the species of algae they eat. And these fish usually bring with them their own set of needs and traits as fish, and this may or may not fit in with the rest.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Is it green algae or brown algae (looks kind of rusty)? I ask because it is quite common for new tanks to get brown algae.

 

[Hamsnacks]

LOL, yeah I have heard that before. Hi Doc, my um friend has this weird red patch on his thingy, any idea what it is?

I give you a slap on the back of the head for not providing pictures.

Haha I swear this time it's my friend with the weird red patch not me.

Thank you all for the responses, sorry was out of town for work and didn't respond.

He ended up reducing his CO2 injection and made a huge difference.