algae

[yitzy]

i have been having a huge algae problem in my 125g tangs tank i leave the lights on for about 12 hours am i doinn something wrong please tell me thanks

[Dan Woodland]

Is there any possibility of direct sunlight?
Has the problem started since winter began?
What are you feeding? and to what?

Dan

[yitzy]

im feeding pellets its not in direct sunlight and its been like this for a while

[Lisachromis]

The easiest thing to do is maybe cut the lights down a bit. What fish are you feeding pellets to? It's possible that they are being overfed.

[dstuer]

We had a problem with algae in the filters of the water treatment plant I work in. We put blue hardware store tarps over the skylights, and the algae is no longer a problem.
Wonder if putting blue gels over the top of the tank, (as used in stage lighting), would temporarily work, without going to the totally darkened route.

[MatsP]

All algae needs two things to grow:
- Light
- Nutrition (nitrate from fish-waste)

Remove either of those two, and algae shouldn't occur any longer.

If the tank isn't planted (and this is common for Cichlid tanks, as Cichlids generally don't work well with plants), then there's nothing to take up the nutrition, only algae and other micro-plants will act as recipients for the nutrients produced by the fish. So removing nutrients by bigger water changes is one solution - you may also consider checking the nitrate levels of the incoming water, as that may contain sufficient nitrate to cause the problem in the first place - unfortunately, that's not easy to fix!)

As dstuer says, the frequency (colour) of the light is also a factor - old flourescent tubes tend to make the light less suitable for plants and algae being a bit less "picky" may thrive a bit more. So in a planted tank, putting in new tubes may help.

Reducing the light-period is the other suggestion - perhaps by using the "siesta" method of switching the lights off for a few hours around midday may work better for you than changing when you switch the lights on or off.

Adding an algae eater will also work, but you need to be aware that the algae eater will produce more waste, which will lead to more nutrients for the algae to grow from. Or you end up with no algae in the tank, at which point you definitely need to feed the algae eater something else (zucchini/courgette is a favourite).

--
Mats

[TK421]

Goodmorning.

I too, as probably most aquarists have experienced, have had algaes.
I think Mats' guidelines is the order you should go through, and I just have one addition.

I noticed that after rearranging some of my aquariums (325L), I change the water flow setup. Same filtration system, but not as much movement in the water.
Try and get some current in the water because I believe that still water helps algae growth.
Maybe it's because that nitrate rich element land and stay stationary on the bottom, instead of getting twirled around in the water and later caught in the filter.

The most effecient thing I can recommend is to put the aquarium in sleep mode.
Kill the lights also sunlight through curtains. Put a dark plastik sheet around the aquarium only leaving a couple of navigational light holes.
This will kill the algae within one to two weeks.

Good luck =)