Newbie6

Hey all,

I've had some past problems keeping my tank (I've lost a ton of fish for a variety of reasons) and I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. That being said, I don't want to mess it up now! I believe my tank is cycled, I've had it going for a few weeks with starter bacteria and four giant danios, and I've slowly added two black fin tetras as well. The nitrate readings aren't too high, around the 10 range, and there are no nitrites present. Still, I'm leery about overcleaning the tank, I've been told that is a common beginner mistake. I've scrubbed the algae off the tank walls already once this week, but I've got more growing already. Is it a bad thing to clean the tank more than once a week or so? I don't plan on changing water or anything, I just don't want to throw anything out of whack. Thanks for your feedback!

fishie freddie

if you want too stop the algae try putting in some live plants your tank and fish will benefit

docjr03

I think you would be fine scrubbing algae off the walls of your tank. Algae is a common problem in newer tanks (6 mo's old<)

Newbie6

Thanks for the quick responses! I've got 2 larger live plants and three smaller ones added yesterday, hopefully that will help keep it down.

Lucy

Several types of algea problems can be fixed by simply reducing the amount of time the light is on.
This link has description of common types of algea and how to deal with it.
Algae Overview

docjr03

cool What kind of plants?

Newbie6

I know for certain that the two bigger plands are swords, the small ones I don't remember

They seem to have helped, I did a fairly thorough cleaning. I waited a while and nothing out of the ordinary happened. I took that as a sign of a healthy tank, so when I saw a great deal on some gorgeous Angelfish I got two, haha. I'm worried because there is hardly any algae anymore, and the alkalinity has dropped recently. Maybe I'm just a newb freaking out, but is there any basis for my worrying? Thanks for all your continued help!

krismoore888

have you got a testing kit, if so can you post your water results?

Newbie6

pH- around 6.6 to 6.8
Alkalinity- around 0 (!?)
no nitrites present, low nitrate (around 10 mg/L). Slightly hard water.

my testing kit isn't very specific, its just one of those 5 in 1 test strips.

krismoore888

ah ok, there can be a bit unreliable, if you can i would suggest the API master kit, its around £20 in UK, I dont know about the US

bryan87

$25-30

Newbie6

yea, I was planning on investing on some better equipment once my college student budget allows...is there anything you can make out of those numbers though? (even though they're probably not the most accurate)

krismoore888

no that all seems fine, as was stated earlie, in a new tank algae can grow quite quickly and as lucy said reducing the light should help. it may be worth getting an algae eating fish of some sort, perhaps corys, a small plec (bristlenose), otos or freshwater goby

krismoore888

I have very little on any of my tanks and all of them have at least one of the above (my aquarium details are not up to date)

agabr123

all the numbers you show are fine. most fish can acclimate to a wide range of pH and alkalinity so no problems there. the readings you really want to see are for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrAte, and the API master kit is the best IMO.

if your algae is brown spots (called diatoms) i wouldn't worry about scrubbing the tank every day, it's very common in new tanks and will just grow back in a day or two. it's annoying for us but perfectly harmless to the fish.

Beeker

Here is a good link for an API Freshwater Master test kit:
http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS...rmastertestkit

Very nice price, too.

Newbie6

thanks once again for your help, I'm gonna try and relax and enjoy my tank instead of worrying all the time