platy ben

Ok so in my 35G and my 8G i have alot of the brown algae which i believe is called diatoms, i understand this is a new tank algae so i know that it should be forming in my 8G because it is only about 3 weeks old.

But my 35G is atleast 2 months old and maybe even 3 months old now and it still has LOADS of diatoms growing on the glass, there are otos in there but they just cant keep up with the growth the algae is growing at, so i often have to clean the glass by hand, i under stand this is all part of the tank matenence and responsibility but i was just wondering if there was any other way of getting rid of this pesky algae?

sorry about long post, but thanks for reading

nemo addict

shorten lighting periods or leave off for a week or so till its gone if possible

platy ben

i am currently leaving the light off in the 8G and is helping

nemo addict

over feeding can also be a cause so starve it ov both and it will soon dissapear

platy ben

ok, thanks for your help

froggiegal

Platy Ben,

Make sure you have the right size wattage for your lighting in the tank. I suffered algae bloom (actually the fish did) that was caused b/c the LFS put in reptile light bulbs when I took the hood down to them. I lost everything and took tank apart. When I put it back together a month ago, saw what had happened. When you do water changes, do you clean the things in the tank?

Fishies-for-me

Actually low light encourages diatom algae not bright light... My tanks are 6+ months old and I still get them in one at least 2 of the tanks..I live ith it...lol. I scrape the front glass and just let it be. If you lightly stir the top of the gravel it will disturb it and it will go away ( untill it grows over the top again.) phosphate removing resins can have some effect from what I have read. ..Good luck.

Tavel

The tricky part is reducing the amount of algae while keeping enough to feed the ottos. My tanks are over a year old and still growing mostly diatoms, but that's good. Diatoms are easy to remove and grow slower than aglae.

The best way to minimize diatoms is either turn the lights on longer (which will induce green algae growth instead...I don't think that's better...), reduce feedings (less food for fish is less food for diatoms too), or remove the charcoal from your filter.

The charcoal leaches phosphates into the water which feed the diatoms. sure you could use a phosphate resin...but that's like using drugs to treat side effects of other drugs. lol

also note that ottos can't scrape the glass completely clean, you will have to manually clean the glass every couple of weeks anyway. a few spots here and there, and a thin, nearly invisible film is perfectly normal.

get a magnetic scraper, makes cleaning the glass super easy.

platy ben

i think my question has been answered lol, a magnetic scraper, i knew how easily it came off but me being as silly as i am would never remember to try something like that! lol thanks for your help

Tavel

just be careful, I always smack my barbs in the face with the scraper. My barbs are stupid, but still...lol

platy ben

haha, my young malawi,mbunas are quite timid so i dont think they will get very close at all