mando

Hi, I'm A New Member To This Forum, And New To Fish Keeping.
I Have Had This Fish Tank For Over 8 Months. My Tank Is In An Enclosed Terrace And The Sunlight Filters In But Does Not Shine Directly To The Tank. I Have Several Live Plants And For Over A Month Now I Have A Big Problem With Green And Black Algae I Hav'ent Added Any Product Yet, I Wonder If Someone Have An Idea Of Wat I Can Do
Thank You

Hypnox

Welcome to Fishlore!

While i'm not sure how to take care of your problem without a UV filter or an algaecide I'm sure someone will be along shortly to help you with your problem.

cerianthus

Sound like beard algae, usually on the edges of the leaves working into middle section of leaves as progrress. Any pics??
UV will help only with free floating spores(zygote??) if they pass thru UV. Algaecide w/ live plants may not be good idea.

Dont know what size tank, water parameter, fishes?

If comm tank, look into Crossocheilus (Epalzeorhynchus) siamensis, commonly called Siamese Algae Eater, Siamaese Flying Fox. Their cousin (E. kallopterus, flying Fox) look very similar but did not help w/ beard alge like Siamese FF did. May need few to do adequate job. Know the difference before purchasing since most LFS do not know the differences.

Jess

I found that after getting 5 Siamese Algae Eaters that my algae is gone. If you have room you could try a few of these guys.

Toxic

I agreee with getting a clean up crew (algea eaters) and see what level they can control the algea at. But if you are getting to much sunlight, there is not much you can do. Also do not add algea destroyer or it will kill your plants also.

Jess

Toxic, like your avatar.

Regal

I would not put an algaecide in my tank. I don't know anything about them it just seems like if a product is intended to kill something I don't want it in my tank.

My aquarium is in front of a south facing window. It gets a lot of sun most of the day.

I had a regular pleco but within a few months he was so big he was uprooting all my plants. I took him out and added a bushy nose pleco and 6 oto cats. The algae is kept in check without chemicals.

catfishlover123

Well, you can get a fancy pleco. Plecos are cool fish and they eat algae.

pepetj

I believe there are several ways of addressing this problem, either isolated or combined.

a) UV Sterilizer, placed the same as HOB, easy to install, aim at a powerhead capable of 40-50 times in GPH the number of watts of the UV lamp. The hard part is getting appropriate fittings, as in everything, you get what you pay for. If interested in this solution please read the following article, a bit lengthy but easy to understand.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts....ilization.html

b) Add some submerged floating plants, as Egaria Densa (Anacharis) that take most nutrients from the water column and usually outcompete most algae.

c) Avoid overfeeding fish and plants. Re-do the math behind the amount of fish food your particular stocking requires, and watch for the amount and ingredients in the fertilizer you add for your plants, avoid those with nitrates and phosphates, go for the ones with trace elements (e.g. iron).

d) Clean-up Crew: There's a lot to choose from.
I have had success with that black hairy algae by introducing a few (five) juvenile Apple Snails to help the Adult one that was already in that tank.
Ghost Shrimps, some of which may disappear without a trace but five or seven of these cute fellows are almost a negligible bio-load.
A school of four or six otocynclus catfish, in well stablished tanks, hard to beat for anyone lucky enough to have access to them -I haven't see one at any of the LFS in my city as yet-.
Siamese algae eaters have good reputation too.
I would avoid the Chinese Algae Eater and Pleco since they stop feeding exclusively on algae and usually attack other fish as they grow old.
And of course, the never-boring schools of four of more small corydoras (Pandas, Adolfoi, Bronze...).
I'm not sure about the efficiency of other catfish, as the Upside-Down since I just got my first school of them ever.

e) DIY nitrate removal, which essentially is a separate tank unit connected to your main tank where algae growth is encouraged so they all go there instead of your tank. There's a nice long thread about it here in Fishlore forum:
Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!


Pepe
Santo Domingo

Toxic

Thanks Jess