Algae on bottom of tank

HI all,

I have a new tank two months old with good water quality and happy, healthy fish. Its out of direct sunlight and I have the tank lights on about nine hours a day.

My problem (and I don't know if it is a problem) is algae on the bottom of the tank. I have a sand substrate which I disturb often to prevent it stagnating. On top of this substrate is a fair amount of bright green algae. I've tried to siphon this up during my weekly water change but am unable too.

Is this harmful to my fish or should I just put up with it. I don't get much algae appearing on the tank glass and I do have a pleco in the tank which I believe will help.

Thanks

Rob

 

HI all,

I have a new tank two months old with good water quality and happy, healthy fish. Its out of direct sunlight and I have the tank lights on about nine hours a day.

My problem (and I don't know if it is a problem) is algae on the bottom of the tank. I have a sand substrate which I disturb often to prevent it stagnating. On top of this substrate is a fair amount of bright green algae. I've tried to siphon this up during my weekly water change but am unable too.

Is this harmful to my fish or should I just put up with it. I don't get much algae appearing on the tank glass and I do have a pleco in the tank which I believe will help.

Thanks

Rob

I have heard that new tanks can go through an "algal bloom", but not sure at what point this is?! the plec should help, but I don't know if they can clean sand without accidently eating it :-\ I think gravel/stones are easier for them to clean as they kinda roll them in their mouth. if the algae is really bad you can put your tank into 3 days blackout. also you don't mention if you have plants or not. they are good for algae probs as they compete (and win) the fight for nutrients. ie the plants take all the nutrients so there's not enough left for the algae. also....algae can be a sign of high phosphates. this can be as a result of over feeding. look for low phosphate fish food. also...shrimps are meant to be good at stirring up the sand, and may dig little burrows, so if you want to hire someone else to stir your gravel...invest in a shrimp or 2!!
hope this helps?
Tan

 

Tan.b just gave you lots of useful info I agree that it must be hard for a Pleco to clean a sand substrate. Algae may be the result of - as Tan.b. said - too high a Phosphate. They may also result from high Nitarte. High Nitrate, in turn, is usually the result of overfeeding or not enough water changes.

Algae are not harmful to fish, unless they're Cyano-bacteria (blue-green algae). I've heard that the bluish algae can actually be toxic to fish. All other algae types: brown, red, green, black ... are safe

 

See if you can see your kind of algae here then we can figure out how to get rid of it
Good info Tan and Isabella!
Carol

 

Thanks for the advice I think it is beard algae. My water tests are coming up fine with low nitrate levels.

 

I used to have a problem with beard algae when I had low nitrates. I just upped the fertilizers and got a few ottos

however, reading your post again, I don't know if you have plants