15 Gallon Tank Help with Betta tank I don't know what to do

[ToOthleSS04]

I just can't understand what's going on. I think I have an algae problem.. see the picture below. This is my 15 gallon Betta tank, with Casper (my Betta) and a nerite snail inside. I did a water change and a cleaning 3 days ago, and the tank was clear again, now again algae spread and I don't know what to do anymore! I think it's the heaters fault, the thermometers says that the temperature is 30 degrees Celsius while on the heater it's set to 26 degrees Celsius! What should I do? Reduce the amount of food? I usually give to Casper 4-5 flakes 2 times a day, which he eats with no time. Every suggestion will be helpful, thanks

 

[BigManAquatics]

How long is the light on for? Direct sunlight?

 

[FoldedCheese]

Also, how often and how much water do you change? Do you vacuum the gravel?

 

[ToOthleSS04]

How long is the light on for? Direct sunlight?

Almost all day, it doesn't have a timer, and yes it gets indirect sunlight

Also, how often and how much water do you change? Do you vacuum the gravel?

Yeah I do both once every month, or at least by now because I set the tank some weeks ago already

 

[BigManAquatics]

Almost all day, it doesn't have a timer, and yes it gets indirect sunlight

Yeah I do both once every month, or at least by now because I set the tank some weeks ago already

Reducing light time may help quite a bit actually.

 

[FoldedCheese]

Increasing WCs to at least weekly would help too. Algae can be caused by an imbalance of nutrients in the water column. WCs are the only way to remove them.

I would also suggest checking your parameters. I wouldn't be surprised if you had high nitrates with only doing monthly WCs.

 

[ToOthleSS04]

Increasing WCs to at least weekly would help too. Algae can be caused by an imbalance of nutrients in the water column. WCs are the only way to remove them.

I would also suggest checking your parameters. I wouldn't be surprised if you had high nitrates with only doing monthly WCs.

Actually nitrites and nitrates are 0 in the tank

Actually nitrites and nitrates are 0 in the tank

But the algae still flourish

Actually nitrites and nitrates are 0 in the tank

But the algae still flourish

And there's even white film on the surface

 

[FoldedCheese]

Actually nitrites and nitrates are 0 in the tank

But the algae still flourish

And there's even white film on the surface

Like I said increasing your WCs will help. The white film is biofilm or "protein film". It occurs when there are too many nutrients in the tank for the microoragnisms to consume so they go nuts and multiply. This can be fixed with increasing WCs and vacuuming any decomposing organics from the tank.

Interesting.. you should have some nitrates in a cycled tank with how few water changes you do. Is it a heavily planted tank? Those test strips are highly inaccurate so it could be you have nitrates but they aren't detecting them.

No way around it, WCs are incredibly important and will help.

 

[ToOthleSS04]

Like I said increasing your WCs will help. The white film is biofilm or "protein film". It occurs when there are too many nutrients in the tank for the microoragnisms to consume so they go nuts and multiply. This can be fixed with increasing WCs and vacuuming any decomposing organics from the tank.

Interesting.. you should have some nitrates in a cycled tank with how few water changes you do. Is it a heavily planted tank? Those test strips are highly inaccurate so it could be you have nitrates but they aren't detecting them.

No way around it, WCs are incredibly important and will help.

How often should I do WCs?

Like I said increasing your WCs will help. The white film is biofilm or "protein film". It occurs when there are too many nutrients in the tank for the microoragnisms to consume so they go nuts and multiply. This can be fixed with increasing WCs and vacuuming any decomposing organics from the tank.

Interesting.. you should have some nitrates in a cycled tank with how few water changes you do. Is it a heavily planted tank? Those test strips are highly inaccurate so it could be you have nitrates but they aren't detecting them.

No way around it, WCs are incredibly important and will help.

Not heavily but almost

 

[FoldedCheese]

How often should I do WCs?

Not heavily but almost

The plants could definitely be using up some nitrates then. I would suggest no less than 50% weekly WCs.

 

[ToOthleSS04]

The plants could definitely be using up some nitrates then. I would suggest no less than 50% weekly WCs.

I give fertilizer weekly, what should I do next?

 

[FoldedCheese]

I give fertilizer weekly, what should I do next?

The weekly WCs and reducing the light should help clear up the issue. I would suggest getting a timer for the lights.

 

[HupGupp]

Too much light is usually the culprit and the easiest solution. Dim it a notch if you can and a WiFi outlet timer costs less than $10 and really helps manage the light.