PrincessGoodey Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 hello, I have a problem that I have been battling for months now and cannot seem to cure. We had a mild case of Ich from pet store and treated naturally by raising temperature. After the raise in temperature my aquarium started to turn green with algae. I continued with extra water changes ( while watching water quality) assuming it was due to temp but once it was lowered it did not improve. After months of trying everything including phospate removers, extra water changes, salt, limit feeding, covering tank etc etc etc there has been no improvement. I ( as a last resort) gave up and pulled out everything fish gravel, filters everything and started new. I rinsed filters but did not replace trying to speed up cycling. I was fortunate not to have lost any fish during this process. Within two weeks my water is now turning green again:( I don't know what else to do besides perhaps moving my tank. My tank was o.k in this location for months before this occured with no algae problem. Does anyone know anything about this to help. I am desperate!!!! This is a 48 gallon planted tank containg 5 rainbows, 5 black skirt tetras, 2 danios, 3 catfish, 1 pleco, 2 sailfin mollies. My water is testing fine and low in phospates. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randy Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 I had an algae bloom last year got rid of it by covering the tank with a blanket for 48 hours and kept the lights off. (mind you it’s not a plated tank) Does you tank get direct sunlight! Other option is to purchase a UVfilter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 The UV sterilizer will affect the growth of the plants, as well as doing a black out. You will not want to limit the light intake for the plants, as they are probably helping your algae to not be worse. As well you will not want to deprive plants of nutrients like phosphates and nitrates, so try not to remove those. Do you have any kind of CO2 being supplemented into the aquarium? If not then you may want to invest in something. Lack of CO2 might be what is causing the algae. I ran low on CO2 and I ended up with an bad algae outbreak. You can also try doing 50% water changes every other day until you can get a CO2 system up and running in your tank. For a cheap method you can buy the Hagen natural plant systems, but you will want at least 2 of them on your aquarium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werner Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 The cheapest and easiest method is a total blackout (yes, you can do it in a planted tank too.) Here is a great site that describes types of algae and their causes. Look under the "green water" section for blackout tips. Aquarium Algae Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 What kind of algae is it? If it's green water, then it's probably due to excess ammonia and/or sunlight. Are you feeding your plants? If you don't, algae will take over - Firestorm makes a great point. How planted is your tank? Lots of plants, or just a few? If you have just a few you don't have to feed your plants much - maybe just a bit of Excel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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