THIS IS GETTING OLD : ALGAE

[jim_shedden]

Thanks Bob

Jim

[korbi_doc]

Hi all, I was under the impression that turning the lights off for 2 hours during the day would help control algae outbreaks. I have set my timers to do this, & still get real small am't brown algae on walls & bottom which I can just towel off. Is this so? or am I kidding myself? lol Dottie : : : :

[Carol_Roberts]

I think the brown algae is diatoms and not as light dependent as the green algae. The diatoms will appear over time no matter what lighting you use. They appear more frequently with a high bioload. I find that heavy diatoms are a good indication I need to rinse out my filters.
Carol

[Discusgeo]

The green water, or pea soup, is an algae bloom. Free floating planktonic single celled algae is what is turning the water green. The cause is almost always, excess nutrients (nitrates and/or phosphates) or excessive lighting.

Algae consumes oxygen at night and a severe algae bloom can reduce oxygen to critically low levels, so while treating the tank, try to increase water circulation until you have the problem solved.

Common causes:

Overfeeding - Most aquarium flake food is high in phosphates and as the food decays these phosphates are released.

Infrequent filter changes - Decaying material in the filter can also cause increased nitrate and phosphates.

Infrequent water changes - Water changes is the method used to control nitrate and phosphate levels in your aquarium. Phosphates can also be controlled through the use of phosphate pillows available at your local aquarium store.

Excessive light - not only aquarium lighting but also might be intense room lighting or direct sunlight.

Solutions

The solution is twofold. First eliminate the current algae bloom and secondly prevent it's return. The only way I know to control algae blooms is to control the nutrient and lighting levels of the tank.

First to prevent return

Reduce feeding - You need to assure that all of the food is eaten

Reduce light - If indirect or sunlight look for ways to reduce. Reduce the number of hours the tank lighting is on.

Increase filter changes and water changes - to control nitrate and phosphate levels.

Vacuuming the gravel will also help.

Getting rid of the current algae bloom

Covering the tank for 72 hours. During that time you can't allow any light source to enter the tank. Again I would recommend increasing the water circulation so as not to deplete the oxygen.

Aquarium clearing chemicals - especially the flocculents that bind tiny bits of debris into bigger, easier to filter out clumps, can be used to clarify the water in a few hours or overnight.

A couple of more expensive solutions would be to use a diatom filter or a UV filter. The diatom filter uses a very fine diatomaceous earth to trap the algae while a UV filter kills the algae by destroying it's DNA.

[korbi_doc]

I use both a UV & the Vortex diatom filter, & it will definitely clear a tank & quickly!! lol Dottie ;D ;D ;D