# Serious algae problem



## bettacrazygirl86 (Jan 21, 2013)

So, I have a planted 10 gallon tank with one betta and two zebra nerite snails. It's moderately planted, I guess. They're not very happy for some reason, so a few have been dying off.

I have a really bad algae problem. I clean the tank biweekly, a little more than 50%. Since the algae's been happening, I scrub down the walls to get the algae off. But by the time the first week comes around, the walls are covered in algae. It's green, like the plants are, and it's EVERYWHERE. It's on the gravel, on the plants, on the walls, on the filter, on the heater, on the decorations... I don't know what to do! The snails aren't even putting a dent in the amount of algae there is. What could be causing it? I even got two marimo moss balls in an attempt to stop it, but the algae just won't go away!

I have another 10 gallon tank with only one betta in it, and all fake decorations. All that's in there plant wise is a marimo moss ball. The algae is growing a lot slower in that tank, but it's still getting everywhere. I clean her tank biweekly too, a little more than 50%. I just don't know what's causing it, how to stop it, or what to do to get rid of it. Help, please!


----------



## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Try puttin a Marimo Ball in this tank, too. Marimo Moss Balls are algae and they deprive the other algae of the nutrients they need. You could also get one or two Amano shrimp. They are algae busters!


----------



## VJM (Feb 7, 2013)

You need to figure out what the imbalance is, and treat the tank. What kind of light are you using? It sounds like you have too much light for the amount of plants that you have. Are you dosing any fertilizers? Any in the substrate? 

To treat the tank, I would do a three day blackout, followed by whole tank treatment with hydrogen peroxide and excel. Then possibly plant a lot mire fast growing stems, and lower your lighting.


----------



## bettacrazygirl86 (Jan 21, 2013)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Try puttin a Marimo Ball in this tank, too. Marimo Moss Balls are algae and they deprive the other algae of the nutrients they need. You could also get one or two Amano shrimp. They are algae busters!


Thing is, I have moss balls. D: In both tanks! I also have snails, and I tried shrimp before, but they became snacks. My bettas don't even like the snails, but they luckily don't know what to do about them.



VJM said:


> You need to figure out what the imbalance is, and treat the tank. What kind of light are you using? It sounds like you have too much light for the amount of plants that you have. Are you dosing any fertilizers? Any in the substrate?
> 
> To treat the tank, I would do a three day blackout, followed by whole tank treatment with hydrogen peroxide and excel. Then possibly plant a lot mire fast growing stems, and lower your lighting.


I have no idea what it could be. They're both 10 gallon tanks, and I have 20 watts of light in them, which is what most users recommended: 2 watts per gallon. I only leave the light on for maybe about 10 hours a day, at most. Usually between 6 to 8 hours, if at all. Lately I've been leaving the lights out, in an attempt to stop the algae, but it just keeps coming.

I have plain gravel, and when I do a water change, I add in the appropriate dosage of API Leaf Zone. Lately, I haven't even been using that because of how bad the algae is.

We're moving tomorrow, so when I set up the tanks in the new house, I'm going to scrub them down really well, and every thing in it. I'm even going to clean all of the gravel really well, and scrub down the plants too. I have no idea what could possibly be causing it. I've done everything that was recommended by other users, and I don't even leave the light on as long as they suggested.


----------



## darkangel (Jun 11, 2013)

Have you tested your water at all?


----------



## bettacrazygirl86 (Jan 21, 2013)

darkangel said:


> Have you tested your water at all?


No, I'm not able to afford a water test kit, but I've never had problems before with previous tanks.


----------



## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

get some duckweed. it will eat up all the stuff the algae is growing on, sure it grows fast and is a pain to keep under control, but better than scrubbing down the tank and stuff, I would also reduce the light to 6 or so hours till it is under control, you could also add some fast growing stem plants like green hygro or combomba water sprite wisteria and so on


----------



## bettacrazygirl86 (Jan 21, 2013)

I had Wisteria, but it all died.  The only plants that seem to be really happy in my tank are Java Fern, Anubias, and pennywort or whatever it is I have. xD; Any other plant I've tried died off fast! I've been wanting some duckweed though, so I'll go look around the classifieds.


----------



## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

Sounds like you're using the wrong light spectrum, do you know what it is, like 6500k is best for live plants. If lighting is wrong your plants are unable to soak up the nutrients and the algae will instead, which allows the algae to grow and outcompete your plants.

Also definitely get a testing kit, it'll show whether if it's a nutrients problem or not.


----------



## bettacrazygirl86 (Jan 21, 2013)

Micho said:


> Sounds like you're using the wrong light spectrum, do you know what it is, like 6500k is best for live plants. If lighting is wrong your plants are unable to soak up the nutrients and the algae will instead, which allows the algae to grow and outcompete your plants.
> 
> Also definitely get a testing kit, it'll show whether if it's a nutrients problem or not.


That's what I have, I believe. I've done everything right, from what I can tell. I have no idea what the problem is.


----------



## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

bettacrazygirl86 said:


> That's what I have, I believe. I've done everything right, from what I can tell. I have no idea what the problem is.


That's really strange! 

Hm, you might have to tear down this tank is the problem persists. Hope the duckweed works out for you! I recently just got rid of mine.


----------



## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

Someone here pointed me to a website one time that lists the different types of algae and what you can do to get rid of each kind. I think I saved the link on my home computer, though, so I'll try to post it later unless someone else does first.


----------



## VJM (Feb 7, 2013)

I may have missed it, but what kind of bulbs are you using? The watts per gallon rule isn't what you should be going by. Algae is usually a function of either not enough or too much light, or an imbalance in organic material in the tank. 

The fact that your plants aren't doing well leads me to believe it is a light issue.


----------



## bettacrazygirl86 (Jan 21, 2013)

Micho said:


> That's really strange!
> 
> Hm, you might have to tear down this tank is the problem persists. Hope the duckweed works out for you! I recently just got rid of mine.


We moved recently, and I did tear down the tank. I scrubbed the walls, cleaned the gravel, and scrubbed down the decorations. Not even a WEEK after I set up the tank, there's algae EVERYWHERE again. Could it be the filter cartridge? Should I swap that out with a new one?

I'm hoping I can get my hands on some duckweed soon. Maybe that will stop it.



OrangeAugust said:


> Someone here pointed me to a website one time that lists the different types of algae and what you can do to get rid of each kind. I think I saved the link on my home computer, though, so I'll try to post it later unless someone else does first.


If you do find it, please direct me to it!



VJM said:


> I may have missed it, but what kind of bulbs are you using? The watts per gallon rule isn't what you should be going by. Algae is usually a function of either not enough or too much light, or an imbalance in organic material in the tank.
> 
> The fact that your plants aren't doing well leads me to believe it is a light issue.


Incandescent, I believe? The plants aren't doing badly. The ones that died off were kind of sad to begin with. My other plants seem to be quite happy, especially my java fern and anubias.

Luckily, I'm going to college in a month and one of the fish are coming with me. I might bring a different tank instead of the 10 gallon he's in right now, and hope that maybe it makes a difference.


----------



## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

Try switching out the incandescent bulbs for fluorescent ones that are around the 6500k range. 

That's the only advice I have left, filter should not be the problem. Algae problems usually come from lighting and lack or too much of certain nutrients.

Good luck!


----------



## VJM (Feb 7, 2013)

Definitely switch to fluorescent. That should make a pretty big impact right there.


----------



## Ilikebutterflies (May 19, 2012)

Incandescent lighting is simply awful for aquariums. Too much heat and usually the wrong spectrum of light. I use dual 13w 6500K cfls in my 10 gallon. It provides high light. If you have medium/low light plants you will want the 8-9 watt cfl. The cfls come in micro mini size now so they fit nicely.


----------



## TurtleBarb (May 9, 2013)

Definitely use flourescent lighting 6500K, like others have said. Incandescent has a narrow spectrum that benefits algae more than plants. What kind of filter do you have? It's possible you may have a build up of organic material in your water and possibly phosphates, both of which promote algae growth. You may benefit from a filtration medium that removes phosphate and dissolved organics, like Polyfilter, Chemipure Elite, Purigen or similar. I'm a fan of Polyfilter because it doesn't require rinsing before you put it in, you can see when it's exhausted, and you can cut the pad into any size you want to fit in your filter. All of these filtration media adsorb phosphates, organic wastes, and any medication or additives you may have in the water. Cleaning your filter shouldn't have anything to do with algae bloom that I can think of unless a bunch of crud got into your water and is now decaying and adding to the organic load. Unless you removed your main source of beneficial bacteria, which would cause a spike of ammonia, nitrate and nitrite that algae thrive on until a new colony grows. If that happened, you would probably have seen your water get cloudy for a time as the beneficial bacteria re-bloomed.


----------



## TurtleBarb (May 9, 2013)

Oh, I also forgot to mention that glass out filters out UV rays, so if your light is shining through a glass canopy, some of the higher wavelengths of light that your plants need will be filtered out, which gives algae an advantage.


----------



## bettacrazygirl86 (Jan 21, 2013)

Micho said:


> Try switching out the incandescent bulbs for fluorescent ones that are around the 6500k range.
> 
> That's the only advice I have left, filter should not be the problem. Algae problems usually come from lighting and lack or too much of certain nutrients.
> 
> Good luck!


Just checked the box! It's fluorescent, not incandescent. Don't know where I got that from.

These are the bulbs I have: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lights-Of...-Aquarium-Bulb-1ct-Fish-Aquatic-Pets/10448675



Ilikebutterflies said:


> Incandescent lighting is simply awful for aquariums. Too much heat and usually the wrong spectrum of light. I use dual 13w 6500K cfls in my 10 gallon. It provides high light. If you have medium/low light plants you will want the 8-9 watt cfl. The cfls come in micro mini size now so they fit nicely.


I'll try to find some of those... Maybe my wattage is just too high?



TurtleBarb said:


> Definitely use flourescent lighting 6500K, like others have said. Incandescent has a narrow spectrum that benefits algae more than plants. What kind of filter do you have? It's possible you may have a build up of organic material in your water and possibly phosphates, both of which promote algae growth. You may benefit from a filtration medium that removes phosphate and dissolved organics, like Polyfilter, Chemipure Elite, Purigen or similar. I'm a fan of Polyfilter because it doesn't require rinsing before you put it in, you can see when it's exhausted, and you can cut the pad into any size you want to fit in your filter. All of these filtration media adsorb phosphates, organic wastes, and any medication or additives you may have in the water. Cleaning your filter shouldn't have anything to do with algae bloom that I can think of unless a bunch of crud got into your water and is now decaying and adding to the organic load. Unless you removed your main source of beneficial bacteria, which would cause a spike of ammonia, nitrate and nitrite that algae thrive on until a new colony grows. If that happened, you would probably have seen your water get cloudy for a time as the beneficial bacteria re-bloomed.


I got an aquarium kit that came with a filter and that's the filter I've been using. I don't know of anything that would have caused the algae. I did recently tear down the tanks, but there was no algae when I first established the tanks, so I don't get it.



TurtleBarb said:


> Oh, I also forgot to mention that glass out filters out UV rays, so if your light is shining through a glass canopy, some of the higher wavelengths of light that your plants need will be filtered out, which gives algae an advantage.


There isn't anything between the bulbs and the water aside from the plastic protective cover that goes over them so the water doesn't touch the bulbs.


----------



## Ilikebutterflies (May 19, 2012)

OK. I think the lighting is fine for a moderately planted tank and too much light for a non planted tank-if you will be adding plants keep the light. If not, opt for a lower wattage CFL. 
So I'm thinking the problem is there are too many nutrients/light for the algae. For starters you can reduce the amount of time the lights are on. You can add fast growing stem plants to out compete the algae. Stem plants are generally the cheapest. Many of them you can propagate yourself by planting the trimmings. You can take the fish out and do a peroxide clean up as well to give you a clean slate. IME it isn't going to matter how often you scrub the decor or walls. If the conditions are good algae will grow.


----------

