Is the sun my "high light?"

[FishCR]

Hello,

I've got a new 55 gallon set up with about 12 ghost shrimp and 2 zebra danios in it. Levels are great. My lighting is a dual tube T8, 32 watts each. Normally classified as low lighting. However, it is in a room with quite a few windows and a skylight, and is just in general very bright during the day. The lights do not do much to light the tank during the day. The sunlight is never direct. However, my sand is now slowly beginning to get covered with algae and now the sides of my tank are showing it.

Is this tank considered to have higher light levels, leading to the algae? Or what?

 

[bradleyp]

Do you have plants in the tank? Algae will thrive if there are nutrients that aren't being used up by other plants and it really doesn't take a lot of light for this to happen. Also, are your lights on a timer or are you running them all the time? I would definitely put them on a timer so they aren't on more than 12 hours a day (12 being the absolute max, 8 would probably be better)...in fact, if your room is that bright, I would only turn on the lights when you are looking at your fish...and definitely turn them off at night.

 

[oo7genie]

Indirect sunlight can easily provide enough light for algae to grow.

Is this a planted tank?

How long do you keep the tank lights on each day?

How long does the tank get indirect sunlight each day?

 

[petluvr]

You are setting yourself up for an epic failure, sunlight is going to cause a HUGE algae outbreak in your tank.

 

[Khemul]

To add to the above questions, how fast is the algae growing?

Algae basically has the lowest light requirements of all plants generally found in aquariums. If you have enough light to see anything in the tank then you have enough light to grow algae.

Like any other plant, algae will balance different nutrients for growth. The reason light levels are so important to planted tanks isn't really because more light causes more algae (excess nutrients in general do this, light is just the easiest to go overboard on). It is because in a planted tanks there are usually plenty of nutrients, and algae adapts to use whatever nutrients (light included) it can get much better then the desirable plants.

 

[FishCR]

I only have two plants in there right now, one java fern and a crypt variety. I'm running my lights about 10-12 hours a day.

 

[XanAvaloni]

imho, after having pretty much the same experience with 4 tanks now (6 if you count the <2g ones) an algae outbreak is just about inevitable when you set a new tank up. As noted above the stuff is everywhere and short of a JPL-level clean room you're not going to keep it out. The only way I have found to keep it to a minimum is to load the tank up with plants first thing. Fortunately the best plants for this are the cheapest and easiest to obtain: stem plants like mario, cabomba, pennywort, parrot feather, or floaters like riccia or (the dreaded) duckweed. They will suck up every nutrient in sight as they are very fast growers and starve the algae out.

As the tank matures and becomes more balanced you can start cutting back on these after a few months if you do not care for their looks, and your desired plants are starting to flourish. Or you may find you like them, who knows. But they will definitely help with the algae issue right now. Get some soon before algae gets a firmer hold than it already has.

 

[Juice]

I have a 10g that is right next to a window, it has no lights on it and only get's the light from said window. I've not had any algae outbreak in the 3 years it's been there...granted it's heavily planted and comes equipped with a nerite snail, but out of all my tanks that one always looks the lushest. I'd say if you're set on keeping it where it's at, definitely get some more plants in there, a moss ball or two and maybe even a algae eating machine like a nerite.

 

[FishCR]

Assuming I end up with an algae eating something to help (along w/ extra plants), will the algae supply run out? Is that when I put in algae wafers?

New to this.

Thanks guys.

 

[Khemul]

It depends on a few things. How many and what type of algae eater. What type of algae (different algae eaters may prefer different types of algae). How much algae growth you have.

In theory you could run out of algae, in which case algae wafers could work. Some algae eaters also like veggies in their diet also so you may need to supplement.

If your algae growth is slow enough you may not even need an algae eater. Simply brushing it off the sand/glass occasionally could work.


Also, since you have sand, if you don't already have them Malaysian Trumpet Snails are a nice addition. They are strange when it comes to algae control, but they can keep the surface of the sand moving enough to stop it settling in there. Mine seem to have invented agriculture. They wait for the algae to grow in very thick on a couple rocks and Anubias, then swarm out and clean 99% of it off (leaving just enough for regrowth). They won't touch algae anywhere else though in my tanks but those couple rocks and Anubias.