Algae in 10g....need advice...

[dex_rodriguez]

hey guys..haven't been here much since the new baby came..but anyways...my 10g with a AC mini filter, slightly planted, with 3 tiger barbs and 2 serpea tetras is having some algae problems....used to be the brown kind.....i don't know how it went away but now i have the green kind......i do partial water changes once a week.....but it still keeps coming back just after a few days.....it didn't used to be like this.....

i'm kinda stumped right now on what to do....i can't add a pleco there since my tank is small......

anybody have any ideas for me?

 

[wetmanNY]

Welcome back, dex! you aren't forgotten.

Get a timer and put it on a shorter photo period, like nine hours. Get a new fluorescent tube. Get more plants, especially floating plants. Duckweed? Substitute for flakes one day of freeze-dried or live food and also one "starve day"* each week

You can never tell what's gonna work!

* The German phrase sounds grim and terrible. Maybe we should call it a "fast day" in the U.S.. Americans like "fast!"

 

[dex_rodriguez]

thanks...wetmanny .....i'll try some of those......

one more question though...my hood has 2 inc. bulbs in them.....does it contribute to algae growth more than flourescent lamps....?

 

[TKOS]

In my 10 gallon I switched out the incandescent bulbs and replaced them with screw in flourescent bulbs. I get good plant growth and very little algea and I leave the lights on for 11 hours. You can get those bulbs in walmart or any hardware store like home depot. In Canada they are 10$ for a 2 pack of mini ballast bulbs (the mini ballast ones seem to fit in better).

 

[Tightdog1]

get an otto, they chomp on the algae and they stay very small 2" max i think

 

[KateA.]

And are you doing gravel siphon water changes when you say "partial water changes". It really helps to suck some crud outta there at least once a week.

 

[WolfPup522]

I agree with the Otto idea. They are great and definately help with algae. I have 3 and I love them! Get more than 1, though because they are shy and tend to stick together.

 

[ewok]

otos

side note, that's a tiny filter for that tank. i get alot less crud build up in my 10g's now that i upsized. it just didn't seem to be enuf.......

 

[allwet]

hi dex.had the same problem in several of my tanks.i cut down on 12hrs of light to just 8 a day and did large water changes every day for a week.i also starve the fish two days out of the week.im using hob filters also.its funny though,way back in the 60;s i used ugf's and never had a problem with green water.i use hob filters now.go figure.allwet...........