Algae on my sand

[Fish_3456]

I also have some problems with algae but I'm going to try to put some plants in my tank, hopefully it works :thm:

 

[chiefmorales]

Chemicals

I like to go the natral way also but my wife's oranda tank had a free floating alge problem no omatter what i tried i could not get rid of it even after a 75% water change (i know bad idea but i was desperate) then my next door neighbor (who worked for a fish wholesaler) gave me this stuff i put it in and in 48 hrs i had crystl clear water again. so only in desperate measures do i use stuff like that but i must say it worked great.

 

[Jamie]

Howdy All,

Thanks for all the responses. I'll try to cover everyone's input/questions;

how long do you leave your lights on each day?

My lights are on a timer...10hrs a day

you may want to get snails

I have a decent MTS population

I think you problem lies in the sand not the light. Play sand contains large amounts of silicates.

I was wondering about this myself...I've had sand before in my 55 but never had the algae problems...even with out plants, so I wonder.

also the black out might kill the alge and everything else in your tank.

After the last major cleaning, I got most of the algae out...minus what was left in the sand so there isn't much left to decompose. It's what was left in the sand the quickly started to spread after only one day. I'm hoping the black out will nip this breakout in the bud.

The blackout should help a lot, or at least it always has for me, but a full week is a bit overkill. 5 days should be tons.

Thanks for the heads up. This is my first attempt at a blackout. I'll go with 5 days instead of 7.

Is your tank still planted as it is in your sig?

I need to update my sig...I'll do it right after this post. I no longer have any live plants in my tank...no flourite, pc lighting, or CO2 injection either. I'm staying away from live plants this go around for this tank. I plan on setting up a separate heavily plant tank.


I thank you all for you input. When I uncover the tank tomorrow I'll let y'all know how it went.

-Jamie

 

[Jamie]

woo hoo, I just uncovered my tank and it looks great...algae free after the 5 day black out. I'm going to do another hefty water change just to be safe. I'm also heading to the LFS to get an an algae eater...probably a bristlenose. If it works out/survives the cichlids, I'll get him a friend...those convicts are nasty while they're breeding.

 

[Kasakato]

With a tank that big, get 2!