I recently found some green spots on the glass of my 3 weeks old tank and don't know what to do! Heres what I did, I started the new tank with some tap water with some conditioners, I waited a few hours and let the filter run for a while then I added the fish I bought in the tank. During the 3 weeks I did no water change and all my fish did survive. Now after I read some about new tanks I know I should have did some water changes and perhaps a fishless cycle but thank god my fish are still swimming. What I want to know is what should I do with the algae? or are they algae at all? If it is algae does it mean that my tank is cycled? I currently have no testing kits.
algae?
- Thread starter Fcookie
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What size is the tank and how much lighting do you have?
You NEED a liquid test kit if you want to move in...
You NEED a liquid test kit if you want to move in...
Its a 5 gallon tank, a flourescent light though I don't know how many watts it is but I do leave it on for most of the day. My guess is that those are algae. I will go pick up the test kits next time I drop by the pet store, but for now how do I get rid of the them? a water change perhaps? will it disrupt the benefitial bacterial colonies?
Yes, the green spots are green algae. They're presence isn't really a bad thing, and you will always have some algae in a lit tank. Light+nitrate=algae. So, the issue is keeping algae down to low levels. Keeping light levels low (reduce natural sunlight reaching the tank) and keeping nitrate levels low through frequent water changes will keep your algae manageable (water changes are a good thing, they will not disrupt your biofilter). The easiest way to remove the glass algae is to just hand-scrub it off when it starts obscuring your view of the fish.