Dealing with algae on a severely neglected tank

I am doing an experiment in my tanks similar to what zorronet is suggesting..
the algae is usually caused by an imbalance..add to that I have low main tanks so no high light no CO2..they are moderately lit. I am testing timer and reducing photo period as well as introducing fast growers.
my tanks I am test have BBA and also green hair algae.
I added hornwort to the tanks and let it float at the top.. so far in a couple tanks the hair algae is dying back the BBA is a tough cookie tho..
also I feed extra hair algae to my cherry shrimp..they love the stuff.
 
What does changing the bulb do?
I thought it was the opposite, less is better to control algae.
I keep 3 SAE, keeping in mind they get over 3 inches in no time.
UV filter helps a touch and as stated by zorronet.
Some state rose barbs help trim algae, with me I find feeding less and more water changes help the most.
 
DavidZ said:
What does changing the bulb do?
I thought it was the opposite, less is better to control algae.
I keep 3 SAE, keeping in mind they get over 3 inches in no time.
UV filter helps a touch and as stated by zorronet.
Some state rose barbs help trim algae, with me I find feeding less and more water changes help the most.
Click to expand...

The PAR/PUR output and color/temp range of fluorescent tubes changes drastically over time, changing to a range and power that supports little more than algae. It's recommended to change them yearly. You can use the "used" lamps for shop lights or whatnot, given they've still got a lot of general lighting life left in them.

I love my three SAEs. Their personalities crack me up, but being omnivores, they MUCH prefer fish-food over lowly algae. Mine do graze all day long, but come feeding time? TOTAL PIGLETS and they get a lot of the food being fast buggers.
 
Joel, I'm beginning to think you are a golfing cat lover with all this talk of PAR and PUR.

What Joel says about SAEs is true... they LOVE to eat! That said, I suggest fasting them for a few days before you feed flakes. They will pig out on algae FIRST... They love BBA too... easy pickings!
 
Z, much to my dismay, we have two cats in the house. LOL!
 
Thanks for all your suggestions! I'm going to make a plan to do all the water changes you guys recommended, treat with h2o2 as described in this website (http://www.gpodio.com/h2o2.asp), I will add some GFO to my filter, and maybe do a black out (if so, for how long?)

Anything else I can add to this to really get it good? This might sound like a stupid question but if my nitrates are so low then why the heck am I getting all this crap growing in my tank?
 
Your phosphate level is probably very high(gfo will also help lower those). If your not using a timer and were also neglecting the lighting cycle to much light would do it.
 
I once had a neglected tank when I was living out of state for a few months for work... back home the tank fell into disarray. It feel into an "old tank syndrome" routine as water was only being added to the tank when it evaporated. Anyhow, when I came home I also had a BBA problem. If I recall correctly, I killed the lights, which wasn't a big deal because I no longer had live plants, I reduced feedings to reduce nutrients in the water, and I began changing water like a madman to break the old tank syndrome and restore the tank. I was doing like 20% a day for a week, then switched to every other day the next week and so on and so forth and it snapped the tank right back into shape.

I have another fish suggestion, if you can find it... I'd like to preface this by saying I have never kept it, and I believe it does best at slightly cooler water temps (70s I believe), but I remember reading several posts/articles back then when I was looking for solutions stating that American Flagfish are great for eating BBA... A much better looking fish than SAE IMO but it may be worth researching to be sure they do eat BBA... pretty sure I read that they do. I've only seen them at one shop where I live though and its sporadic. Perhaps others have experience with this species and can share info?

Also, I've observed other livebearers such as Platies and Swordtails grazing on algae throughout the day, however I believe that was more green algae than BBA, but might also be worth looking in to.

IME, I think it is consistent water changes, reducing nutrients in the water column that helped me the best. It has entirely vanished from my tanks since then a few years back.

G'luck!
 
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