Please help with Algae bloom!

R

rica5tully

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Feb 15, 2003
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I have a question for a good friend:

He has a 20-gallon high with with a 55-watt power-compact strip light. The tank has been set up 3 or 4 months, it's cycled, and he has about 10 small fish in it (swordtails, danios).

For plants he has spiral vals and maybe some Hygrophila.

The problem is: he has a bad algae bloom that WILL NOT go away. It fluctuates. When the aglae is really strong, the plants seem to do well. But when the algae begins to clear up, the plants begin to wilt and look like they're on death's door.

What could be causing this?
He put supp.-CO2 on but that didn't help much. I don't know how his nitrates are but he does regular water changes and is faithful with maintenance. He tank has always been this way since he set it up.

Thanks for your help!
 
Are any aquatic fertilisers in use?

The other question is what type of algae are we talking about? Green water? Algae on the glass? Different algae have different causes.
 
He was using a liquid fertilizer and then he stopped.
The problem is greenwater (really bad). He doesn't have algae anywhere else.

I told him sometimes greenwater clears up with time. I told him to cut his photoperiod back to 10 hrs./day. But he has had this problem the entire time and it won't go away.

Thanks!
 
Could be overfeeding. Is he using any pH Up/pH down chemical additives or anything?

I'd check the nitrates. They may be very high. Even if he is doing his water changes, overfeeding would result in very high nitrate levels.

Not a problem I've experienced, so I'm largely going by first principles here.
 
Is he overfeeding the fish? Something has to be feeding the green water and for that low a fish load in a 20 gallon you really wouldn't expect it unless the fish are being overfed or the plants are rotting.
 
Something is out of whack. And it's probably a lack of one or more of the necessary nutrients. If it's not a heavily enough planted tank, tell him to load it up with them and read the other threads(there are many) on this forum, having to do with necessary nutrients. Sounds like he's feeding algae instead of plants. If the aquarium doesn't have enough plants and does have a lot of light and is being partially fed the result is often algae blooms, especially in new, not long established tanks.
Len
 
Is the aquarium near a window? Sunlight could cause this too..

Using a Vortex D-1 will help control it, but not solve the problem.
 
I had green water for about two weeks , i did the water changes and the black out , but that did not work . What did work was putting a canister filter with polishing media and cleaning that once a day . After a few days my water was clear and have not had a problem .
 
I had this problem myself with my 55 gal tank a few years ago. The water was so thick soupy green you could barely see the fish. The only thing that worked was putting the plants in a bucket of water near a window (life support) and completely covering the tank with a thick blanket for at least a week. Then I did as large a water change as the fish would tolerate (probably 80% or more), rinsed the plants before putting them back in, and water changes for the next couple of days. Never had the problem since.

OH!! Almost forgot!! The really important thing is to never leave your aquarium's lights on for more than 12 hours at a stretch, and to not put it where it gets direct sunlight.

This is funny, one time I was REALLY lazy and didn't bother skimming my duckweed or pulling out my hygro regularly, and I had another green soupy mess on my hands. It was kind of funny, the powerheads kept rotating this giant mass of duckweed around and around and around. :)
 
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