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Green Water like Algae growing on the waters surface?

Joined
26 Feb 2020
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54
Location
West Midlands
Hello Everyone,

Recently I have been getting an odd algae growth happening on the surface of the water only, it can be cleaned by skimming the surface. I am unsure of what is causing it. The lighting is on for 6 hours a day. This tank is a non planted tank and I change 1/4 of the quarter every week.

If anyone has had similar experiences please share and if anyone knows how to fix the problem please let me know!
 

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Hi all,
This tank is a non planted tank
You are always likey to have algal problems when you have a light bright enough to support plant growth. It is back to the <"plants you want" argument">.
But there isn't really a difference for the "green algae" (<"Chlorophyta">), they share the same photosystems (chlorophylls a & b etc.) as all the vascular plants (mosses, ferns & flowering plants), because they have a common ancestor (they all belong to the clade <"Chlorobionta"> or <"Viridiplantae">).
Could you add a <"floating plant, or a subsurface floater">?

If you really:
  • Couldn't have a plant, and
  • don't want to turn the light down,
  • you can remove <"one of the mineral nutrients"> neccessary for plant growth.
Phosphorus (orthophosphate PO4---) is the easiest nutrient to remove via <"ferric chloride addition">. You can buy Ultiphos, Rowaphos or Phosban etc. They all <"work in the same way">.

cheers Darrel
 
Last edited:
Hi all,

You are always likey to have algal problems when you have a light bright enough to support plant growth. It is back to the <"plants you want" argument">.

Could you add a <"floating plant, or a subsurface floater">?

If you really:
  • Couldn't have a plant, and
  • don't want to turn the light down,
  • you can remove <"one of the mineral nutrients"> neccessary for plant growth.
Phosphorus (orthophosphate PO4---) is the easiest nutrient to remove via <"ferric chloride addition">. You can buy Ultiphos, Rowaphos or Phosban etc. They all <"work in the same way">.

cheers Darrel
Hi Darrel,

Thank you for your reply, I think you might be right about the lighting, I am running a twinstar 450ea on this set. My tank is a river biotope aquascape, so I don't really want to add floating plants. I think I will try the phosphorus removes and lower the light intensity!
 
Hi @Krish's Aquariums

Please be aware that fish food often contains a high proportion of phosphate. Try to reduce the phosphate level in the water column and you may not need to resort to RowaPhos and the like. I use the JBL PO4 Test Kit to keep an eye on phosphate:

https://www.jbl.de/en/products/detail/8676/jbl-proaquatest-po4-phosphate-sensitive?country=ro

JPC
The thing is I only feed the fish once a week due to them being algae eater, I will invest in a test kit to check the PO4 levels.
Not sure if you have any surface skimming, but that should help disturb that growth and avoid any filming at the surface too.
I am very tempted to get once, but I am a little bit worried. I got some gobies that can cling to glass and I was wondering if they would end up climbing into the skimmer?
 
I got some gobies that can cling to glass and I was wondering if they would end up climbing into the skimmer?
Hi @Krish's Aquariums

I can only speak about the Eheim skim350. Unless Eheim has changed the design of this surface skimmer, you will either need to make an inlet guard or look at the alternatives. If you search here on UKAPS for the skim350, you should find several threads/posts dealing with this product. I have one but I would never buy another.

JPC
 
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