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Fighting algae in a two year old tank

S

spleenharvester

Member
Joined
7 Jan 2021
Messages
146
Location
Nottingham, England
I've got 3 tanks:

  1. Main tank (180L) - struggled severely with algae to begin with but stabilised after a year
  2. Second tank (80L) - only a few months old, struggling with the same green algae as tank #3
  3. Tank 3 (20L) - two years old, still having awful algae problems

Below is a picture of tank #3 after only 1 week since a water change. Algae gets all over the substrate, glass and plants, no matter how hard I try and keep it clean. All tanks have the same water source. I've tried PhosGuard as the phosphate levels are a bit high in my tank water (~0.25ppm), which stalled algae growth for a couple of weeks but then it just bounced straight back.

Any ideas? Tired of dealing with this, it should really have stabilised by now like my main tank.

IMG_20220717_163428.jpg


Details:
1. Size of tank in litres. See above
2. Age of the setup. See above
3. Filtration. Tank #1 is 600lph. Tank #2 is 500lph. Tank #3 is 250lph.
4. Lighting and duration. Tank #3 has the standard Fluval LED light. All tanks have about 8 hour photoperiod, though I've previous experimented with 4 hours to no avail.
5. Substrate. Sand in all tanks
6. Co2 dosing or Non-dosing. Tank #1 and #2 have DIY CO2, tank #3 has no CO2
7. Fertilizers used & Ratios. - All TNC Complete, 1mL/10L weekly
8. Water change regime and type. All generally 30-40% weekly
9. Plant list + When planted. Cryptocoryne, can't remember the others to be honest
10. Inhabitants. Bettas, otocinclus
11. Temperature - 27~
 
PARAGUAY said:
Think a lot of fast growing stem plants would help,
Click to expand...
Thanks, will have a look at this. Any recommendations?
seedoubleyou said:
Can’t help with the algae but 20L is nowhere near enough water volume for a fish of any sort.
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20L meets RSPCA guidelines for a betta fish. Please provide a source for what you are saying or keep your opinions to yourself.
_Maq_ said:
Couldn't you provide more detailed pics? I suspect that cyanobacteria might be (part of) your problem.
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Will get some close ups when I'm home
 
spleenharvester said:
20L meets RSPCA guidelines for a betta fish. Please provide a source for what you are saying or keep your opinions to yourself.
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Guidelines is the give away for sure, and as for opinion, you’re on an open forum, it’s kind of the whole point.

I would also suggest that your defensive attitude is a slight admission of guilt.

I’ll end by pointing out that if you can’t keep your water parameters stable enough to combat algae, then perhaps I was completely justified in my initial comment.
 
Hi all,
spleenharvester said:
Algae gets all over the substrate, glass and plants, no matter how hard I try and keep it clean. All tanks have the same water source.
Click to expand...
_Maq_ said:
Couldn't you provide more detailed pics? I suspect that cyanobacteria might be (part of) your problem.
Click to expand...
Does look like Cyanobacteria. Bit of a strange question, but what is the filter like? Maintenance, filter media etc.
spleenharvester said:
I've tried PhosGuard as the phosphate levels are a bit high in my tank water (~0.25ppm), which stalled algae growth for a couple of weeks but then it just bounced straight back.
Click to expand...
Take the <"PhosGuard"> out, it could work <"in the short term">, but it <"can't work long term">.

cheers Darrel
 
seedoubleyou said:
Guidelines is the give away for sure, and as for opinion, you’re on an open forum, it’s kind of the whole point.

I would also suggest that your defensive attitude is a slight admission of guilt.

I’ll end by pointing out that if you can’t keep your water parameters stable enough to combat algae, then perhaps I was completely justified in my initial comment.
Click to expand...

No, my "defensive attitude" is my response to you aggressively accusing me of maltreatment of my pets (who believe it or not, I know better than you do). Toxicity from people like you is the reason new people stay away from these communities. Nobody asked for your opinion, which was completely irrelevant to the thread.

dw1305 said:
Hi all,


Does look like Cyanobacteria. Bit of a strange question, but what is the filter like? Maintenance, filter media etc.

Take the <"PhosGuard"> out, it could work <"in the short term">, but it <"can't work long term">.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...

Cheers Darrel,

The maintenance is typically 40% change weekly, but I do have to go higher than that to hoover up all the algae sometimes. The PhosGuard was never in this particular tank - probably not going to put it in I think, it worked for about 2 weeks in the other tank but the algae rebounded.

The filter media is sponge combined with two bags of biogravel.
 
Hi all,
spleenharvester said:
The filter media is sponge combined with two bags of biogravel.
Click to expand...
How much flow is there through it? I'm like @_Maq_ , oxygen obsessed, and I wonder whether there is a link between Cyanobacteria ("BGA") and higher levels of DOM / lower levels of oxygen.

Some people have suggested that <"adding nitrates often reduces BGA">, but @jaypeecee looked at some of the BGA in his aquarium, and <"he found an Oscillatoria sp.">. These can't fix nitrogen (they aren't diazotropic) so their growth would also be nitrogen limited, like other plants, if NO3- levels were low.

cheers Darrel
 
Last edited:
dw1305 said:
Hi all,

How much flow is there through it? I'm like @_Maq_ , oxygen obessed.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...

There was actually about 150LPH, I thought it was at max but looks like the flow control has been knocked. I've bumped it up to 250LPH, but admittedly the circulation in this tank is really crap so I think you are probably both right. I've just found this spray bar to 3D print, going to see if that improves things and will report back.

Cheers
 
spleenharvester said:
No, my "defensive attitude" is my response to you aggressively accusing me of maltreatment of my pets (who believe it or not, I know better than you do). Toxicity from people like you is the reason new people stay away from these communities. Nobody asked for your opinion, which was completely irrelevant to the thread.
Click to expand...
Label it how you want. The reality is 20L absolutely is far too small for any fish.
You can search this forum as much as you like and I can guarantee you its been said countless times.
My opinion may well be “irrelevant” to the thread, but I’m a fish keeper, I’ve been keeping them for 13 years and when someone posts an algae stricken tank that is 20L in volume and houses a Betta fish, I absolutely will call it out time and time again.

Frankly if you’re feelings are hurt then I’m genuinely sorry about that. But don’t try and bash my character for pointing out what I see to be clearly wrong.

Good luck clearing your tanks of algae. I hope you see sense in what I’m saying and reconsider your stocking choices.

For me the conversation is over.
 
It looks like cyanobacteria (called blue green algae but not an algae) to me too. I would give it a good clean and do a 50% water change so it's looks visually clear. If your flow is poor then address that. Then blackout the tank for five days (don't put the lights on and cover the glass with card to block out ambient light). Hopefully when you uncover it you'll find it still gone - do another water change.

With the smaller water volume you might find changing 50% a week as your routine makes it easier to keep it balanced. That way nothing should build up over time.
 
@spleenharvester Hygro polyesperma is a good stem plant fast growing easily trimmed ,not fussy about light . Really any of the well known ones egeria, hornwort,cabomba . Combine with floating plants
 
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