Algae

Mickey · Post by **Mickey** » 05 May 2006, 13:56

There was some huge algea growth in my tank before because I left for a weekend and somebody kept the light on. T_T
The first thing that I did when I got back was a water change.
And now the water is almost clear with just a green tinge to it. {Hard to see back of tank}
I was going to change again to try and clear out the algea..
But my pleco is just having the best time of his life...
And my guppies don't seem to mind it either.

Should I try to get rid of the algea still? Or should I just leave it and do normal water changes and such?
Any comments would be appreciated.

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 05 May 2006, 14:14

Mickey,
I'm sure your Pl*c is having fun and yes you do need to get rid of the rest of the algae.

But, can you please give us a little more info? What size tank is it, and what are your current water parameters, such as pH, nitrates, nitrites, etc? Do you have live plants? This information would be helpful in answering your questions. Thanks!

Amanda

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 05 May 2006, 14:39

Algae growth is a sign of too much nutrients in the water (combined with too much light), so you probably want to continue doing some water changes.

It's not a bad idea to have a timer on the light so that it comes on and turns off at the same time every day, without you or someone else having to do anything. Like this [I'm not suggesting that this page is a good place to buy from - it was the first place I found that had what I was looking for - after finding out that the thing is called a "Lamp timer", rather than a "Timer switch". I'd be surprised if you can't find one for less than $10 somewhere by knowing where to go...] [Ten seconds later: Same thing at Home Depot at $10.97. There's almost certainly less expensive models available if you just know where to look.

--
Mats

Mickey · Post by **Mickey** » 06 May 2006, 15:55

That timer idea is awesome.
And yeah I am looking at buying one of those timed feeder thingies cause I have been stuck with those 3 day feeder things.

But yeah, tank is 20 gallons just for infos sake.

And yeah as soon as I can I am doing another water change, I just wanted to know if the algea was all that bad.
{I do have a few plants in one corner, and it is doing better too cause the snails have ditched it for the walls.>< I don't know what to do to get ride of them.}

But yeah, thankies.

Tee622 · Post by **Tee622** » 09 May 2006, 17:45

The light timer is a great idea...you can get them from a hardware store for about 5-10 dolllars and they last forver (digital is more expensive but not necessary because you hardly ever look at it. The automatic feeder is probably a bad idea. You hear stories about them clogging up and not dispensing any food, about them dumping all of the food in at once, and also about people coming home to find that the food in the feeder is moldy, rotten, etc. those feeder blocks are usually also not a bad idea...they can cause ph swings and cloudy water. If you are only going for a few days at a time (about 4 at the most and not very often) you can feed the fish a good meal before you go and they will be just fine when you get home. Some people don't feel comfortable doing this most experts say that fish can go more than a week without food, and do so routinely in the wild. I like this quote:

When you go on vacation (what's that?) hide your foods! Throwing them away would be better, all incidents considered, than entrusting insolent youth or unworthy neighbors. Unless you're gone for weeks, and in some cases, even if you are gone for weeks, you and your livestock would be better off nibbling on the rocks, gravel, each other then counting on other's not to over/mis-feed.

Tee622 · Post by **Tee622** » 09 May 2006, 17:49

As for the snails....If the snails are small enough you can put the food in a plastic saltshaker with large holes. Then drop it in the fishtank and all of the snails go into the shaker and it can be removed from the tank. I had to do this in my gold fish tank once for an outburst of snails that i got from some anacharis. I tried the food thing but the goldies would eat it before the snails ever got there. After i did that there were still a small few snails in my tank, but as soon as I would see one, I would take it out and SQUISH IT in a papertowel!

...Also you should make sure that the snails are dead before you dispose of them...to make sure that they don't become someone else's problem!
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