need help with a wierd algae that ruined my tank

Phil dublin

hi everyone.

i got this weird algae, it completey covered my tank,it killed most of my fish, i thought it was one of my many plants at the time.

but since taking everything out of my tank, getn rid of all plants. i started to put it back together.

i seen this algae on the bog wood.only a day or so after puting back in the tank,now its grown a lot in the last week.

im going to take out he bog wood and steam it to kill any thing living in it,

but it would be nice to get some ideas of what it is or is there a fish that could thrive on it. ?

any and all ideas welcome.

fred funk }{

Algae blooms when there's is too much of one or both of these, light and excess nutrients.

How much food do you put into the tank?

What percentage of the tank water do you change and how often?

How long are the lights on for each day?

Plecos and snails are great for keeping the algae at bay.

Phil dublin

at th min th lights on 24 hours a day,i need to rewire the switch.
not a lot of food, tanks only running a week. since i redone it.
but id prob dropmin 25% a week. a good week ill try do 2-3 changes about 15-20.
and theres lots a little apple snails in there.

the algae went nuts last time, was like huge strands of hair all over th tank. traping fish, killing some plants.

fungun

lights on 24 hours a day? that'll be your problem?
why dont you just plug the lights out at night?

Phil dublin

i build pcs for a living,so i tend to tidy and hide wires and cables.
so there all kinda hard to reach, outa the kids an babies way.
but years ago, the switch was damaged. ive a new switch on the way, so ill wire into a safe postion that i can easly turn it on and of.

i know loads of light equals algea blooms, but im 15 yrs of keeping fish i never seen one take over my tank. plus the algea has grow over an ich in height since last night. thats rapid growth.

fred funk }{

24 hours, WOW!

I have mine on a timer, they're on for about 8 hours per day. I change about 50% of the water per week, sometimes more to keep the Nitrates in check. Nitrate is a biproduct of the natural cycle in your tank and it's also a brilliant fertiliser so regular water changes is an important thing to do to keep the algae away.

paddy147

Lights are on 24 hours a day??

Sweet Lord Jesus....:eek::eek:

Too much light and high nitrates will cause algae to take over a tank.

Reduce the lights to around 6-8 hours a day with a timer plug (this also helps the fish too)

Do a water test to see what chemicals are there and how good or bad the water is.

Also add in some floatng/surface plants to the tank and this will also have a drmatic effect on the algae growth.These will also give a very natural look to the tank.

20% water change/cycle every 2 weeks or so.Also clean you're filter and change the filter wool/media if its manky dirty.

Theres also various blue and green liquid algae treatments that you can buy for around 10 euro,that will clear the problem away.

paddy147

fungun wrote: »

lights on 24 hours a day? that'll be your problem?
why dont you just plug the lights out at night?

Sure thats too much effort to do.

Programmable/adjustable 24 hour timer plugs will make life so much easier.:)

I have my lights and the digital CO2 injection system on 24 hour/7 day timers.

Phil dublin

never thought of a timer.!! would make more sence. and i would change close to or slightly more than 50 % in a good week. badweek would be around 20/ 25. %

fungun

why dont you just flip your reflectors upside down at night so that they reflect all the light up?

Edit - oh ok you can get a timer, i assumed you meant that couldnt be done as the plug was inaccessible

Phil dublin

paddy147 wrote: »

Lights are on 24 hours a day??

Sweet Lord Jesus....:eek::eek:

Too much light and high nitrates will cause algae to take over a tank.

Reduce the lights to around 6-8 hours a day with a timer plug (this also helps the fish too)

Do a water test to see what chemicals are there and how good or bad the water is.

Also add in some floatng/surface plants to the tank and this will also have a drmatic effect on the algae growth.These will also give a very natural look to the tank.

20% water change/cycle every 2 weeks or so.Also clean you're filter and change the filter wool/media if its manky dirty.

Theres also various blue and green liquid algae treatments that you can buy for around 10 euro,that will clear the problem away.

paddy147 wrote: »

Sure thats too much effort to do.

Programmable/adjustable 24 hour timer plugs will make life so much easier.:)

I have my lights and the digital CO2 injection system on 24 hour/7 day timers.

thanks for the pics, Programmable/adjustable 24 hour timer plug is next on my shopping list. i like the plants in the background of ur tank.

myabe you could help me out with some ideas. i love a natural tank.

paddy147

Phil dublin wrote: »

never thought of a timer.!! would make more sence. and i would change close to or slightly more than 50 % in a good week. badweek would be around 20/ 25. %

In my opinion,changing a large amount of water in a tank each week is a bad thing.You are ruining the tanks own eco system.

Phil dublin

fungun wrote: »

why dont you just flip your reflectors upside down at night so that they reflect all the light up?

Edit - oh ok you can get a timer, i assumed you meant that couldnt be done as the plug was inaccessible

the plugs are hard to get at, i can move stuff around when i need to, but i wouldnt like to move everythign around twice a day.

paddy147

Flipping reflectors is only ignoring the problem (in my opinion) and not actually investigating the problem fully and solving it.

Is that right to do for the tank,plants and most importantly,the fish????

To me its not right.

fred funk }{

paddy147 wrote: »

In my opinion,changing a large amount of water in a tank each week is a bad thing.You are ruining the tanks own eco system.

Please explain.

fungun

paddy147 wrote: »

Flipping reflectors is only ignoring the problem (in my opinion) and not actually investigating the problem fully and solving it.

Is that right to do for the tank,plants and most importantly,the fish????

To me its not right.

i meant as a band-aid until he gets to fix it properly, its better than full lights 24 hrs a day

Phil dublin

how much would u recomend changing . and why. thanks.

Phil dublin

i cant Flip the reflectors, theres nothign to flip, its a 4 foot tank, 2 long fluorescent tubes. mind u , it might just be safer to turn the lights of untill i get the timer in.

i was thinking of cleaning the tank a bit in the morn, taking out the affected areas and usign a steamer to clean it and kill the algae.

its grown more since i placed this post.

fred funk }{

Phil dublin wrote: »

how much would u recomend changing . and why. thanks.

Really depends on how many fish you have and how much food they're fed. I would say a 25% water change weekly should be OK. At the moment I'm doing two water changes a week because I'm feeding the fish a lot to get them into breeding condition.

Phil dublin

what u breeding, cause ill be looking to restock my tank in about 4-6 weeks when its fully cycled.

not sure what im going to go for yet.

fred funk }{

Phil dublin wrote: »

what u breeding, cause ill be looking to restock my tank in about 4-6 weeks when its fully cycled.

not sure what im going to go for yet.

They're a Tanganyikan Cichlid called Neolamprologus multifasciatus or 'Multis' as they're commonly known. The live in snail shells and are the smallest African Cichlid but they're great fish with tons of personality.

Phil dublin

there a nice looking fish, drawf ?

i do like the african's but they can be a handfull if mixed with the wrong fish.

i tend to go with american cichlids, just because i can mix there more.

but im looking to set up a 2 foot species tank soon. was thinkn of the convicts, loads of personalty there!!but when ur fry are old enough you mite consider selling some to me.

Mech1

Leave lights off and throw a blanket or something over tank to block all light for a few days, then setup your timer.

Mech1

Fish will be grand in the dark for a few days.

fred funk }{

Phil dublin wrote: »

there a nice looking fish ? drawf ?

i do like the african's but they can be a handfull if mixed with the wrong fish.

i tend to go with american cichlids, just because i can mix there more.

but im looking to set up a 2 foot species tank soon. when ur fry are old enough you mite consider selling some to me.

Yes, they're a dwarf Cichlid. The males get to about 2.5" and the females about 1". I was restricted by the small size of my tank so I couldn't large get fish. I have four Cyps that I'm trying to breed too and one Leleupi. I'm fattening them all up for some high quality food to get into spawning condition.

Like all fish, you need to mix the correct fish with one another but the Multis are gas little things, full of character.

If (fingers crossed) I get some fry I'll drop you a PM and give you first pick.

Phil dublin

Mech1 wrote: »

Leave lights off and throw a blanket or something over tank to block all light for a few days, then setup your timer.

yea good thinkn, starve the algae of light.

but will that kill them all of?

ive to very large peices of bog wood, ones 2 and a half foot, the others 2, there 2 foot is the one in the photos. and its full of algae, the other one isnt as bad, but its startn.

i was going to take out he bog wood and use a steamer to kill algae and sterilize the wood.

Phil dublin

fred funk }{ wrote: »

Yes, they're a dwarf Cichlid. The males get to about 2.5" and the females about 1". I was restricted by the small size of my tank so I couldn't large get fish. I have four Cyps that I'm trying to breed too and one Leleupi. I'm fattening them all up for some high quality food to get into spawning condition.

Like all fish, you need to mix the correct fish with one another but the Multis are gas little things, full of character.

If (fingers crossed) I get some fry I'll drop you a PM and give you first pick.

thanks very much. ull have to keep me up tp date with the process.
thats if u dont mind.

Mech1

Certainly go ahead with steaming the wood, give it a mild bleach bath also and leave it out of tank until algae under control.

rinse bleach off very well.

Phil dublin

i have milton there for cleaning the baby stuff, thats mild enuff id sayto treat the wood.

wouldnt be something i would have ever tried tho.

Mech1

I dont know whats in milton but i would go with standard aldi / lidl bleach at about 5% dilution.

(5 parts bleach to 100 parts water)

Phil dublin

ok, so 5:1, but then how do i make sure the wood is clean and free from the bleac before i replace it in the tank.

i think i remember an old friend of my dads sayn somethign about cleaning the rocks in his tank with bleach years ago.

Mech1

just rinse it a good few times, when the smell of bleach is totally gone you should be fine.

Cookie_Monster

put the rocks in the sink and cover with boiling water if you're not sure about the bleach. Should work a treat too.

Phil dublin

cheers lads , thanks for all the advice!! really appreciate it.
lovely bunch of lads.

fungun

wow, tbh id never use bleach or milton or anything like that on rocks/wood for an aquarium.
Unless there are no traces left afterwards, surely there could be consequences for your tank. Bleach has toxins, milton sterilises.

If I ever have a rock that has gone a bit manky i just leave it out in the rain for a couple of weeks, little scrub with an abrasive if needs be....

Sleepy

If you're going to go with the milton, drop the wood in boiling water afterwards, the heat of the water should dissipate any traces of the bleach (method used for home brew, assuming food-safe = fish safe).

Another idea: if you planted the tank, the plants would compete with the algae for nutrients and should slow it's growth.

Phil dublin

fungun wrote: »

wow, tbh id never use bleach or milton or anything like that on rocks/wood for an aquarium.
Unless there are no traces left afterwards, surely there could be consequences for your tank. Bleach has toxins, milton sterilises.

If I ever have a rock that has gone a bit manky i just leave it out in the rain for a couple of weeks, little scrub with an abrasive if needs be....

im not a fan of th iea of bleach either. but ill take a new photo of my tank later adn ull see why, its grown a lot since yesterday.

im going to clean and steam the wood first. and if its still alive ill look in to the bleach. id prob go with the milton myself, as its safe for babies!

but i guess ill be doing a bit of googling before i attemp either.

Phil dublin

Sleepy wrote: »

If you're going to go with the milton, drop the wood in boiling water afterwards, the heat of the water should dissipate any traces of the bleach (method used for home brew, assuming food-safe = fish safe).

Another idea: if you planted the tank, the plants would compete with the algae for nutrients and should slow it's growth.

my 4 ft tank was heavly planted. poeple have often said it looked more like an underwater garden, this stuff took over the entire tank, with hair like treads that just got everywhere and i have to remove all the plants to get the algae out. the bog wood its self was outa the tank in left in the back garden for 8 weeks.

fred funk }{

It's perfectly fine to use diluted bleach. Obviously make sure it's thoroughly washed off before putting back into the tank. Bleach will kill off the algae.

fungun

Phil dublin wrote: »

id prob go with the milton myself, as its safe for babies!

Milton is safe for babies because it sterilises things - the last thing you want is to sterilise your tank - you actually need all that bacteria!

brianwalshcork

Phil dublin wrote: »

ok, so 5:1, but then how do i make sure the wood is clean and free from the bleac before i replace it in the tank.

i think i remember an old friend of my dads sayn somethign about cleaning the rocks in his tank with bleach years ago.

The poster said a 5% solution, so that's 20:1, not 5:1 !!

kylith

I had similar algae in my BiUbe and getting some Nerite snails in there before it got bad seemed to get rid of almost all of it. I still had a little growing from the top of the bubble tube and some dwarf gouramis took care of that little bit and I've had no problems since. It really is amazing how fast it grows; you can almost see it.

Phil dublin

kylith wrote: »

I had similar algae in my BiUbe and getting some Nerite snails in there before it got bad seemed to get rid of almost all of it. I still had a little growing from the top of the bubble tube and some dwarf gouramis took care of that little bit and I've had no problems since. It really is amazing how fast it grows; you can almost see it.

its a pain in the arse.

i left the lights of last night and its seemed to have some sort of effect.

Phil dublin

i left the lights of last night, untill now at 3.30 today.

added some photos, algae seems to have thinned out a bit.

IMG_1.jpg

IMG_2.jpg

Phil dublin

algae's more or less gone, left the lights of for the last to days.

thanks lads.