# Algae Algae Algae... HELP



## mattgrizzlybear (Dec 5, 2015)

I have a 55g mbuna tank with 10 Juvenile/Sub-Adult Socolofi, 2 adult Yellow Labs and 2 adult Rustys. For filtration I have a fluval 306. Lighting is regular ol' fluorescents. Substrate is pool filter sand and has a lot of flat stones from my local creek to form various caves. Water changes are 50% every week or every other week. My problem is that there is bad brown algae on the glass and very dark brown algae under the sand against the glass. I have not used any chemicals to fix it, just an algae sponge on a stick but it always comes back. My thoughts is that now that the socolofi are growing bigger, the bioload has increased and the filter can't keep up so I'm thinking maybe I should thin the herd and sell 5 of my socolofi at my local fish club meeting in a week. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks -Matt


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Is your tank less than a year old? Sounds like diatoms and they will eventually go away on their own. Meanwhile they are easy (but annoying) to wipe off.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

How long has the tank been set up? What you are seeing may be diatoms and not algae and it is common in tanks under a year old.

I don't see a relationship between the number of fish and the problem with brown 'algae' growth. How long do you keep your lights on and how old are the bulbs?


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## mattgrizzlybear (Dec 5, 2015)

DJRansome said:


> Is your tank less than a year old? Sounds like diatoms and they will eventually go away on their own. Meanwhile they are easy (but annoying) to wipe off.





Deeda said:


> How long has the tank been set up? What you are seeing may be diatoms and not algae and it is common in tanks under a year old.
> 
> I don't see a relationship between the number of fish and the problem with brown 'algae' growth. How long do you keep your lights on and how old are the bulbs?


Yes the tank is less than a year old. I will look into diatoms but how would you recommend getting rid of them. The bulbs' age is unknown as I got the tank (w/ stand and lights) from a friend. But they are on for around 12 hours, I really need to get a timer lol. -Matt


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Not a really good way to get rid of them except wait and wipe in the meantime. Some think BN plecos eat the diatoms, but mine don't.


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## Fish Jerk (Mar 9, 2016)

Nerite snails and hillstream loaches will eat them, but your cichlids will probably eat those eventually.

Pond snails will, too. I used to raise a bunch of pond snails in one tank and periodically throw them into my african tank. The fish would eventually eat them all but they would clean up the substrate and glass a good bit before they all went.


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

Nerites are fine but if you don't know what it is there is a chance it will take over. Trust me I bought "Nerites" from my lfs and now I have a snail bloom in the sump. Even though they were sold as Nerites, which only reproduce in brackish water, I still have a snail problem. IMO avoid snails, even Nerites, I found they weren't as beneficial as other means of algae control.

Do you have any plants? If not lights are really only for you to see in the tank. Now if the fish are in a closet then yes lights help fish but if they are in a room with a lot of light no need to waste electricity when you aren't home. Bring your lights down to 8 hours or less a day.

Also the bulb life plays a factor. As lights age, especially florescent, they lose their ability to produce the proper wavelength and intensity. Algae readily grows in an aquarium with poor quality lighting because algae uses the poor light more efficiently than other plants. Diatoms which is what it sounds like is a pain and will go away over time but the best you can do is keep up with weekly tank maintenence routines, not overfeeding, a good lighting schedule, and quality lights.

I'm not saying go out and buy top of the line led strips, just go buy new bulbs for your fixture.


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## Fish Jerk (Mar 9, 2016)

No matter how many and what type of snails you put in with african cichlids, they won't take over because they will become snacks.

If you look up what the nerites look like you can be sure of what you get though. There is no mistaking a horned nerite. If all else fails there's also assassin snails, but the cichlids themselves are quite assassinlike.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

IME pond snails and MTS can definitely take over.

I agree about the nerites being easy to identify and they don't reproduce in freshwater. I did not find they cleaned "algae" off plants and rocks as well as glass.


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## testtube (Jan 23, 2014)

Pleco, Pleco, Pleco. If you have any kind of algae problem a pleco cat fish will take care of it. In the past I had a breeder tank that was over run with algae because I didn't want the pleco to eat the fry. However, as soon as I moved out the fry and put a pleco in the tank the algae problem was gone in two days.


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