# Algae removal



## Ambadasdor Cox (Jul 20, 2008)

I have a ten gallon with three dwarf puffers and loads of floating algae. I tried a four day blackout followed by a 50% water change and it did some good but not much What do I do
:fish:


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## xalow (May 10, 2007)

You could add an otocinclus, they are the only fish that dwarfpuffers.com recommends keeping with them. With that low of a bioload though there shouldn't be that much algae, maybe you should check your water straight out of the tap to see what the nitrate and sulfate levels are.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

check phosphates too...


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Reduce or stop adding light to the tank (if you don't have plants) until it receeds. Removing nutrients is good too!


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## Ambadasdor Cox (Jul 20, 2008)

I tried the otos by my algae is either diatomes to hard for them to eat or in the water column None of my other tanks have much of an algae problem so I don't think its the water and i already tried the blackout Maybe it is how much I am feeding them. I feed them a half of a frozen bloodworm cube every other day. Isthat too much?
:fish:


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## alicem (Jul 26, 2007)

I'm not familiar with dwarf puffers and so I don't know how sensitive they are to water changes or their food requirements. 
Just curious, are you feeding blood worm cubes as their sole diet?

DJRansome had good advise. Let me elaborate:
Try a large water change _*daily for several days in a row *_and see if that helps.

I was having a green water problem after I changed tanks, because I stirred up some fert. tabs in the substrate.
35% water changes daily for a week cleared it up for me.

After you get the green water under control you don't want it comming back.
You may have your light on too long, do you use a timer? Are there live plants in the tank?
I would have the lights on no longer than 8 hours if you don't have live plants.

Or it could be the food?? If they don't eat it all, leftovers can be a factor. 
Or if they do, the waste from the rich diet may be contributing to your problem.

High nitrAtes can encourage green water, so more frequent water changes may be what will keep your aquarium clear.
hth
Alicem


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## xalow (May 10, 2007)

The amount you are feeding them seems very conservative compared to my experiences from when I had a very similar setup. However I may well have been a gross over feeder because they were so cute and responsive that it seemed they always wanted food. Alicem brings up a great point, my dwarf puffers were messy eaters and would only chew up the blood worms and then spit out the casing (or exoskeleton) just like the people on public transit spit out the shells of sunflower seeds. This leftover waste caused a lot of algae in the tank that I had because it the exoskeletons of the blood worms were getting stuck in my pebble type substrate.

Switching to sand and drastically reducing the light helped me but I figured something else was going with your tank because you all ready tried the blackout and the 50% water change.

Diatom algae feeds off of silicone in some form or another and I have heard many people suggest that it is only a problem in newer set up tanks and recommend waiting based on that. In my experience though the diatom algae can be persistent.

I would do what DJRansom said and just keep up with the blackout until its all gone. I would Another idea would be adding some floating plants to compete with light and nutrients with the algae.


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