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.