12 Gal Aqua Pod Issue

[jeffreyy]

My son is having an issue with his tank. He's getting lots of algae growth on his rocks and back of tank

. My guess is the lights are on for too long.
I have the blue light (night light) come on for 1-2 hours ( I forget exactly how long) before the white light (daylight lights) turns on, then both lights are on for 4 hours, once the white light turns off, the blue light stays on for an hour. If that makes sense.
Any suggestions? Also how can I get the algae off the rocks?

 

[spanko]

Do a search for Hair Algae with the search button at the top of the page. Short answer there is too much nutrient in the tank that the algae is feeding off. Your light schedule (4 hours daylight) is actually short IMO but the algae is feeding of of nutrient and that is what needs to be addressed first.

 

[jeffreyy]

Thanks for the lead. I am getting ready to put in a protein skimmer to help. Tried to do that last night but it doesn't fit where it should! LOL
His nitrate's have been constantly high so there's a connection as well. Looks like I'll scrap the back wall and try and scrape the rocks as well. Also filter the sand out, then do a 80% water change.
How many daylight hours do you think is acceptable?
I'll cut down on the feeding's as well.
Any other suggestions?

 

[nano-newb1983]

one thing i did to help with my alge problem is i took out each rock and scrubbed with a firm toothbrush in a bucket or saltwater. Try that, i have done it twice now and its going away

 

[spanko]

Originally Posted by jeffreyy
http:///forum/post/2910677
Thanks for the lead. I am getting ready to put in a protein skimmer to help. Tried to do that last night but it doesn't fit where it shold! LOL
His nitrate's have been constantly high so there's a connection as well. Looks like I'll scrap the back wall and try and scrape the rocks as well. Also filter the sand out, then do a 80% water change.
How many daylight hours do you think is acceptable?
I'll cut down on the feeding's as well.
Any other suggestions?
IMO I would not filter the sand out. Scraping the back wall and cleaning the rocks however are good ideas. When scraping the wall try to do it during a water change or two and use the siphon hose to "suck" up anything that comes off as you are doing it.
For the washing of the rocks do them underwater in some of the water you change out from the tank.
I would not do an 80% water change. I would start with some 20% changes maybe twice per week.
You can run your lighting for 8 hours a day on the daylights and an hour before and after with the actinics.
Cut down the feedings to every other day. Only put in a pinch of food that the fish can eat before any hit the bottom. Then if they eat all of that give them a couple of more like that.
JMO let's see what others chime in with also.

 

[jeffreyy]

Originally Posted by NaNo-NeWb1983
http:///forum/post/2910684
one thing i did to help with my alge problem is i took out each rock and scrubbed with a firm toothbrush in a bucket or saltwater. Try that, i have done it twice now and its going away
Yeah that was one of my thoughts for this weekend's projects..except I was thinking a wire brush...that may be a little drastic though...
I wonder if Kalkwasser directly onto the rocks would help...
Thanks spanko for the suggestion as well...

 

[whisk]

I think weekly water changes will help a lot. As Spanko said, be careful of overfeeding.
You can also look into getting some hair algae eating critters such as astrea snails and blue leg hermits.
You will also have to battle it yourself and manually remove it. I am confident if you stay on top of it, you will control it. I have seen more than a few tanks on this site do a complete 180 with their algae problem.
good luck!!!

 

[maryg]

Originally Posted by jeffreyy
http:///forum/post/2910677
Thanks for the lead. I am getting ready to put in a protein skimmer to help. Tried to do that last night but it doesn't fit where it should! LOL
His nitrate's have been constantly high so there's a connection as well. Looks like I'll scrap the back wall and try and scrape the rocks as well. Also filter the sand out, then do a 80% water change.
How many daylight hours do you think is acceptable?
I'll cut down on the feeding's as well.
Any other suggestions?
I had the same tank and couldn't get one to fit under the hood of mine either. I ended up using it my my 29 regular glass tank.
Get some bluelegs. They should eat the algae.

 

[jeffreyy]

how many blue legs would you guess I'd need for the tank?

 

[subielover]

First start the manual removal of the algae. I would want to figure out why the nitrates were high. What kind of water are you using? Do you run any type of chemical filtration, i.e. chemi-pure, purigen, etc.? How old are your light bulbs? Also like others mentioned, feeding every other day is plenty. I had a hair algae problem, I spent many hours pulling it out, scrubbing rocks and doing water changes to get my tank to where it looked respectable again. Also what kind of food are you feeding?

 

[jeffreyy]

Nitrates have to be high from over feeding.
When you say water, do you mean salt water, RO, or Kalkwasser?
No type of chemipure or anything, only the sponge type filter the aqua pod comes with.
Lights are a couple months old. Tank was set up in October.
I'd feed the 3 fish a cube of brine. Which I now know is too much..

 

[maryg]

When I had my 12g aquapod I used to get the cubed frozen foods. I would cut them into quarters and thaw and feed. For as many fish you have I would say use even less.

 

[whisk]

Originally Posted by jeffreyy
http:///forum/post/2910919
Nitrates have to be high from over feeding.
When you say water, do you mean salt water, RO, or Kalkwasser?
No type of chemipure or anything, only the sponge type filter the aqua pod comes with.
Lights are a couple months old. Tank was set up in October.
I'd feed the 3 fish a cube of brine. Which I now know is too much..
As long as your not using tap water, you should be ok. RO water is best. Do you clean or rinse the sponge ever?
I would run a bag of chemipure elite as that will help remove the nitrates and phosphates in your tank.
Your lights are fine for now.
Yeah you were feeding too much

i would cut each cube into 8 pieces and try that out.

 

[subielover]

Just so you know too, frozen brine shrimp has next to no nutritional value and should be treated more as a treat. Mysis is a much better alternative.
+1 on 1/4 cube every other day.

 

[redsea]

i have had an alage probelm too

 

[jeffreyy]

Originally Posted by Whisk
http:///forum/post/2911012
As long as your not using tap water, you should be ok. RO water is best. Do you clean or rinse the sponge ever?
I would run a bag of chemipure elite as that will help remove the nitrates and phosphates in your tank.
Your lights are fine for now.
Yeah you were feeding too much

i would cut each cube into 8 pieces and try that out.
I rinse out the sponge weekly...
Yeah I mostly use the kalk when it lowers...
I'll go grab chemi and see if it helps.
OK of the food. I'll look for the mysis..which I may have in the freezer...

 

[nissan577]

i had the same problem. all i did was scrub the LR in new saltwater bucket. and do a 20% water change. also to me hermits blue legs are worthless. they dont do what they are told to do!

they knocked down everything in my tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! also my lights are on from 3-11pm and i never feed the tank! and my sixline is fat! lol idk how or what he eats but hes good. what also did help was nass snails! and um thats it. but were my kenya trees are there is hair algae. for some odd reason i cant get it away!

 

[jeffreyy]

thanks for the suggestions

 

[tiff*]

I had some hair algae in my tank. The hermits did a great job of getting rid of it. AS for the water changes I have the 24 gal AP and I do a 2 gal water change once a week.

 

[premilove]

turbo snails! helped me alot