Algae?!?

art vandalay

art vandalay

New Member
Help!
I have a 29 gallon tank, with only 2 damsels in it. Tank has been up and running for 6 months now and been fully cycled for at least 2 or 3.
Recently (within the last month) my algae has gotten out of control, so much so that when i clean the tank it is ready to be cleaned again within days. i mean, the entire bottom and most of the walls are covered with a thick, green algae.
the lighting is left on only about 10 hours a day and the tank is in no direct sunlight. why all of a sudden is the algae out of control? the only thing different is that I had a trigger in there that died around christmas, but he doesnt eat algae so I figured it would lead to less of it. Oops!
Thanks for any suggestions....
 
radioactive

radioactive

Member
Art
IMO , I would try to cut the lights back to 8hrs . do you have a clean-up crew ? I have some blue legged hermits that eat the garbage and do a pretty good job , turbo snails also seem to keep the glass a little cleaner .
mag floats are also nice and handy for a quick glass cleaning . how are your water parameters ? please post some information about your tank ....
filtration
water par.
powerheads
btw- i cut back on feeding which seemed to help also ... good luck
 
krishj39

krishj39

Active Member
Could it be you are feeding too much? when you add too much food, you then add the nutrients to the water the algae needs, AND your clean up crew won't eat the algae because they are full on the extra food they find that you fish didn't eat. Anyway, just another thing to consider.
kris
 
bdhough

bdhough

Active Member
clean up crew
clean up crew
clean up crew
clean up crew
I cant begin to tell you how many customers i've helped with your problem and no clean up crew. Whatever you end up getting get a variety.
 
art vandalay

art vandalay

New Member
thanks for the help.
I need a cleanup crew, you're all right... but ive been a bit lazy. any suggestions for a 29g tank? all i know of so far is lawnmower blennies and turbo snails. any ideas how many or either?
no live rock in the tank. i feed the damsels once per day, minimal amounts. for water changes i use the conditioned tap... worked fine up until a few weeks ago...
appreciate the help as always.....
 
bdhough

bdhough

Active Member
Your tap may have unwanted stuff in it. Conditioner works to a certain extent but you may be adding alot of phosphates to your water just from the tap. You'd be suprised. I would get any kind of hermit crab you can find. Turbos are good so are Astrea snails. Nassarious and bumble bee snails are ok too. Sea cucumbers would go through your sand and star fish eat a variety of things. Be careful what you get. If you go the coral route a starfish can destroy things. As far as numbers go i heard a general rule is one per gallon so 29 snails or 29 hermit crabs. I would start off with six of each and see what happens. Add more as necessary.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top