Green Algae problem

[rainbowsix]

Hey All,
Haven't posted in awhile. I have a 29 bow front with Metal Halides, 24 inch. Well long story short, all the glass gets covered with green algae, I can scrape it off and I am not kidding you 2 hours later it is back

Sure my lawnmower loves it, but it is getting to be a pain in the rear. Anyone know how to stop this? I usually run the light from about 7:30 in the morning till about 9 at night, I know that is a bit long. Would a UV stop this?

 

[kerriann]

you ABSOLUTELY need to cut back on the lighting hours. I have a UV and that was my biggest issue. 14 hours is definitely too long. you can easily pick up a timer for very cheap anywhere near you. but that's really going to be the biggest solution

 

[rainbowsix]

Thanks for the reply, I will do that.

 

[jpc763]

Originally Posted by KerriAnn
you ABSOLUTELY need to cut back on the lighting hours. I have a UV and that was my biggest issue. 14 hours is definitely too long. you can easily pick up a timer for very cheap anywhere near you. but that's really going to be the biggest solution
A UV will help stop the growth of Algae on the glass? I clean it every other day now.

 

[nycbob]

uv isnt gonna stop green algae. uv will only kill the water floating algae that causes green water. ever thought about getting a few turbo snails?

 

[kerriann]

no sorry, i wasn't thinking when i was typing earlier i meant to say that i have a UV and that didn't change anything with my algae. it came down to cutting my lighting hours back to 6 hours a day (2 in the morning when i'm not home and 4 at night when i am) and of course my orange urchin is an algae eating machine!!

 

[elitephoto]

yeah cut back your lighting hours to about 8 hours, 10 tops. uv wont help with your problem. Pick up a ton of snails and a couple crabs to help keep the algae off the rocks. what do u have for your clean yo crew now?

 

[rainbowsix]

I have 3 nars snails and some hermits and a lawnmower blenny, he does a good job, but will never be able to keep up with all that algae. It is not on the rocks really just the glass. So what should I pick up to take care of that?
Thanks

 

[kerriann]

turbo snails - they're great glass cleaners

 

[pakora]

I had the same problem and bought those mini scrapers which took me at least 25-30 mins to scrape my 10g. I was reading on these forums and somebody made mention of a magfloat and the algae will come back but I dont care because in about 5 mins or less its all gone! Only problem is my xenia seem to close up for a few minutes after and I dont know if thats a good thing or a bad thing. But my water and glass are crystal clear thats the point!

 

[sambucus]

I have the exact same problem you have, I added 6 turbo snails and 3 astrea snails, I still have the issue, the turbos do a great job, but I still get that really hard to scrape algae growth on my glass which is a pain. I'm hoping it eventully will not grow as fast, I added phosbuster to my filter also which helps keep phosphates down.