It doesn’t matter what I do, this algae keeps growing. I clean every week and scrub everything. I keep the tank clean, but somehow it still happens. I even skip feeding, and no, I don’t overfeed my fish. My light is on for about six hours. What do I do? If you’re a pro at keeping your tank looking amazing, please give me some tips!
Posted by oksanamichelle
8 Comments
And my fish are alive. Even with this nightmare, I haven’t lost a fish in two years. They’re happy with this gross lifestyle they have going on, haha.
Cut the light. Completely. Even the tank in front of a window isn’t helpful.
What do you have in terms of plants? Are you putting extra fertilizer in the tank? What kind of light are you using? Have you checked your nitrate?
Algae = excess nutrients + excess light. Cutting your light down to 6 hours isn’t enough. You also need to deal with the excess nutrients that the algae is sustaining itself with.
Try Aquarium Filter Floss it made my water look clear. And the fish didn’t die
big water changes, snails and less light, like 3 days blackout and it should be a lot more manageable, still doesn’t look as filthi as you say
I struggled with algae for about 18 months. I cut the lighting way back and fed less, but it just kept coming.
So I just kinda gave up and ripped it out by the handful periodically. One day, I just noticed that the tank looked much better. I’ve never had algae at all since. I’ve been slowly ramping the lighting back up and even adding fertilizers again with zero problems.
I think sometimes tanks just have to mature.
tl;dr – if you’re patient, it will stabilize.
do you know if your light is anything close to decent? if it came with the tank, it probably isnt, and an unsuited light will grow all algae and no plants.
also when you scrub it, do you change the water afterwards? if you leave it in there you are just spreading it.
it can also help to let it grow out on the back and maybe sides and only clean the front, the section you leave will pull nutrients and hopefully decrease the growth on the remaining glass pane/s
Dim your light. Water change today.