More Algae Issues

[Hez]

Hi All,

My 26 Gallon tank has moved from brown algae to green algae to a reddish mat algae. My tank is almost 4 months old. Is this a natural progression and what can I do to limit the algae growth?

Thanks,
Hez

 

[Len]

Yeah, it takes some time for a tank to reach a nice balance of nutrient equalibrium. In the meanwhile, you're gonna experience a myriad of different types of undesirable algae. The type of algae you're describing now is cyanobacteria. It can be combated with better nutrient control (use of RO/DI, more skimming, water changes, carbon, etc.), more water flow through the tank, more oxygen in the water, and changing out your bulbs for different/newer ones (depending on the cyano strain, they seem to grow better under certain spectrums). Nothing really eats it in large quantities, so nutrient control is your first and best defense.

 

[brandon4291]

and if those mechanical enhancements don't do the trick, take out all the fish for a couple months while still using the circulation/export/bulb change boosters and eventually the algae will starve of nitrogen. Then you might re-introduce some fish slowly until the export mechanisms are fully used. THis is just an emergency idea if nothing else works, I know how much people like their fish but sometimes this is an effective way to quell an algae outbreak in a tank as a last measure. Ive also seen others try to boost the mechanical factors greatly with multiple skimmers and heavy heavy water changes, but the algae forest still remained because there was always enough systemic N to support the established algal population. That tank had to be torn down and started over with all new rock, personally I think it would have been better adjusted by removing the fish for a couple months along with heavy skimming and manual algae removal. Sorry for the late reply Hez! I like Lens idea so you can keep your fish, but if that doesnt work in the next month or so then take out the fish and let your ecosystem adjust to new bioload slowly this time.

B429