Lately one my tanks walls have stubborn small dot clustors of algae, which take for ever to scrub off with the alage scrubber.

The tank is arylic so i dont like scrubbing too much.

I don't get "normal" algae lthat occurs in all my other tanks that comes off easily.

I don't like to use chemicals, but yeh any suggestions?.

I'm not familiar with that type of algae, but I had a serious problem with black 'tuft', I guess you could call it, algae. It's like little bushes of black algae that grow on everything in the tank, need a knife to cut off pretty much, my plec doesn't touch it, and it's pretty immune to common chemicals used for alge control. I went in and saw graham from the hutt pet centre, and he recommended changing the pH of the tank. He gave me a pond algae block that you just drop into the tank. Over the course of a couple of weeks the block cleared up the black algae, and has visually eliminated green algae. There has been a change in the ph of the tank, but not a huge change. It's pretty much gone from slightly acidic to neutral.

tst

i got the same problem kellsz and my ph is just a bit more alkilie then Nuetral. i think they cam from a peice of beautiful tube like wood i got from up north in a lake i snorkeld in (lake Kaiwi.)

i had to get a razzor blade to get them of, and yes my pleco didnt touch them ether Benny.

so just use a razzor blade

If the dot algae is the only type you are getting then thats really good. If it takes about 3 weeks for the dots to show up it means you've got a pretty healthy tank with virtually no excess of algae producing nutrients.

I get the same dots. I find if I clean the glass before the dots start to show (about once a week), the algae is removed before it hardens into the dots. It's a lot more stubborn if left until visible.

Benny said...

> ... I had a serious problem with black 'tuft', I guess you

> could call it, algae...

Nasty stuff, the best way to get rid of it is to work on having

less phosphates in your water apparently. Siamese Algae

Eaters aka SAEs (the proper ones) eat it, nothing else will

touch it.

Andrew.

OOh, Warren that's good news. I'll scrub the tank weekly and see if that helps!.

As for a razor blade I wont dare put it in within a 2km radius of my acrylic tank heh.

Yeh my BN PLEC wont go near the stuff, and as its the only algae I get I worry about how much she actually eats as my Clowns are VERY greedy and attack her if she has food and the don't.

Thanks everyone for your inputs!.

Kellsz,

Bristle nose ancistres (plec) are not good for acrylic tanks. They have rasping teeth, that is why there such good algae removers. They will rasp the inside of your tank and make it all "smokey". The ingested plastic is not real good for the fish either.

Alan

yeh i know, the only glass tank I having running at the mo is a cold water goldfish one. As my father is paranoid about glass fish tanks and brought me a flash arylic set-up.

The BN will be moved as soon as possible to a glass tank in my room so when it breaks it will be "my room that floods and i that is cut up" LOL.

Just gotta save up for another heater and filter YAY.

LOL Kellsz,

tell your Grandad that I have glass fish tanks prolly as old as him, still hold water.

Alan

When life gives you lemons ask for a bottle of tequila & salt

I agree with warren. The little green 'spots' of algae is a sign of good/stabe water paramaters. As said the best way to control is by prevention. About twice a week run the maganet cleaner around, this will wipe it off before it gets hold. If you have scratches in the glass, the best way to to take it off with a razor blade.

The 'tuff' algae you are all describing is 'red hair algae' which is often a dull black colour. Its as tuff as nails and very hard to remove. As said very few fish will touch it, and it can be a real plague.

You can make it recede however without doing anything drastic. Regular water changes, more biological filteration and LOW nitrate all seem too help. Also replacing some tubes with some new ones may help.

As soon as I see it in my tank I know its time for a wate change and filter clean, but its only arrived twice in the 2.5 years the tanks been running (both times it went away after filter cleans and water changes).

Good luck

Pie

I think had some of this algae too. I don't know whether it was the same type, but until about a week ago one of my tank had quite a few blackish tufts of algae on the glass. I added some large mystery snails and they appear to have eaten all of them now.