DiscusDiva Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 My tank has been setup for a year and has the standard filtration for an Aqua One 980 and an additional cannister filter - my tank is covered in thick brown fluffy algage it is over 30cm in legnth and incredibly dense its suspended in the water - its not the brown algage that spots on the glass its long fluffy and thick and all over the top of the tank and actually hanging in long clumps ??? I have been told to nail it with an algae killer i am running a UV sterilizer as well so hopefully this will kill off any of the airborne spores? no cleaner fish seems to touch it what causes this? HELP ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted November 22, 2007 Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 It sounds like you have an excess of nutrients in your water - In short, you don't have enough circulation, water surface motion, and you aren't doing enough water changes (size or regularity) to keep up with the bioload. You wil have to physically remove as much as of the crud as possible, and up the size and regularity of the water changes if you want it to go away. Test your water for Nitrate and Phosphate - if you have elevated levels of either you might also have to have a look at how many fish you have, how much you feed them, and what you feed them as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiscusDiva Posted November 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 Thanks for that is there a testkit for phosphates? I only have three discus in a 225 litre tank I am wondering if the bloodword I feed in increases the phosphates? I am doing two weekly water changes of approx 25% there seems to be water circultion as the second filter creates a ripple type affect along the top of the tank, will additional carbon filters assist I ripped the ones out of my aqua one 980 as they were cruddy as, should i also look to remove the plants which are heavily affected by it and replace them? or maybe cut them right back to the stalks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiscusDiva Posted November 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 any suggestion for removing the crud when i waterchange it breaks up into the water and is hard to siphon out I can't seem to grab it either...aaaargh! my lfs suggested dropping in two blocks of some algae killer will that be a good way to help kill it off ? ........ will it hurt my babies as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted November 22, 2007 Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 Yes, you can get Phosphate test kits, and yes, frozen food is a source of phosphate (and a lot of it). I would remove and bin the plants that are covered by it (they must already be quite weak if algae can attach), and use a large net (or two, one inside the other) to scoop out as much crud as you can. I would also recommend to at least double the amount of water changes - but the more, the better, so long as they are regular. Forget the algae killer too - it is far better to get your water right than rely on poisons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquarium Dude Posted November 22, 2007 Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 It sounds like you have the same type as I have, I have tried lots of things but to no avail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 22, 2007 Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 Last time I used algae killer it revealed that it was also fish killer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carla Posted November 22, 2007 Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 I am sitting here looking at a bottle of $29.90 algaefix and thinking if I should use it or not - what were your side effects alan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 22, 2007 Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 Death Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 22, 2007 Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 I think there is algae fix and algae rid and I used algae fix without fish when converting plants from submersed to emersed growth. I put some in a tank of fish where the water was going green and killed all the killies and half the Saes. Have since cleared the water by feeding less and doing heaps of water changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naz_Nomad Posted November 22, 2007 Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 I am sitting here looking at a bottle of $29.90 algaefix and thinking if I should use it or not - what were your side effects alan? I have used this in the past when all else seemed to fail with algae removal. It works very well. Algae dies off reasonably quickly, the fish die off soon afterwards and no doubt if left for long enough, the plants would die off too. Actually, I only lost about 50% of my fish, managed to save a few but it was still a fairly devastating experience. I still have a mainly full bottle if you want it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted November 22, 2007 Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 theConch wrote: In short, you don't have enough circulation, water surface motion, But wouldn't 2 filters provide enough circulation and motion?? Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETEYPLECO Posted November 22, 2007 Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 Doesnt Flourish excel get rid of unwanted algae, I know it works for me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted November 22, 2007 Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 theConch wrote: But wouldn't 2 filters provide enough circulation and motion?? Caper Not necessarily - it depends upon what filters they are and how the spray bars are positioned, and what other objects are in the tank (plants are really good at slowing water motion) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jn Posted November 22, 2007 Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 Does the algaefix say to increase aeration? Maybe the oxygen levels drop very rapidly.. I wonder if building up to the required dose over an hour or so would help? ie: let the water turn over a couple of times after each addition to 're-aerate' it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted November 22, 2007 Report Share Posted November 22, 2007 If you are at the point where you are considering Algaefix etc, then you are probably at the point where a complete stripdown / clean might be a better and safer option (leave the filter alone, of course), along with a re-assessment of your fishload/maintenance schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted November 23, 2007 Report Share Posted November 23, 2007 oh...thanks Conch Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcase Posted November 25, 2007 Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 I have an AR-620 tank (90 litre) and couldn't get rid of the algae (incl. trying Flourish excel & lots of water changes) ...... took out fish, stripped tank down, got rid of stones and live plants, scrubbed tank, replaced standard Aqua filter with an internal Eheim filter, put in a small UV steriliser, put in an undergravel filter, put in new stones and new plastic plants .. also lowered temp from 27 to 25 ........ now have crystal clear tank & happy fish (have had for 2-3 months now, whereas algae used to come back after 1-2 weeks) Good luck with yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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