My week old fish tank (61L) has 5 small fish in it (they were from a smaller tank I had), how do I keep it green algae free as it looks beautiful with the new plant (silk plants) its clean and I want to keep it this way can any one advise me, I do have some experience but I haven't had fish for many years.
1.) The most important thing is to make sure you have a filter in your tank. You didn't mention having one, so if you do, then ignore what I'm about to say. But if you don't have one, you should know that they help to establish beneficial bacteria in your aquarium. These bacteria turn harmful ammonia and nitrite compounds in your tank into harmless ones.
2.) Even if you have a filter, make sure you do frequent partial water changes. You can do 10% weekly water changes, or 30% 2-4 week changes, or whatever combination seems to work for you. You need to do this because your filter will leave nitrates in your tank, and that is something that plants and algae thrive on. So if you want to keep your tank algae-free, limit these nitrates by removing them with water changes.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com 3.) Make sure you have a large enough tank and don't overstock it with fish. The more fish you have, the more food and waste will be there to create a mess. Also, don't overfeed the fish because that will cause even more waste.
4.) Don't give it too much sunlight. If you are experiencing problems, keep your tank away from a window and decrease the number of hours in the day that your tank light is on.
5.) Get a snail, chinese algae eater, or pleco. Those are all great for removing algae caked onto the side of the tank, but they will do nothing about eating algae in the water. And these are not perfect, you will still have to do water changes and decrease light to completely keep algae away.
6.) They make anti-algae tablets that you can drop in your aquarium, but it's always a better idea to try the natural way first before introducing chemicals into your aquarium that could harm your filter bacteria. So try steps 1-5 before trying step 6.
Hope this helped, and good luck!
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com ps - I forgot to mention that if you get live plants, this can be very beneficial for keeping algae away because it can use up all the nutrients that algae needs before algae can get to it. Plus the plants will help with oxygenating your tank.
Please don't take Andys advice. Even the smallest of algae eaters will outgrow the tank.
1.) Make sure the light for your tank is NOT meant for growing plants, they are usually just called white lights. If you only have silk plants this will help immensely as the algae has a hard time growing without lights. Also make sure the tank isn't near a window as the sunlight will cause algae blooms.
2.) Change out the water when the nitrates get over 10ppm, The algae uses these as food and its hard for them to grow without food.
3.) Get a snail or some shrimp, these guys will help keep the tank clean without increasing the bio load too much. If you get a snail go with a nirite snail as they breed less prolifically and won't overrun your tank.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
Even will these steps you will occasionally have to scrub down the glass and razor the algae off the leaves but this should help immensely.
I think it is inevitable that algae will grow in your aquarium and on your silk plants unless you remove all the nutrients that algae feed on.
Please don't use algicides as these harsh chemicals will harm your fish.
You can manage algae by controlling the amount of light and by using algae-eating livestock, but you will (and should) always have some algae.
Don't overfeed, or overstock the tank, don't forget to do weekly 20-25% water changes with a gravel vacuum. Buy a magnetic algae cleaner. Keep the tank away from direct sunlight.
You could get a Nerite snail 2 if you have room "they will not reproduce in your tank". Or mystery snail/snails, they dont produce very often. You could add live plants to use up the nutrients that algae needs to grow.
An air bubbler will add more oxygen to the tank. Live plants, including algae, use Co2 to grow, so if you have more O2=oxygen, plants don't thrive as well.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Just wanted to add, your tank is 16 gallons, it is too small for a pleco, "evan a dwarf one, like the bristle nose" or chinese algae eater, and most other fish that would eat algae need to be in schools, so they wont work in your tank either. more fish=more fertilizer anyway, their are plenty of other things you can do if you dont want algae! good luck!
Getting a filter system helps, algae isn't bad just unsightly . I wouldn't suggest a snail because the breed like crazy and you can find them everywhere. D: It helps to clean the fake plants if you don't decide to get an algae eater because they can put off ammonia and then you would have to balance out the tank with chemicals, but the algae eater will show you progress. I can't remember the name of the one I just got, but don't get the chinese algae eater if you decide to get one they get big and when they get big they get mean.
