Algae out of CONTROL! Help!

I have a 20 gallon tank set up with artificial plants and a 20-25 HOB filter. I have ONE puffer in there that is about an inch long. I have tried for months to control the algae in this tank to no avail. It is not in the sunlight or near any additional artificial light. It has a standard fluorescent light on it that came with the tank. Nothing special. However from doing a complete scrub down in the matter of a week algae is starting to show again in the tank. I am at a loss. I don't know what to do to control it and I'm about ready to give up and find the fish a new home because the maintenance is out of control. I have 6 other tanks and they have no algae problems at all. It baffles me. It's clearly not in the tap water obviously, Or the other tanks would be the same. Does anyone have any advice on what to do? I even bought a brand new filter thinking maybe I couldn't get the pick up tube or the bio-filter cleared or something and it came back just as equally.

How long is the light on everyday? How often do you change the water? Do your other tanks have live plants?

My first guess is that you have too much light for that particular tank, or it's running too long.

Agree with the light, but its not only the length it is on but the type of bulb. i would get rid of it and buy on Ebay a 12" Beam Works LED for $18 to start. What type of substrate do you have? I would also get on Ebay and buy a 5 watt UV light $25. But I would bet fish that it is the light you have on it.

Agree with Madness, go LED... Beam Works is good to go with for non-planted tanks. If problem persists, try shortening the photo period or raising the lights higher from the tank if possible

It's an aqueon 8,000k aquarium lamp, and the other tanks have the same type of artificial plants. They all have the same light-on hours of 9-10. From about noon until about 10pm. The substrate is white sand. If hours are the same and lights are the same on two other tanks why would the algae be only in this tank?

Are the bulbs the same? If so, just because the bulbs are the same doesnt mean anything. When my tubes start getting old, I get algae growth.

Also you have a bright light bulb putting out that much light along with reflecting off of the white sand. To me its a combination of both light and sand.

*Shorten light duration; If your using a timer perhaps shorten time about 2 hours. You could opt for the timer to kill the lights mid day (from like 3-5 or something).

*Cut phosphates (algae super food) ; change to a different product if anything your adding has phosphates as an ingredient.

*Wattage; you maybe using too much wattage for the tank (not specified in your post). This can be changed by raising the fixture a few inches or changing the fixture completely (EXAMPLE: if what your using is a 40 W set up, you could try using a 20W ). The fixture maybe just to bright.

*Algae eating shrimp. This may be an option to help maintain algae...

*Algae scrubbers; Poke just posted a DYI algae scrubber (unable to locate the link at this time sorry).

*Phosphate remover; there is specialized filters that remove Phosphates from the water.

What sizes are your other tanks? A 20 long is shorter than other tanks and wouldn't need nearly at much light intensity as a lot of other tanks, plus as Madness says the white sand will reflect light, adding to the amount of light the tank is getting... raise the lights higher over the tank if possible, like at least 6 inches, a foot if possible, that way you get less light reflecting off the sand... or you can always get floating plants: frogbit, duckweed, red root floater, etc... not only will they help block out some of the light, but they are great at eating up the excess nutrients that feed the algae

 

Floating plants for the win.  I would recommend frogbit and/or water lettuce.  Duckweed is a nightmare (though easily the most effective as far as nutrient removal) and RRF isn't a terribly quick grower.

Another possible cause is over-feeding.  Lots of fish foods contain phosphates which are candy for algae.

A group of Otocinclus' wouldn't hurt either

Amano shrimp would be a good fit as well.

have you identified the species of algae??

Lamental Jester wrote:A group of Otocinclus' wouldn't hurt either

I've never had otocinclus do well in a tank smaller than 50 gallons... Perhaps others had better experience than I in smaller tanks?
(I am about to try again in a well established 10g...)

star_rider wrote:have you identified the species of algae??

Very good question!

Algae eating shrimp would be eaten by the puffer as well as snails. Its a 20 gallon bowfront so it is taller. Any ideas what floating plants would work for brackish waters the best? As for food in the tank its a pinch of blood worms a day as there is just the one fish in the tank which is small. I haven't figured out the species of algae but it is a deep dark green and only on flat surfaces. Not on the fake plants much but is on the glass and sand. The sand gets a hard crust with it and just peels off basically. The glass is super hard to scrub with a standard aquarium scrubber.

Isn't it a 1" puffer? Amano shrimp are generally 1.5" to 2" in size, fully-grown. Granted, I don't know how big your puffer will get, but it should take a while before it's big enough to munch adult amanos.

Yes, but anything I've read said they will eat snails and shrimp. Size specifics weren't stated and they are aggressive and will kill any fish not their own no matter the size. :/ I don't have anywhere within an hour to get any shrimp at either I wanted to make it a planted tank, which puffers prefer. But not until I can get the algae situation under control.

Well, if you have fish in this tank where you can not introduce algae eating snails, shrimp, fish then your only options are working on lighting and controlling phosphates. If it's that hard green algae then your pretty much stuck scraping it off the glass with a razor blade & switching out decor whenever it gets to bad to bare. I used to do this commonly when I was raising mean territorial predators. I would switch out decor, let the algae's dry on the decor. Then the algae would get crusty and fall off.

I have algae eating shrimp, otocinclus , and dwarf Cory cats with puffers but they are dwarf freshwater puffers. So far the mix has been successful.

I try not to let it get that bad but yes that's how it acts.. I wonder what I could put in with it that is brackish? I thought it was a dwarf pea puffer but a few people on here have told me its a standard spotted green puffer. However, it has not grown any since I got it a year ago. So I'm confused as to what it is. Lol

ShortyKiloGyrl wrote:I try not to let it get that bad but yes that's how it acts.. I wonder what I could put in with it that is brackish? I thought it was a dwarf pea puffer but a few people on here have told me its a standard spotted green puffer. However, it has not grown any since I got it a year ago. So I'm confused as to what it is. Lol

Got pictures?

The species I have is a Dwarf Indian Puffer/ Pea Puffer. This is a true freshwater species.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

There are a few species that are Brackish. Here is a link, perhaps you can identify your fish here. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I'll be able to get a pic of the tank tonight. And mine definitely looks like the green spotted puffer.

Is this regular algae or cyno bacteria? It sounds like the infamous cyno!!! Madness is right If you only have plastic plants make sure you don't have one of the bulbs that's putting out artificial sunlight. I would think cyno or lightbulb. If it's the cyno don't put things from that tank into your other tanks!

anthony wrote:Is this regular algae or cyno bacteria? It sounds like the infamous cyno!!! Madness is right If you only have plastic plants make sure you don't have one of the bulbs that's putting out artificial sunlight. I would think cyno or lightbulb. If it's the cyno don't put things from that tank into your other tanks!

   She said she has a 8,000k bulb, which in my view might not be the best choice for a non-planted tank.  I would go at least 12,000k or higher, probably more in the 18,000k realm

I have organic miracle grow potting soil and need to get a top substrate and then I'd love to make it a planted tank. I've read these are better for the puffer as well. Would that light work well for this?

Definitely not cyanobacteria! This is very dark green almost black and very very thing, not stringy or any depth to it at all. When the lights are off in the tank it looks black.

ShortyKiloGyrl wrote:I have organic miracle grow potting soil and need to get a top substrate and then I'd love to make it a planted tank. I've read these are better for the puffer as well. Would that light work well for this?

Very cool that you wanna do plants!  I find that anything in the 5,000k to 10,000k range is good for plants. Although the closer to 6,700k is suppose to me the most ideal.  Depending on what plants and how densly planted you wanna go (idealy dirted tanks should be densly planted), you might need more than just the single bulb.  You might have already seen this but in case you haven't I did a thread about my step by step process at doing the dirted planted tank [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I haven't the slightest clue however how that would do with a brakish water tank, that is if you plan on keeping your tank brakish

ShortyKiloGyrl wrote:Definitely not cyanobacteria! This is very dark green almost black and very very thing, not stringy or any depth to it at all. When the lights are off in the tank it looks black.

I think it's blackbeard agae (black hair algae). Follow this thread...

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Its not fuzzy or hairy like that. I will post a picture tonight.

Here are the pictures of the tank. This is about 2 weeks of not scrubbing the tank sides, except for you to see the difference. Water perimeters are fine and so is the fish. Just the annoying algae.


Side
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


Front
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


Sand
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


Plant
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]