When I first started keeping goldies (fish period) I never had a problem with algea for about 6 months and when I had to go on a training deolyment for almost 30 days I came back, my wife let algea overwhelm my tank. Since then I can get rid of it. It keeps coming back. I hate alga so much that when I see it I don't even bother with it. I throw out any ornaments that have algea on them and just bye new ones. The only thing I don't change out is the gravel. I changed it once but not because of algea; I changed it because I wanted a different color.

I know I'm weird. <_<

Do you have a pleco or anything that eats the algea? Right now I'm battling the algea problem. I'm just waiting for one of our lfs to get in a small bristlenose pleco in and then my problem should be under control. I know how you feel. Right now all my plants look like their rusted because of the brown algea.

Laurie

I have had good success with bristlenose plecos and ramshorn snails for battling algae.

Also, not leaving the lights on for more than 10 hours, and adding some live plants can help. Floating plants and plants that have lots of roots along their stems are the best since they take their nourishment from the water.

Also, stepping up the water changes for a while can help, too, as high nitrate levels can contribute to algae problems.

Good luck

There are a few things that can help control algae from what I've been reading.
Bright light shouldn't be on for more than 10-12 hours.
A heavily planted tank has less algae.
Frequent water changes get rid of high amounts of nitrate which contributes to a lot of algae growth.
Get a rubbernose/bristlenose pleco or snail such as an apple snail to control algae.

I had a problem with gooey brown algea recently.

It turned out to be trapped uneaten food that was encouraging it. They had to go on a diet, and get fed once every two days. It cleared up straight away. A couple of good cleanouts and ours should be totally gone.

Try feeding the fishies less in one go, so there's none uneaten and getting trapped.

If all the above do not work, which are very good solutions... get a box of phosphate adsorbing media like Phosban. You place the media in your filter (power filter or canister filter). It lasts about 2 months before replacing and works wonders. Bye bye algae... but be careful, do not use if you have live plants.

I have a bit of a different opinion--that algae isn't so bad, in fact it is good.

Green algae is the sign of a healthy tank. I clean it off the front and one side but let it grow on the back. The fish have quite a time grazing on it. It is a nutritious food and keeps them happily occupied.

I used to have brown algae until I got a brighter bulb--I believe it is a "full spectrum" one.

You can also get apple snails, I've had one in the past, they eat algea very effectively according to my observations, and they don't die that easily.

--Yin

I used to have an obscene amount of algae in my 20 gal (like cleaning the glass every day or two! ), but since I have planted it more heavily I have had much less algae growing.

Hey, I like the way algae looks! My tank doesn't really grow much though, and I have a bristlenosed pleco. Some people will let their tank grow the algae on the sides and back of the tank, and keep it cleared off the front. I think that looks cool!

I'am With Wynkin on this one, I dont want to remove all of my algea off my tank walls just because they do more good than bad. There a sign of a healthy tank goldfish can nibble at it In between meals and they lower nitrate levels in the tank. I also prefer the natural look anyway.

I scrap the algea that grows on the sides and front of my tanks so I can see the goldies lol.

If you dont want algea and you have it anyway....Theres really nothing you can do it comes with the hobby. Reduce lighting in the tank add live plants and more water changes should help but it wont cure all your problems though. Its there for good until you scrub it away So thats why I lived to like it.

I agree with several others about this...love the algae. I'm getting green algae now, and my fish enjoy eating it. I like seeing their little lip marks....too cute!

:angry: I hate it too!!!!! I have been using this product called Algone, put I think it's junk. I have been using it for over 3 months and still get algee.

I know just what you mean--there are some clear spots on the back of the tank where the algae has been nibbled away!

Algae--it's a good thing!

I had the same problem too when I first started with my beautifully planted 50 gal aquarium. As soon as I put a few Lionheads in there, the water gets polluted and after a couple months algae grows everywhere and my plants started to diminish. I tried everything, more frequent water changes,algae eaters,shorter lighting period and anti-algae solution (which kill myall plants and make my fish sick). Nowerdays I just let the algae grows (only the green type which shows your tank is in good nick) at the back glass and they provide a good source of plant food and activity for my fish. My fishes are in better health than before.

i have a brown alge in my tank but scrubing the plants and or ornamints wen i claen my tank seems to keep it at bay a lill bit

I'm suddenly dealing with algae after having our tank for about two months. At least I *think* my problem is algae.

It seems that after we cleaned the tank (i.e. temporarily placed our fish in a smaller tank and vacuumed all of the gravel), the water got fairly cloudy. We let it filter through and did about a 20% water change. It got much better, but ever since then, we are having to do water changes every three days because the water is a constant cloudy green. Brown algae keeps forming on our fake plants and tank, which we are now planning to scrub once every two weeks when we do a complete cleaning.

I have an airstone, a bubble wall, an appropriately-sized filter and undergravel filters in my 55 gallon tank. As far as I can tell, all of this creates a lot of oxygen and current in the water. So should algae be forming in the water itself?? Or is my cloudy water being caused by something else entirely different? I can barely see my fishies anymore!!! :-(

Our water parameters are still in their steady safe zones - nitrite: 0ppm, nitrate: 20ppm, ammonia: 0ppm, so I don't think it's necessarily gases that are clouding my water.

I guess what I want to understand is, does algae cloud the water like I am describing?

If we get a bristlenose pleco (my girlfriend keeps bugging me for one), might he resolve the problem I describe? And on that note, I have three ryukins and a bubble eye. Do I need anything other than algae and leftover fish food to feed the pleco so he doesn't attack my other fish? I see live plants being recommended, but we have stones in our tank rather than smaller gravel or sand (so the fish won't choke) and I was under the impression that live plants need sand or dirt to grow in.

Anyway, please help me see my fish clearly again!

well i love algae...but all im getting is brown algae and this offwhite hairy benificial bacteria stuff.... anyone know how to promote hair algae in a frehswater tank with 2snails and a comet??? thanks:D

The algae in my 20g is kept to a minimum by my Hillstream loach and my Apple snail, they are the caretakers/janitors of my tank.

before i moved a few years ago, i had a wonderfully thick matte of lush, green algae growing on everything in my 20 gallon long that i used to keep my comet in. man, it looked soooo nice. very natural indeed!

then i moved and made a huge mistake that many novices do, i performed a 100% cleaning of everything in the tank (including filter). that just wrecked everything!

that was almost two years ago and since ive been upgrading tanks and whatnot, i havent been able to successfuly propagate the lush, green algae that i once had. instead, ive had to deal with diatoms (brown algae). since then, ive decided to say, "to heck with it" and forget about it. so i transplanted a pleco to each of my goldie tanks. <_<

Toothless, was your tank next to a window? I mean the one that had the green algae?

In my experience it is the amount and type of light that grows green algae. I used to have brown algae but converted it to green by getting a full spectrum bulb. It is the closest to natural sunlight.

And a tank I have next to a window grows lots of green algae. I scrape it off the front and sides but leave the back wall. The goldie in there spends much of the day chowing down on it.

My little Eclipse tank with tetras in it grows that "hair" algae. I get rid of it all the time ever since I found one of my tetras all tangled up in it. He would have died if I didn't get him out of it.

Whats the stuff called that sticks to the side of the glass and makes the water look cloudy, when it comes of it looks like a stringy white substance, is that algae too or no? If so how do I get rid of it?

Hm, not sure... it *sounds* like you're having a bacterial bloom in the tank which can be caused by overfeeding or overcrowding, but I've noticed that things like suction pads (like on thermometers etc.) seem to 'grow' whitish gunk on them as well. Koko once told me what that stuff was (I've forgotten the name she gave it), but it's normal anyway and nothing to worry about. It shouldn't make the water cloudy though. Try cutting back on feeding and upping the water changes for a bit and see if that helps.

On the subject of algae, boy am I sick of it! My conservatory tank is green within 5 days after a water change and scrub. It gets quite a bit of sunlight so that's why, but I don't have anywhere else to move it. Harrumph. <_<