Hi all,
I have a problem with thick, green algae coating the bottom and sides of my tank. If I rub it it comes off in big chunks, and I can grab it with my hand. I can spend an hour scrubbing the tank totally (to the eye) clean, change the water, run a diatom filter on it, and then less than a week later it is back. (Okay this isn't my goldfish tank, but its about algae...) I even have 4 sailfin plecos in there eating algae night and day and it won't go away.

Will running a UV thing keep the algae away? any thoughts? It is away from direct sunlight, and nitrates stay around 10-20. There are no live plants in there (the fish eat it)

A UV sterilizer will only kill algae that is free floating in your tank water.

A UV sterilizer will not help get rid of the algae that it growing on bottom or sides of your tank, but it will stop an algae bloom from happening.

Have you checked your tank water and tap water for phosphates? Phosphates can cause algae growth in a tank even more than nitrates will.

Rick

I haven't checked for phosphates. But I have many tanks, (2 older tanks, 3 newer tanks). They all have *some* algae, but its usually a bit of algae stuck on the sides. One has green pea soup looking algae . But none except this one has thick growing algae, could it still be phophates in the water? since I use the same water source for all.

Do you feed the fish in the tank with the heavy algae a different food than the fish in the rest of your tanks? Fish food can be a source of phosphates.

Rick

almost the same, except they are the only ones I feed frozen bloodworms.

there are a few different chemical filtration medias that you might want to look into. phos-zorb is a very good one and will remove quite a bit of the excess phosphates and sylicates that are most likely the culprits. the only reason i dont use it myself is because ive got plecos taking care of any algae in my tanks.

hope this helps!