I have algae in my tank

[IrishBull]

I am not sure what type of algae this is or why I have it.. I have a low light tank, about 72 watts in a 55 gallon tank and I've been getting algae on one side wall of the tank as well as on all my plants.I don't have many plants, but there are little algae dots all along the edges of them. it is dots of green all over it. And it is on top of the pvc tube on the side that I use to empty water out. it is also so sort of weird smudgy brown/green algae on the side wall, not much but I can see it.

I change about 8-10 gallons of water about every 5 days, I put a capful of flourish every 4 or 5 days, I have two loaches, 1 betta, and 3 goldfish. Can anyone tell me what I need to change to get rid of the algae? I know I can scrape it off but something is wrong here there shouldn't be algae.. also how would I get it off my plants? thanks

[wrestlingfreak7]

you get get a small algea eater such as an oto, or you can increase lighting.

[alter40]

Don't you mean decrease lighting?

[butters]

Do you have you tank next too the window and the easiest and simplest way to get rid of algea is to scrape it off with a sponge

[IrishBull]

I drew a layout of my room where the tank is, the sun is facing toward my room when it rises and sets on the other side of the house, but I have curtains. Should I get blinds if it is the sun doing it? The curtains still let light through. and I was saving up to get better lighting because I wanted to grow more plants, but I don't want to have a ton of algae. do i have to save up for a co2 system too? and can you point me in the direction of a reasonably priced good one for a 55 gallon tank or tell me what i should look for in a co2 system (like what it's named and what i should/n't be looking for).. thank you



edit: now that I look at it the side that has algae on the glass is the left side wall(that the sun prbably hits when it comes thru the window)... so it is most likely the sun doing it...

[Avalon]

Are you adding any fertilizers? It sounds as if you aren't, or you're not using the correct ones anyway. There is a way around it: The sunlight will be fine, but I would reduce your water changes to once every two weeks and possibly longer (maybe once per month). I suspect the sun is driving plant growth quickly enough that the plants are being deprived of nitrogen and/or phosphate. You can allow them to build by reducing your water change frequency; your plants will use the built up nutrients for food. You case of algae sounds like a small one, so it should be addressed with small changes regardless of what you choose to do.

[IrishBull]

yeah, it is not taking over the tank, it is just on the plants, the little smudgy part on the side wall, and on some of the fake plants. I will reduce the water changes to once every 2 weeks and go from there.. Should I add nitrogen and phosphate? or is there already enough in there right now with the less frequent water changes. thank you for helping

[Avalon]

Let's try reducing the water changes first and see what happens.

[IrishBull]

will do! i will keep you updated thanks so much for your help!

[cooljoeace]

hello to all
I am going to do reserch on algae controal products and post a journal on here lets find out what works?? I want to have Plants that flower and they need lots of light so cutting back on lightting will not be tested!!!

cooljoeace