How To Eliminate Algae

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How To Eliminate Algae

Sooner or later, we all have this problem: Unsightly brown or green algae begins to wildly grow all over our aquarium glass and decor. The natural reaction is to start scrubbing away, hoping that we can eliminate this unwelcome intruder from our tanks. However, quite often, to our chagrin, the "evil stuff" is back again after only a few weeks.

So what happened? What went wrong?

The truth is that you may be attacking your algae problem from the wrong direction. Rather than concentrating on eliminating the symptoms -- the unsightly algae -- you need to get to the source of the problem; which, for starters, is probably a high concentration of nitrate in your aquarium.

As you may already know, nitrate is a by-product of the nitrification cycle, i.e., ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, free nitrogen.

The way it works is like this. Ammonia normally results from fish breathing, as well as from fish feces, uneaten food, undiscovered dead tank mates, etc. Unknown to you, and unseen by you, there are certain types of bacteria which live within an aquarium environment -- on glass surfaces, on the surfaces of your decor, within the substrate, (gravel, sand), inside your filter tubes and filter media, etc. These bacteria -- which are called nitrosomonas and nitrobacters -- break down, or oxidize, the ammonia into nitrite, and then the nitrite into nitrate. However, unless one uses special techniques, the nitrate remains in your aquarium, and slowly builds up over time. It is a ticking time bomb.

Like phosphates, nitrate is the perfect food source for algae. So the root of your algae problem is more than likely excessive organic waste somewhere in your system, which over time is being broken down into nitrate.

So how do you eliminate your algae problem? My suggestions to you are the following:

1. Use a turkey baster or gravel vacuum to clean out your substrate. In the case of a turkey baster, "dusting" your substrate and decor on a regular daily basis will allow detritus to be suspended in the water column, where it will eventually be sucked out of the aquarium by your external filters. If you use a gravel vacuum, the detritus will immediately be syphoned out of the aquarium along with the water.

2. Check and replace or clean all filter pads, cartridges and other media on a regular basis. Don't wait until your filters are totally clogged before taking action.

3. Check and clean out all filter tubing on a regular basis.

4. Manually remove excess algae from glass and tank decor as much as possible.

5. Verify that your bio-load -- number of fish -- is not too heavy for the size of your tank. You don't want your fish swimming in their own invisible sewage. Such conditions will stunt their growth, and will result in other health problems, such as an assortment of diseases, or even eventual death.

6. Do not overfeed your fish. Uneaten food is a primary source of nitrate build-up.

7. Conduct 25% -- or more -- water changes on a regular basis, meaning at least once a week. If you already have an algae problem, I would suggest a water change of 50%, and I would consider doing it twice a week until your nitrate level drops to an acceptable level. Of course, you will need to purchase a nitrate test kit in order to properly monitor the nitrate level in your tank.

8. Unless you have a heavily-planted aquarium which requires an extended photo period, try reducing the number of hours that you keep on the aquarium lights each day.

I hope that the above helps.

Please let us know how it goes.

Regards,

TheFishGuy

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