Welp I nuked the tank…fresh start

[stuckONaROCK]

So we let it go.  Original fish are fine, it’s been a year.  Algae growth was insane.  It was a planted tank.  Sand for substrate.  Big lava rocks were the only objects.  It has a fluval 307 and I don’t recall what media I used in it.

So I got fed up and I’m doing this again. So I pulled out all features, cleaned walls and heaters and tubes.  Flushed a ton of water and siphoned the sand (leaving it in).  Only one plant survived my fury.  And fish of course are still fine.  Hopefully they’ll handle the drastic change.  We have hearty tetras.

Anyway on this rebuild I really just want to eliminate all algae.  This keeps happening, it shows up quickly and aggressively.  Few Qs:

Is my expensive fluval light too strong?

Should I gut the 307 and fill with new media, if so what do you suggest?

I’ve kept track of my water conditions with the fluval drops and such but I’m not understanding what indicates such a prime environment for algae.  It’s bad stuff.  Really ruins the tank aesthetic and makes it not worth keeping a tank.

This time I think we’re going the fake route with classic fish tank ornaments and keep it simple.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Algae isn’t bad. It can just be unsightly. All algae really means is that your tank is not in balance. I would also say that some algae is completely normal and typically beneficial. Most tanks have at least a little bit of algae. It’s when you let it get out of control that it, well, gets out of control. 
 

Could be that the light is at 100%, which is probably way too high. Could be that your lighting period is way too long. Could be that there are excess nutrients in the tank. Could be all of those things combined. 
 

What light do you have? What size tank? How long is the light on everyday? If you have the ability to dim the light, have you dimmed it at all? Is the light on a timer? How often and at what volume do you change water? Were you adding fertilizer for the plants? If so, what fertilizer and at what volume?
 

All of these questions would be super helpful in trying to figure out why the algae is so rampant, and how to help fight it off in the future. 

[stuckONaROCK]

I’ll follow up with those details tomorrow.  Thanks for the insightful reply!

[MattP]

Just give the fluval 307 a clean... nice filter. What exactly was your problem again?

 

Algea isn't bad per se.   It can actually help to filtrate nitrates.

 

How many gallons is the tank?  

 

I don't think you have to sweat anything man.. 

Edited July 22 by MattP

[Tony s]

On 7/21/2024 at 11:07 PM, stuckONaROCK said:

This time I think we’re going the fake route with classic fish tank ornaments and keep it simple.

Not necessarily so simple. You can still get a ton of algae on fake ornaments. And nothing looks worse than fake ornaments drowning in algae. Especially brown algae 

Not that there’s anything wrong with fake decor. I still use some myself. But have removed most of it due to algae 

[JE47]

On 7/21/2024 at 9:51 PM, Tony s said:

And nothing looks worse than fake ornaments drowning in algae. Especially brown algae 

So true faced this when my tank was originally setting up. I was so annoyed 🤣 Eventually everything balanced out

[mynameisnobody]

Swapping for fake plants will almost ensure you get more algae.