CoryWithAKatana Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 So I have attached photos of my 20 gallon tank. As you can see I have a bit of an algae problem (the water is low bcs I am doing a water change). It currently has three large crypt spiralis and three Dwarf Aquarium Lillies, a Java Fern Adult and 4 Java Fern Plantlets and one bronze corydora. I need some algae regulating tips from y'all because it will soon house a pair of Apistogramma Agassizii which Tolstoy21 provided in his July giveaway. Do I need less light time during the day? More plants? Snails? The water perameters are stable and I feed the Cory an algae wafer once a month and a bottom feeder pellet twice a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jovius Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 Less light time, snails will help( i suggest nerite so you don't get a take over), and water changes to reduce nitrates. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 you probably need less hours of light, and need some fertilizer. how about telling us about your lighting and fertilizer schedule. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoryWithAKatana Posted July 28 Author Share Posted July 28 my light schedule is dawn to dusk and I actually haven't put in any ferts lately bcs I thought the algae was taking all the nutrients so in a (failed) attempt I just tried to let them die out but alas. Should put some in? its been over a month now... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 dawnt to dusk, yeah thats gonna be an issue. somewhere in the 6-8hr range is usually good. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 Less light for sure. But set it to be on when your schedule lets you be near your tank. Your fish doesn’t need the light. And your plants just want consistency. I have a tank set from 5-11pm. When I can be near it. the thing with fertilizer is you want a balanced one. Something like the easy green. That way they can try and out compete the algae. And you’ll want to try and keep your nitrates down to around 20. More than that is just extra algae food. unfortunately, right now, the best algae removal is going to be pure elbow grease. Vacuuming and scraping. You may need to pull the rock and the planters out and spritz with hydrogen peroxide. Or scrub down completely. The less active growth you have, the slower it will come back. Unfortunately, that is also the situation I find myself in right now. But mine’s a 75g. I just haven’t had the time to do proper maintenance on it recently. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoryWithAKatana Posted July 28 Author Share Posted July 28 One more question, is it ok that there is a layer of algae growing on the rock? I kinda like how it looks but I found that the rock is slowly making my water harder and harder because its limestone. Should I remove it and get a different decoration? especially since imma have a Apistogramma Agassizii pair in there soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 imo , limestone is not a good choice for most aquariums, as it will forever be altering your water parameters. sandstone, dragonstone, quartz, and many others are better choices. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 Definitely need to reduce light. Next wc get a ton of algae outta there. Using a tooth brush or algae scraper, and get a nerite snail or two, @CoryWithAKatana, great info already! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoryWithAKatana Posted July 28 Author Share Posted July 28 On 7/28/2024 at 4:07 PM, lefty o said: imo , limestone is not a good choice for most aquariums, as it will forever be altering your water parameters. sandstone, dragonstone, quartz, and many others are better choices. I agree, I am thinking of taking it out as it is more of a hassle than a benefit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 On 7/27/2024 at 9:53 PM, CoryWithAKatana said: my light schedule is dawn to dusk and I actually haven't put in any ferts lately bcs I thought the algae was taking all the nutrients so in a (failed) attempt I just tried to let them die out but alas. Should put some in? its been over a month now... Rather than trying to kill algae, concentrate on growing healthy vibrant plants, cause healthy vibrant plants defend themselves very well against algae. Sickly suffering plants leach out all sorts of organic compounds that attracts and feeds algae… not fertilizing the plants is a mistake, and more than 8 hours of light is a mistake. Plants like consistency and stability. They can actually adjust to a reasonable range of conditions, but fluctuating conditions is a problem as the plant is expending energy to reprogram and reorient to optimize for changing conditions… What is your Gh, Kh, Ph, nitrates? What is your water change and filter service schedule? What do you have for fertilizer? What is your tap waters GH, KH and PH and does the tap water have any ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoryWithAKatana Posted July 29 Author Share Posted July 29 My plants have been very healthy as they have been growing new plants/ sending out runners. I plan on getting ottos soon and they should help in keeping the tank clean. In the meantime I bought a lovely piece of driftwood that will replace my limestone chunk. During this I will take most water out of the tank and I will wipe all the algae off and vacuum the sand I have as substrate. I will place my spider wood in the place of the rock and I will attach my java ferns to it. Hopefully with this huge water change I can lower the Hardness as it is nearing 300< ppm on my test strips. Thank you all for the advice. I changed my light schedule from Dawn-Dusk to Dawn-5pm (should I shorten it more as this is a 3-4 hour cut from the original schedule?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 29 Share Posted July 29 (edited) I would not be running it more than 8 hours myself. after cleaning and water changing I would definitely add fertilizer. Edited July 29 by Pepere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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