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Thread: Help with algae in new tank

  1. #1
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    Help with algae in new tank

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    Hey guys,

    Have been a silent reader here for awhile now and just started a new tank in my new place 2 weeks ago. Low-tech setup without CO2 injection.

    Tank Size: 60cm x 30cm x 45cm
    Substrate: White sand
    Filter: Eheim 2073 (Removed all my old media and filled it up with Matrix)
    Plants: Anubias Nana (5 packets from Seaview)
    Fishes: one $2 bag of feeders (koi and gold fish) to kick start the cycling
    Fertilizer: Tropica premium fertiliser (1 pump every other day), Seachem Excel once per week

    Tank has been running for 2 weeks now with just a 20% water change yesterday. It is sitting out on my balcony where i monitored it gets direct sunlight from 7-9am and partial sunlight until about 10am. Because of this, I decided not to turn my tank lights on at all to see whether it is getting enough light. So far, I have encountered the following things:

    1.) the plants have started having this brown film on their leaves. Could this be due to this being a new tank? It does go away after scrubbing the leaves with my hands though.

    2.) algae started growing on all 4 corners of the glass

    3.) Fishes seem to be doing fine other than 1 or 2 deaths


    Any idea what I can do to improve points 1 and 2? So far, i added a bunch of horn snails to try and clean the algae up but it has been slow. Should I try to shelter the tank from the sun at all? Or should I just let the tank cycle and hopefully clears up by then?

    Thanks a bunch in advance!

  2. #2
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    Re: Help with algae in new tank

    Stop fert dosing. Do 50% water change. Sunlight is too strong. Put it away from your balcony.
    Algae is consuming the excess fert and light, thus the outbreak.

  3. #3
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    Re: Help with algae in new tank

    Watch out.. horn snail is brackish water, may not survive on fresh water...



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  4. #4
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    Re: Help with algae in new tank

    Quote Originally Posted by greenie View Post
    Stop fert dosing. Do 50% water change. Sunlight is too strong. Put it away from your balcony.
    Algae is consuming the excess fert and light, thus the outbreak.
    Alright. Already changed 20% on Sunday and another 20% yesterday. Will probably do that every other day this week. You think the sunlight is the issue? Even though it is just 2 hours in a day?

  5. #5
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    Re: Help with algae in new tank

    Quote Originally Posted by lenkohe View Post
    Watch out.. horn snail is brackish water, may not survive on fresh water...



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Serious? I always thought the ones sold in LFS here should already be climatised for fresh water. Seems like quite a few of the guys here use horn snails to control GSA? On a side note, i bought 10 horn snails and have only 4 or 5 left. The bigger ones tend to survive better though.

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    Re: Help with algae in new tank

    Quote Originally Posted by looney View Post
    Serious? I always thought the ones sold in LFS here should already be climatised for fresh water. Seems like quite a few of the guys here use horn snails to control GSA? On a side note, i bought 10 horn snails and have only 4 or 5 left. The bigger ones tend to survive better though.
    I see.. i just learned that also. But not sure lfs climate them in fresh water. My horn snails always die too!
    Fyi.. just saw at china town 2nd storey lfs selling @80cents, Polyart downstairs selling a dollar!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  7. #7
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    Re: Help with algae in new tank

    Quote Originally Posted by lenkohe View Post
    I see.. i just learned that also. But not sure lfs climate them in fresh water. My horn snails always die too!
    Fyi.. just saw at china town 2nd storey lfs selling @80cents, Polyart downstairs selling a dollar!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    But it does seem like the LFS I was at was drawing freshwater from a tank of fresh water fishes into the tank holding the horn snails though! Have since decided not to buy anymore horn snails and just rely on the last 4 I have left. Will probably give otos or L183 a try!

    Quick update on my tank. I scraped all the algae on the tank walls and bought a test kit yesterday. Ammonia and nitrite reading was 0. Nitrate was about 20ppm. Looks like my tank is done cycling!

  8. #8
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    Re: Help with algae in new tank

    Quote Originally Posted by looney View Post
    But it does seem like the LFS I was at was drawing freshwater from a tank of fresh water fishes into the tank holding the horn snails though! Have since decided not to buy anymore horn snails and just rely on the last 4 I have left. Will probably give otos or L183 a try!

    Quick update on my tank. I scraped all the algae on the tank walls and bought a test kit yesterday. Ammonia and nitrite reading was 0. Nitrate was about 20ppm. Looks like my tank is done cycling!
    Great good you have solve it!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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