|
|
Post by fishfever on Oct 10, 2009 13:09:21 GMT -5
I am seeing these very small dark greenish spots on the insides of my 26g tank walls, but only in this tank (highest bioload). They aren't that noticeable looking straight on but are apparent at certain viewing angles and probably don't cause any problems but I find them very annoying. I guess this must be algae growth? They are mostly in areas that are harder to get to like at the gravel line and the back of the tank. They can be scraped off but it takes alot of hard scrubbing to remove them (the ones at the bottom of the tank really need to be scraped by hand because in a deep tank even a scraper with a long handle can't generate enough force to remove them efficiently). I am wondering if feeding algae crackers often (this is the only tank I feed algae crackers) causes this. And if someone knows of a really good tool that can remove them with less work?
|
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Oct 10, 2009 18:07:07 GMT -5
This describes "Green Spot Algae", which is difficult to remove. I generally use razor scrapers in glass aquariums or sharp plastic scrapers for acrylic aquariums. Rubbernose Plecostumus are helpful for this type of algae. Another aspect is that this algae actually is more prevalent when phosphates are too low. I am not sure is your feeding of algae crackers could have an effect on this, however this algae is considered normal in small amounts. If you have plants in this tank, consider some fertilizers such as SeaChem FlourishSee this article for more: Aquarium Answers; Algae, Green SpotIf you have a picture too just to confirm. Carl |
|
|
|
Post by goldenpuon on Oct 11, 2009 10:00:05 GMT -5
Have you medicated the tank recently by any chance? I medicated my 10 gallon with Fungus Clear several years ago and it dyed the sealant on the sides of my tank with green and green spots that are still there.
It is just a guess to what it could be besides algae but Carl is probably right on this one.
|
|
|
|
Post by fishfever on Oct 11, 2009 12:54:17 GMT -5
I did medicate my tank a few months ago but I'm 99.9% sure this is the spot algae after reading about it. They are roughly the size of a pin head (some more, some less) and are slightly raised and stuck really hard to the glass. I have already scrubbed the ones in front (most were at the gravel line which doesn't get cleaned as much as other areas) and the ones in the rear are somewhat difficult to see unless standing at a certain angle (I know, I probably should just not stand at that angle). Using a razor will help on the flat surfaces (I have a bow front) but most are down near the bottom of a deep tank so it's kind of hard to reach and see what you are doing (another reason shallow tanks are much easier to maintain). For those areas you kind of have to reach way down and scrub blindly in a general area to clean it; so I'm going to buy one of those abrasive green rectangular scrubbing pads to see if it will save work. The hand scrubber I have now was probably designed for applying paint and it isn't abrasive enough so it takes alot of strokes to remove the spots.
Carl, I'm a bit confused about the phosphates. I thought low phosphates are a good thing (as in some lower quality fish food creates higher phosphate levels?). My plants are all plastic - I'm not advanced enough to deal with keeping both fish AND plants alive yet... ;-) Is there a simple way to increase phosphate levels for a non-planted tank? Should I feed "junk food" every now and then or reduce water change frequency? What about reducing the amount of light by cutting it off earlier in the evening? This is not really a terrible infestation but I'd still like to eradicate it and prevent it, if possible...
|
|
|
|
Post by kagome on Oct 11, 2009 13:47:24 GMT -5
Actually, I'm pretty sure that reducing water change frequency is a bad idea. With fewer water changes you will have more nutrients in the water on which the algae will feed. You might want to think about reducing what you feed your algae cleaning crew a little bit so that they will seek out algae and not the easy meal of algae wafers. Maybe go to every other day with the wafers. That will encourage them to stop being lazy and do their job! lol What kind of algae eaters do you have in the tank?
|
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Oct 11, 2009 16:41:40 GMT -5
Carl, I'm a bit confused about the phosphates. I thought low phosphates are a good thing (as in some lower quality fish food creates higher phosphate levels?). My plants are all plastic - I'm not advanced enough to deal with keeping both fish AND plants alive yet... ;-) Is there a simple way to increase phosphate levels for a non-planted tank? Should I feed "junk food" every now and then or reduce water change frequency? What about reducing the amount of light by cutting it off earlier in the evening? This is not really a terrible infestation but I'd still like to eradicate it and prevent it, if possible... This applies more to a planted tank, as well I have to admit that this is a conclusion drawn by others in the aquarium hobby, I have NOT made any tests or found good research to prove this theory, so I have to admit this is anecdotal at this time. Although I have not performed the research into Green Spot Algae (unlike Blue/Green and Brown), I will start. The theory is that Green Spot Algae acts more like higher plants and and that too high of phosphates are actually detrimental, but this is only a theory. As Kagome noted, I would continue water changes, & maybe add a Plecostomus. Carl |
|
|
|
Post by bikeguy33 on Oct 11, 2009 21:44:49 GMT -5
in the maintenance field...i found scraping them with a razor blade and decreasing the light hours usually eradicated the problem. but when it didnt....we would add very hardy plants like java ferns and banana lillies. this usually helped keep the problem under control...
|
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Oct 12, 2009 9:01:17 GMT -5
in the maintenance field...i found scraping them with a razor blade and decreasing the light hours usually eradicated the problem. but when it didnt....we would add very hardy plants like java ferns and banana lillies. this usually helped keep the problem under control... I agree. These plants will limit nutrients to the Green spot Algae. Carl |
|
|
|
Post by fishfever on Oct 12, 2009 19:19:56 GMT -5
Thanks for all the input everyone. The reason I mentioned possibly reducing water change frequency is I'm currently overdoing it at about 3-4 20% changes every 2 weeks or so while my nitrite is still a bit high. It's been in the range of 0 to 0.5ppm during the recycle period (after trashing my beneficial bacteria a while back) although the peak seems to be coming down - only 0.25ppm peak the last two measurements. So the frequent changes is probably keeping my phosphates lower than normal, whatever normal is for my tank.
I think I will start with reduction of light hours (after scraping the remaining spots off the tank, probably on my next full tank break down). This plant idea sounds intriguing if I can find one that just floats (no substrate planting for me as I'm not ready for this yet). The pleco is an interesting idea but probably will wait and see how the reduced lighting hours and possibly floating plant helps out now. Currently mollies (2 adult, 2 juvenile) and corys (4) are the primary algae eaters. The only ones I've witnessed "kissing" the glass are the mollies although I'm not sure how well they do with the spot algae since it's very hard and stuck very well to the glass.
|
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Oct 13, 2009 9:47:48 GMT -5
I agree based on this frequency.
Another thought is your nitrates are extremely low, and even though this is generally good, many plants will not our compete certain algae when the nitrates are this low. I know you do not have any plants, but maybe other less "hard" algae are not competing in this low low nitrate water with the Green Spot Algae.
Although this is a guess (I have never experimented with this in a non planted tank), try allowing your nitrates to go up to .15 ppm, which is the minimum level for most plants and see what happens.
Carl
|
|
|
|
Post by fishfever on Oct 13, 2009 17:33:06 GMT -5
Hmm ok I guess I could try removing the stocking of volcanic rock in the HOB temporarily; that should allow the nitrates to rise some. I am also registering lower nitrites for the 3rd straight day so I can back off my water frequency to a more normal schedule which should also increase phosphates some. My nitrates always seem to be naturally low even during periods where I wasn't changing water nearly as often, probably at least partially due to the volcanic rock in this tank. I'll report back to this thread after playing around with the nitrates, possible floating plant if I can find one, and reduced lighting hours.
|
|
|
|
Post by babygeige on Oct 14, 2009 13:59:46 GMT -5
I get these green spots in my 30 gallon if I forget to clean the glass for a few weeks in a row. They are kind of hard to rub off! I bought a blue glass sponge at my lfs and it is a big help. It has good scrubbies on it, but they aren't enough to scratch the glass. I think Lee's is the brand name...
I find that the thing that works best for me as far as prevention goes is to clean the glass every week when I do a water change. If I forget too much, then the the spots begin to reappear. It only takes an extra minute or 2 for me to wipe the glass off, so it's a big help.
I'm curious about something, fishfever. In one of your posts, you mentioned cleaning the glass at your "next full tank break down." That sounds like a lot of work! Why do you tear it down?
|
|
|
|
Post by fishfever on Oct 14, 2009 17:10:10 GMT -5
Yes I do seem to notice that the areas I get the spots are in are places I don't get to clean thoroughly as often (usually near the gravel line or behind something). I also notice some behind the two bubble wands that line the back of the tank. When I say full tank breakdown, I take all the filters apart and hose them down, pull all the piping apart and cleaning with a pipe cleaner, pull the bubble wands out and clean them, etc. I also clean the glass behind all the stuff I pull off the tank walls which doesn't get cleaned in less thorough cleanings. More frequently I clean the filter cartridge, sponges, etc. in tank or dechlorinated water but don't break everything down. I'll usually do the full breakdown when I notice crud starting to build up inside the pipes (the Aqua Via that I got from Carl is opaque so you can see through the pipes).
|
|
|
|
Post by fishfever on Oct 16, 2009 11:23:31 GMT -5
I meant not completely opaque or somewhat translucent, sorry!
|
|
|
|
Post by babygeige on Oct 17, 2009 11:10:29 GMT -5
Ok, I understand what you mean. At first I thought you meant literally tearing the tank down every now and then and starting over.
I dread taking the filter down and cleaning it out. it's such a pain! Although now that I use sponge pre-filters on my HOB's, I have to do it less often, which is awesome. All I have to do now is take the prefilter off and clean it up a bit. It's much less of a hassle.
|
|
|
|
Post by parker002 on Oct 26, 2009 10:03:13 GMT -5
So guys, I'm starting to get a fairly significant buildup of spot algae, but it's not on the tank, it's on the substrate and fake plants. My air stone is getting pretty covered.
I don't want to add live plants. I do have a plecostomus (just the regular cheap kind) but he doesn't seem interested at all. In fact, he's started swimming at the surface upside down and sucking down flake food instead of cleaning my tank!
I didn't really want him in the first place (he's the only fish in my tank that will grow larger than about 3") and I'd love it if I could replace him with something that is a better algae cleaner.
Any recommendations?
|
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Oct 26, 2009 13:44:11 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by parker002 on Oct 26, 2009 13:46:30 GMT -5
I vacuum the gravel, even vigorously at times, but it doesn't seem to remove the algae. I don't really want to remove all my plants and everything. Is there a fish (or invertebrate) that might assist in cleaning it up? |
|
|
|
Post by Carl on Oct 26, 2009 19:39:16 GMT -5
Turning over the gravel (even with stick, scraper, or hand) will not kill the algae, but by doing this constantly this will deprive it of light. As for an invertebrate, consider trying a nirite snail, these are not always easy to find, however a marine turbo snail from the Sea of Cortez can be slowly acclimated to do this on occasion (these snails are very popular as part of marine tank "clean-up crews") Carl |
|
|
|
Post by parker002 on Oct 26, 2009 22:15:01 GMT -5
Turning over the gravel (even with stick, scraper, or hand) will not kill the algae, but by doing this constantly this will deprive it of light. As for an invertebrate, consider trying a nirite snail, these are not always easy to find, however a marine turbo snail from the Sea of Cortez can be slowly acclimated to do this on occasion (these snails are very popular as part of marine tank "clean-up crews") Carl Snails. I guess it's worth a shot. What is the downside of having snails? I've always thought of them as a pest. |
|
