Fish Tank Supervillains - How To Prevent Aquarium Algae GrowthAside from your pets, algae are also found in every aquarium. It is a normal element that grows in your aquarium. As long as the algae growth is not in excess, it is not harmful, on the contrary it is healthy and it is also a preferred food for some fishes. It is another thing though if you have excess growth of aquarium algae as it competes with the fishes for the nutrients. Algae growth can be controlled. As it flourishes with water, lighting and nutrients, to control algae growth, the main three elements should also be monitored. Here are some tips to avoid algae overgrowth: 1. Reduce lighting – be it sunlight or artificial light, it aids with the growing of algae. Avoid exposing the aquarium to direct light and exposing it to artificial light more than necessary. Replace your bulbs every year or so, it may be emitting heat and light which some species of algae like. If needed, do an aquarium blackout where you do not expose your tank to light for several days. 2. Change water- regularly changing of water helps to avoid excessive algae growth. Changing ten to fifteen percent of the water every week would be sufficient. 3. Nutrients control-check the nutrients in your water. Test it for phosphates and nitrates. You can change you water source if the current one is providing too much nutrients. Do not overfeed your fish ,as most of their food has phosphate 4. Scrape it—notice the green or brown algae growing on the rocks or decorations? Remove or scrape it when you change the water as well. If a fish dies, immediately take it out of the aquarium as it would produce high concentrations of nutrients which would promote rapid growth of algae. 5. Live plants and algae eating fish- keeping plants in the aquarium helps as it uses the nutrients. There are also fishes that treat algae as food such as Siamese Flying Fox and Plecostomus. 6. External canisters- filters can be filled with chemical removal material and protein skimmers would prevent algae growth. There are several types of algae. The most common are brown, blue-green, red or beard, green and algae bloom. Brown algaes are mostly found on new tanks and are easy to remove; it also goes away when the tank would be mature. Blue-green (also called slime/smear algae) is not really algae but a cyanobacteria, an anti infective like erythromycin may be needed. Red or beard algae can be taken care of by dipping it into a mild bleach mixture like one to two parts bleach, nine parts water. Green algae are pretty much harmless that as long as the aquarium is taken care of carefully, it would not grow in excess. Algae bloom can be dealt with using diatomic filter or the aquarium blackout. Algae may be small but it can cause damage to your pets if in excess. Better stop it now and prevent it from overgrowing. |