Best way to get rid of algae after fish transferred to new tank

[prr]

I have a 58 ga tank that in the last few weeks has become overgrown with algae. I have another tank almost that size that I can move my fish into. I have tried brushes to remove it but it doesn't work. I have a pleco and a snail, but they don't seem to spend any time on the sides where the algae is growing. I have read that sunlight causes algae, and before I move this tank, I'd like to eliminate as much algae as possible.

(A) What is the best way to eliminate the algae (once the fish are transferred to a new tank)? Can I just drape a cloth over it for a week, blocking out the sunlight? I suppose after that I would give it a good scrubbing for good measure.

(B)I heard that the chemical solution isn't good, as it can hurt the fish as well (I have a pleco, a snail, and 5 goldies). Is that true?

(C) Finally--should I get an algae-eater in there as well? I have been thinking that if the pleco and snail don't want it, an algae eater wouldn't either....

[Oskar]

At this point,covering the tank and keeping all light out of it for a week or 2 is your best bet.

Once you have killed it off,get an algae scraper to get if off the sides of your tank.Then,do a large water change. If you normally do weekly water changes,don't stop doing them during the black-out. You might consider increasing them. More water changes will only help,and won't hurt a thing.

Once you have it clean and under control,try to figure out why you are having so many problems with it. Is the tank overstocked? Are you over feeding? You might want to check your phosphate levels,and make sure the nitrate is under control too. Do not leave you lights on for more than 8 hours a day,and make sure no sun light is getting to it as well.

[Zilla]

There are many ways to skin a cat, but figuring out what caused the outbreak to begin with is a good place to start.

Since the fish will be moved, you have many options available to you.

Yes there is the chemical method and some of them are more hairy than others.

Blacking the tank out would also be effective, however, if you plan on using any decorations or substrate from that tank, I'd suggest those get a good cleaning as well as algae can be transferred from tank to tank.

Are you planning on putting the fish back in this tank? If so, yes you can get a algae eater if you really want one, however, if you're not into that idea and are buying one just for the sake of prevention, really the best prevention is finding the cause and not doing it again. Causes for algae are never just one thing, so it's up to you to figure out where the problem areas are other than the tank getting sunlight and making adjustments accordingly.

What you don't want is to get into a situation where you're constantly chasing your own tail. Let's say you tend to overfeed and buy a algae eater. The algae eater isn't going to fix the overfeeding problem. Know what I mean?

[prr]

It is sitting a few feet from a large window (which I see as the main cause) at a 90 degree angle. I am feeding this collection of fish (pleco, snail, five goldies) about 3/4 tablespoon of food once a day. I assume that this isn't too much. I have also been placing 2 algae wafers in the water (for the snail and pleco) once a week, a practice that I'll stop...

[Zilla]

Does the window have any type of covering? i.e- blinds?

You're overfeeding I'm sorry to say. Your pleco and snail will be happy with wafers, but they also enjoy things like kale, cucumber, spinach, ect.

The 3/4 of a tablespoon is a huge amount of food. A fish's stomach is only about as big as one of their eyes.

When was the last time you vacuumed the tank?

[prr]

It would be best to push that down to 1/2 tablespoon once a day? I'll time them the next time I feed them, to see how much they can eat in 10 mins...

[Zilla]

You'll still be overfeeding. I'm assumng by Goldies you mean goldfish and they only need a pinch of food that they can eat in 2 minutes or less.

Your pleco still needs to be fed as well. A wafer or two for him or her with the occasional veggie feeding during the week will do the trick. Plecos are not scavengers and need to be fed.

Plecos and goldfish do two things well, they eat and they poop. Since I don't know how often your tank is vacuumed, I'm going to guess that you also have high nitrate levels due to all this over feeding and such.

It's the combo of sunlight ( don't know how much) and all this extra stuff in the tank that is causing your algae problems. Algae can't live off of nothing and it has lots to eat and thrive from in your tank.

[Dacotah7]

It would be best to push that down to 1/2 tablespoon once a day? I'll time them the next time I feed them, to see how much they can eat in 10 mins...

Ditto what Zilla is telling you. I was astonished with your feeding amount. You are polluting your tank. Your fish only need a little sprinkling, a pinch or two; no more than they will clean up in 2 minutes. You may have trouble adaptaing, but your fish will do fine, in fact much better.

[prr]

OK I can drop the feeding, although I was told on this forum that 5 mins 2xday or 10 mins 1xday was good.

One other thing, about the water. It has been my plan to transfer the water as well as the filter and heater to another tank. Someone suggested changing the water during this 2-week period--the water will no longer be in the tank with the algae. I would assume that having a dry tank would kill off the algae quicker, wouldn't it? Since the filter and its media would still be with the fish and the water the entire time, I could easily change half or more of the water when I transfer the fish back and forth--I'll take them out of the algae tank for 2 weeks, then put them back in. Or should I just get rid of all the water? Again, the filter media (for the AC 110) will not need to be changed at all during this time.

[Dacotah7]

I have a 58 ga tank that in the last few weeks has become overgrown with algae. I have another tank almost that size that I can move my fish into. I have tried brushes to remove it but it doesn't work. I have a pleco and a snail, but they don't seem to spend any time on the sides where the algae is growing. I have read that sunlight causes algae, and before I move this tank, I'd like to eliminate as much algae as possible.

(A) What is the best way to eliminate the algae (once the fish are transferred to a new tank)? Can I just drape a cloth over it for a week, blocking out the sunlight? I suppose after that I would give it a good scrubbing for good measure.

(B)I heard that the chemical solution isn't good, as it can hurt the fish as well (I have a pleco, a snail, and 5 goldies). Is that true?

(C) Finally--should I get an algae-eater in there as well? I have been thinking that if the pleco and snail don't want it, an algae eater wouldn't either....

Algae Control: [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
3 parts, intro, pond and aquarium
Note the side bar: Types of Algae [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

Algae Eating Fish: [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
Note the last paragraph:
Algae “clean up crews” are an excellent way to combat algae, but they cannot rid a hobbyist of algae. Proper water changes, proper lighting, and proper doses of plant nutrients are the only real ways to keep algae under control.

Siamese Algae Eater: [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

Snails: [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
Snails can and will help. Left unchecked, (a part of the solution), can and do become a problem, sometimes a big problem.

I had snails carried by new plants, got rid of them (I think), than got them again with new plants. Meanwhile I learned about the good they can do and saw amazing results. Now I allow them to stay, but keep them in check, by daily dragging a fish net across the glass collecting them, and by vaccuming them out of the gravel.

Your rationalization in C) is incorrect. All eat algae. They just cannot eat all of it.

OK I can drop the feeding, although I was told on this forum that 5 mins 2xday or 10 mins 1xday was good.

One other thing, about the water. It has been my plan to transfer the water as well as the filter and heater to another tank. Someone suggested changing the water during this 2-week period--the water will no longer be in the tank with the algae. I would assume that having a dry tank would kill off the algae quicker, wouldn't it? Since the filter and its media would still be with the fish and the water the entire time, I could easily change half or more of the water when I transfer the fish back and forth--I'll take them out of the algae tank for 2 weeks, then put them back in. Or should I just get rid of all the water? Again, the filter media (for the AC 110) will not need to be changed at all during this time.

Granted someone advised 5 mins 2xday or 10 mins 1x day. Understand that not all of the advice you get is correct, or correct for your situation. Mathmatically two, five minute feeding periods are equal to one, 10 minute feeding period, while in practice the results may be vary. Two feedings per day with half the food is usually a better option. Remember this means the fish are to clean up all of the food within that time. The important part is that they eat all you provide them. Some species will over eat. They eat because they have access to it, not because they need it.

As you have an algae problem that you want to eliminate, it seems apparent excess food is one part of the problem, a big factor.

If I am understanding everything correctly you are removing everything from the original tank (58g) and have the oppurtunity to dry up the tank to kill the algae. Drying it up, may help, but if you don't remove it, shortly after it is put back into service it could reappear from remaining spores. Strains of some types of algae are found almost everywhere on earth, even on glaciers and in the air. Dry algae harboring algae spores is simply dormant "seed", waiting for water, food and light.

I had a persistant case of hair algae growing on some of my (plastic) wood and rock ornaments. That stuff is incredible. The fibers are incredibly strong. The roots penetrated any crack or pore in the plastic. I removed them from the tank, and soaked them in a strong bleach solution for a day. I througly rinsed them before returning them to the aquarium. It came back but with less vim and vigor. Meanwhile I was keeping the water qualitity up. At the next cleaning I bleached them again. That finally ended that. You could bleach your dry tank but that is a bit drastic, and it is imperative to rinse it adequately to remove all traces of bleach. If you do bleach it, remove the substrate as that would take a lot more effort to remove all of the bleach.

If you smell bleach you still have some of it. After working around it for a while you may become desensitised to the odor and are not sure. Ventilate the air. Wait a day, check again when you come home from work or school, and in from outside air.

You can control algae, do not over-feed, remove the sunlight, and all light for a while, increase the water quality and keep it high. A planted aquarium will help as will algae eaters.

[Zilla]

I don't know who told you to feed 3/4 of a tablespoon of food per day, but I'm almost willing to bet at some point the said person also had / has a algae problem not to mention mucked up water parameters as that's alot of food laying around.

I also don't know why the person from the other forum told you what they did, but if it were me, I wouldn't listen to that person either as they are telling you all of this, but yet never told you how to deal with the actual problem. Instead they want you to keep moving fish from one tank to another, kind of deal with the algae ridden tank and do all this stuff that makes zero sense to me.

Constantly moving your fish from one tank to another alone is going to stress them out. It would be best just to deal with the mess as Dacotah7 has suggested. If you want to make yourself crazy by doing it the other way, it's your choice. I'm admittedly not in the business of telling people what they want to hear, so do as you will and good luck.