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green nasty looking algea :(

1K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  SheyFirestar 
#1 ·
Hi, ever since i removed a few plants i had, I'm getting green algea buildups on the glass and green cloudy nasty looking water. I have a 35 gallon with 5 (small to medium) african lake malawi cichlids. I have an 80 watt lighting system (Orbit by Current-USA) that i run for 7 hours a day (2pm - 9pm). I have a penguin 350 biowheel filter. the tank is no where near a window. I'm using freshwater sand as a substrate. I never had any algea problems until I removed the plants and upgraded the lights. I have been doing weekly or even biweekly h20 changes and have had no issues until i removed my plants and got the new lights. Since the cloudy h20 started, i have been doing 33% h20 changes every 3 days for the last 2 weeks and it gets little bit better but in a day or 2 looks horrible again. I'm thinking of getting new plants this weekend. Besides lowering the lighting times is there anything else that might help? My tank used to be crystal clear and it would last for like a week and a half and still look great. Now it's a different story.
 
#2 ·
why did you upgrade the lights if you were taking the plants out? did your cichlids uproot them a lot?

algae blooms are results of too much light and too much fertilizer really. and since you increased your lights and took away the only thing using your fertilizer(nitrates) youve got a bloom on your hands. if your going to plant the tank again that will help. plants will compete with algae for nutrients. total blackouts can really do wonders for algae. personally id opt for the blackout over adding plants. even doing the blackout and once you have your algae under control then adding your plants which will help prevent the return of your algae problem.
 
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