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I can't move the tank and the sun is killing me!

3K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  Holly 
#1 ·
We moved out living room around a few months ago so I had to move my tank to the only available spot. Now that it's Spring and the sun is brighter and spending more time out, I'm getting soooo much little green algea spots on the front of my tank. I can't move the tank since there's no where for it to go, I can't put something over the window since it's a skylight and 15 feet from the floor. Now I'm thinking of something that UV rays can't get through to put on the side of the tank taking the sunlight. Any ideas? I tried a blue sticky thing that you put in babies rooms so the light isn't so bright but it really didn't do much. I bought more plants (Anarchis?) which will fight with the algea for nutrients and now I'm thinking about the UV steralizer to cut down on the algea. If I can do something that won't distube the fish, I'd rather do that. I'm just not sure what.
 
#2 ·
perhaps you could look at this as a blessing rather than a curse and use it to get some algae eating fish or snails? you seem pretty well stocked but you could maybe get some snails that im sure would eat all the algae, and would provide some entertainment for you.
 
#5 ·
I would guess that the sunlight is not helping but I don't know if it the cause all by itself. With plants in the tank, the spectrum of the light from the sun could be helping the plants to use up the Phosphates in the tank. If the alage is the really hard green spot algae it is most likely being caused by a phosphate shortage and not the sunlight directly. Try dosing phophates and see if that helps. I get green spot algae every time I forget to dose PO4.

Basically the sunlight could be acting as another light and has just increased the nutrient uptake of the tank. For the most part, sunlight causes more of the soft algae and not the hard algaes like green spot, BBA and staghorn. They are caused by nutirent imbalances where the soft ones are from simply too much light and direct sunlight.
 
#6 ·
mr.bojangles said:
u could spraypaint ur window black. no but really just get a pleco .. and if it over runs him use a razor blade and cut the algae out urself
There is no need to resort to fish as your option for algae control. There are other better options than just using fish to control the algae such as balancing nutrients and trace elements as Chris(fish_4_all) has often suggested. More problems just lie ahead when you resort to fish. Space issue, compatibility issue and honestly, the bioload problems most can get you into.:roll:
 
#7 ·
plecos r 0 bioload. they wont bother anything, and if somethings bothering it its got basicly armour on it. and if ur worried about it getting to big, get a dwarf species. and most lfs hav a policy that if u bring in a large pleco they'll trade it in for a small 1
 
#8 ·
Sorry but I have to disagree about plecos. They are a huge bioload and one of the messiest non predator fish out there. They are poo machines and make a huge mess.

If the tank is large enough a pleco will make a nice addition but no fish will solve a problem. You could have an army of different types of algae eating fish and your plants would simply suffer and not grow without a large amount of algae.

The problem is the algae is thriving because the plants are not. Once you make the plants happy the algae no longer has an excess of nutrients with a lack of something else so they can't thrive. The only way I have ever been able to induce algae of any sort was to stop dosing something while dosing everything else like phosphates. I stop dosing PO4 and within a week I have massive amounts of green spot algae. I stop dosing calcium and I got staghorn and so on.
 
#10 ·
ok, even small plecos such as bristle nose plecos are a HUGE bioload...I had a 2" one in my community tank...in one week i went from no measurable nitrates to 10ppm!!! they poop alot, they eat a ton,and they are some of the messiest fish in the hobby...dont belive me? look it up.

they also are a fair algae eater at best. dont expect them to eat algae off of plants...my BN only went for the soft algae on driftwood and and soft algae on the sides of the tank.

get yourself some snails or a school of ottos...much better algae eaters and not a bioload on the tank...

in my ten gallon i actually keep junk snails...the ones detrimental to plants, but I only keep a couple floating plants and some java moss in the tank. those little buggers multiply like mad and keep the tank spotless. sometimes in the middle of the night i will go and scrape baby snails off the side of my glass to keep the population under control...other than that I let them do their thing.

but yeah, it says you have a pleco in a 30 gallon...bad idea...even a dwarf is too much for your current amount of fish in a 30g...
 
#11 ·
I'm not sure if this will help, but there is a film that is sold that blocks UV rays. It's meant for retail store windows to stop the items in the window from fading. It comes in different degrees of blockage and does come without any tint to it. Maybe you can get some and literally place it over the front to block the UV rays, without blocking the view.

Maybe that will help?
 
#12 ·
I think that would be prefect.

I have a pleco, that was my idea at first also, however he only likes that soft algea. He's getting bid and going back to the LFS soon. I'm going to miss him so much since he's my fav fish but I'm not going to hurt him for my benifit. My albino bala is going back also. I didn't realize how big he'd get when I got him and no one told me. I also have snails in there and they're really not much help. The idea of the PO4 is good since my plants aren't doing too good so I'll try that out and let everyone know how it works. Thanks everyone!
 
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