Archivarium 2004

cichlid_dude123 · Regulars Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Location: P-Town Ont, Canada

I have a hudge water born algae problem and I have tried changing the filters, adding chemicals, changing the water, turning the might off, and all I have left is getting a hudge blind(the ones that make the room pitch black) and or, a UV sterilizer. I just heard about these(from my dad). He told me they zap the algae in the water using UV rays. does it do that? if so how big of one would I need for a 55 gallon tank(48L,12D,18H)?

dr_fosg8 · Regulars Joined: 31 Dec 2004 Location: central Illinois

I have a couple ?'s. You say you have added chemicals. What have you tried?

You also say you have turned the light off. How long? Usually for a bad algae problem you need to do a black out for at least 3 or 4 days. You can do this by completely covering the tank with a blanket or something of that nature to block all external light from entering the tank.

Have you looked into the reason for the waterbourne algae? What kind of food do you feed and how much? What are your water parameters?

dale · Regulars Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Location: Vancouver Canada

Hi cichlid dude,
I agree with the Dr.
Also, is your tank planted? What type of filter are you running and is your tank in natural sunlight?
you.V. does kill waterborne pathogens but it is a pretty expensive cure for a condition that should be able to be controlled by other means. Have you also tried fine floss in your filter. This weeds out a lot of algae as well.
Algae usually "blooms" in response to light or nutrients. I would look there first.
Good luck.
_________________
Think like a fish

cichlid_dude123 · Regulars Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Location: P-Town Ont, Canada

I have tired nutafin P clear and B clear, I leave the light off most of the day, I might try the blanket thing. also I feed my oscar 5-8 large hikari cichlid gold pellets and I have a bristlenose catfish in there(but it only comes out at night and doesn't eat much algae Mad

) My tank is not planted at all(its an oscar tank), and my tank is about 5 feet away from my window which has a blind that does block much sunlight(just sakters it) and I have a ehiem 2215 and an AC 300 both with filter floss and it goes greenish brown within 2 days.....and I how much are those UV sterlizer lights or lamps?

dr_fosg8 · Regulars Joined: 31 Dec 2004 Location: central Illinois

Have you tried an algaecide? I have had great success with a product called algae-fix.

seadoubleyou · Members Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Location: N.E. Ohio

http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=22513;category_id=3247;pcid1=;pcid2=
I have a 55 gal. had same problem and picked this up. This was the best price I could find. Got it in 2 days hooked it up and my tank was crystal clear in about 1 week....I know most people here will tell you (and rightly so) that there must be something to cause you algae peoblem that you need to fix. But If you are considering a UV sterilizer. I would highly recomend this one.... UV is also supposed to help remove parasites as well.
CW

cichlid_dude123 · Regulars Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Location: P-Town Ont, Canada

wow thats not as cheap as I thought and I think thats american too Shocked

oo well I'll just have to start saving up(or just ask my dad Laughing

) I might go to my LFS today and I'll look for that algaecide , I'll give that a try and if it works then I just saved some money

piranha

Hey cichlid dude,I've just purchased a Jebo 9 watt UV sterilizer for $29.99 at aquatraders.com.I'm using it on my pond now.They might be out of stock because of high demand at such a great price. Forget algaecides they're a nuisance and don't always work and sometimes take days or even weeks to clean up a tank provided you constantly clean the filter of dead algae.