Unsightly algae on sand

[davez104]

Hi all,

I have an 8x2x2 Tanganyikan community tank. I have an inch or so of beach sand as substrate, a couple of large rock piles as habitat. The tank runs a home made sump filter turning over aprox 4000lph. I use rift lake salts at just under the recomended dose, can't remember off hand exactly what the water parameters where when I tested them a couple of weeks ago but they where pretty close to what is generally recomended for a rift lake tank as far as ph and hardness goes. Don't have test kits for ammonia, nitrate or nitrite. Weekly water changes of at least 20%, sometimes 50% or more. The tank is, I think, fairly understocked,

4 adult Opthalmotilapia ventralis,

4 young Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus,

4 very young black calvus,

3 young Xenotilapia spilopterus,

1 almost grown gold compressiceps,

3 cuckoo cats @ 7-8cm and 2 Synodontis petricola about the same size.

The problem I have is the sand being discoloured with algae. It doesnt look like your average green algae, more of a dark colour, almost black but not really if you know what I mean. I vacuum the sand every time I do a water change but it seems to be back within 24hrs. The only thing I can think of is that the lights are on for aprox 14hrs every day. Do you think this would be the only factor or could there be other things contributing to this?

Thanks.

Dave.

[mianos]

Can you get rostratus here? I'd say that or another of the African sand sifting cichlids would do the trick. (If you tank was a South American I'd say Geophagus, they keep my sand and gravel clean as clean).

[davez104]

Thanks mianos,

Not sure how rostratus would go with some of my smaller fish, but yes you can most surely get them here. In fact I know a guy just up the road who has a breeding colony. Also I would really like to stick with Tangs only, maybe a few more spilopterus, if I can find some. When I can eventually find the fish I want to fully stock the tank, there will be quite a few sand sifters so that might help keep the problem under control.

Thanks mate.

Dave.

[mianos]

Ectodus then, lake Tanganyika sand sifter.

[Ben]

You could try adding a UV Sterliser.

Aqua Pro UGH Sterilizer 6 watt

Kills algae growth they say. I have just added one to my tanks for different reasons and its too soon to tell but others may let us know if it works.

[Colfish]

hi Dave

i'd go for a silica test kit.

the beach sand might contain some of this. it causes a similar problem in saltwater tanks. i'd also cut the lighting period back, 10/12 hrs is enough

HTH, cheers; C

[E4G13M4N]

You could try adding a UV Sterliser

Uv steraliser wont stop algae growth on sand or string algae in ponds either for that matter, it will only stop suspended algae particles *Green Water*

[CThompson]

UV steriliser can ONLY kill what passes through it as Mark said.

In any case it sounds like what you have is blue-green algae, which is not an algae but a photosynthetic bacteria. When you have a blue green algae issue you have an infection.

Light duration won't make much of a difference. If you turn all the lights off for a month, when you turn them back on again, the BG will grow back (fact).

The simplest thing that you can do is to wait it out. Your tank has what the BG algae thinks if perfect at the moment, I have found that provided plant life is not involved where the BG is covering the leaves of the plants and plants are dieing, BG is just unsightly and will have no negative impact on the fish themselves.

You could certainly try a sand sifter or two in there (I thought Opthalmotilapia ventralis would turn the bottom over?), and as you say there are plenty to choose from. BG doesn’t’ only grow on the substrate though, and may decide (?) to grown on rocks or glass of the tank as well, so be aware of that.

You can get anti-biotic to kill it, but this is really a last ditch solution and you are a long way from that. Buy your sand sifters (or sand suckers as my wife calls them), see if they have an impact, and if not, just wait it out, do a bit of extra maintenance when you do it and manually siphon it out, and in a month or three, what ever little niche the BG is surviving out of may be fully exploited and it will die off on its own accord.

Craig

[Ben]

Is it on top of the sand or in the sand?

Maybe you need to suck all the sand out onto a tarp and leave it in the sun for a day and then wash it and put it back. Or better still suck it all out and put new sand back. Big job I know. I just did it on 2 x 6x2x2's. Great way to clean you siphon hose.

[CThompson]

Doing that Ben will NOT remove the BG from the tank, as at any one time there are unseen BG in the water. Replace/remove/clean the substate, and you provide a blank canvas.

Craig

[trofius]

dave is the algae growing on the rocks, glass etc?

is it producing long hairlike strands?

The ventralis and the xenos you have should be doing a good enough job at substrate tunover, my 4 spilopterous and the 3 ventralis keep my 8 footer clean, but then again the 30 tropheus are allwasy milling abouts in the sand aswell.

If it as Craig suggested a blue green algae( cyanobacteria ) it will grow in the long strands, as long as th etank it let be!!!!, And it will not go away, reducing the lighting wont help, it loves phosphates in the water from the foods and nitrates..

I used to have this in my 6 footer, the dark matty strands were nearly 18inches long, nothing will eat it,,,, removal by way of antibiotic could be nessesary, but expensive. BUT as you may have heard most cyanobacteria can contain toxins, if the cell membranes are ruptured these toxins can escape not pretty, Cyanobacteria also has a very high demand for O2..Also when i had it you could see the small strands of it floating in the water very fine about 5mm long.

To cure my tank i emptied the sand on the back lawn, got new stuff, all rocks and things were soaked in bleach for a week, then scrubbed and resoaked and cleaned and rinsed. I also apllied this to the tank it was emptied for 2 weeks after being srubbed sterile with strait bleach $2 for 3L ( were gloves , ventilate the house, i put the bleach in a $2 spray bottle and applied and scrubbed and applied and scrubbed, rinse very well, when done add water and let sit for a few days and check for chlorine you will still be able to smell the bleach but it will be gone if the chlorine is 0.0 use declorinator aswell.

i have never had this stuff return.

[davez104]

Thanks guys,

It doesn't grow in strands, it just makes the sand look 'dirty' is the only way I can describe it. It's only on the surface, if I stir the sand up you can't see it but it is back within 24 hrs as bad as ever

Dave.

[CThompson]

If it as Craig suggested a blue green algae( cyanobacteria ) it will grow in the long strands, as long as th etank it let be!!!!, And it will not go away, reducing the lighting wont help, it loves phosphates in the water from the foods and nitrates..

All BG I have had in my tanks (and I currently have an outbreak now), has NEVER grown in “long strands”, but in sheets, loosely attached to the surface of what ever it is against (substate, glass, rocks....plants). In ALL the literature I have read about BG (and I read a lot when it was taking over my Planted tank), I have never seen it described as growing in long strands. Mick, I wonder if your tank just didn’t have hair algae. I’m sure you were convinced at the time that it was BG, but….

it loves phosphates in the water from the foods and nitrates.

Heres a thing, and I can also nearly quote it as I read it years ago. “BG algae is often found in a tank that has either poor tank maintenance or no nitrate”. When I first had my BG, it was in a Planted tank, which was absolutely bulked out with plants (and got great maintainance). I was making my own aquatic fertiliser, and it was a simple mater of increasing the amount of nitrate I put in the mix. Hey presto! Within a few days the problem was gone. From this I have concluded, that if you are doing good maintenance on your tank, AND you have BG, have a look at your tank nitrate levels. In a fish, fish tank, I don’t know if I would add nitrate, but in my Planted tank, when I did, the BG died off/back. That is not to say an absence of nitrate caused the BG, but an absence of nitrate may be one of the criteria that BG likes? (Note the question mark!).

BUT as you may have heard most cyanobacteria can contain toxins

Correct me if I’m wrong, BG occurs in a number of different types, and the BG that seems to grow in our tanks are NOT the blue green algae blooms that you hear about on the news, with warnings not to swim for health reasons. That’s not to say you need to stop your hygiene standards/practices around your tank (hand to mouth stuff), but at the same time don’t get paranoid about it either.

To cure my tank i emptied the sand on the back lawn, got new stuff, all rocks and things were soaked in bleach for a week, then scrubbed and resoaked and cleaned and rinsed. I also apllied this to the tank it was emptied for 2 weeks after being srubbed sterile with strait bleach $2 for 3L ( were gloves , ventilate the house, i put the bleach in a $2 spray bottle and applied and scrubbed and applied and scrubbed, rinse very well, when done add water and let sit for a few days and check for chlorine you will still be able to smell the bleach but it will be gone if the chlorine is 0.0 use declorinator aswell.

What a hassle. You must have been really keen . It may come to this, but as I mentioned, sit tight for a few months, add BG removal to your maintenance schedule, and see if what ever conditions are currently suiting it don’t change. Make sure you don’t transfer it to another tank in the meantime as remember, your tank has an infection. It could VERY easily die back, maybe not go altogether, but die back to point that is no longer an issue for you.

That's it for me.

Craig

[E4G13M4N]

I have only experienced BG algae once and to get rid of it just did regular syphoning to remove it, eventually it disappeared.

String algae has never been a problem for me but by reports i have received back from people is that the new product by Aquarium Pharmecuticals Algaefix seems to work for that one. I will have to see how that one goes on black beard algae as i have had a case of that type again.

In the past when its more like a staining of gravel or sand, regularly turning the substrate will help, but finding the cause is trial and error.

What is the Nitrate levels ?

How long is the light on, what brand fluro as i find some produce more algae than others.

Could it be too much food ?

All things that need to be considered.

[steph]

From the sounds of it its more of a red slime algae than cyanobacteria, especially if it looks black.

BG Algae has always grown in sheets like a living carpet- well in my tanks. Interesting note about the absence of nitrate being a factor. The few times Ive had it have been in very low stocked planted tanks and I had a hellish time removing last time. Everything Ive read says you have to vacuum it up as much as possible as when it dies all the nutrients are released back into the water, which in turn leads to more and more frequent water changes and even less nitrates. Other things Ive read to get rid of BG algae have been to put in lots of plants to 'out compete' it for the nutrients

HOw old is your fluoro tube ? They lose a lot of their original spectrum quite quickly (like in 6 months) so maybe replace it to get the shorter wave lengths to the bottom of the tank - http://www.thekrib.com/Lights/faq.html - check out this article for more info.

HTH

Steph

[davez104]

Thanks for all your advice people. I cut the lights back to only a few hours a day for the last few days and it is all gone Must just have been too much lighting, I'll crank them back up to about 8hrs a day and see how we go.

Thanks again.

Dave.

[CThompson]

If what you had was BG, and I'm pretty confident it is, you will find the BG will be straight back again when you return the lighting period to what is was. If it does, play around with the max lighting period you can have without getting BG.

[davez104]

No worries,

I,ve got it on 8hrs a day instead of the 12+ that the tank used to get. What I may end up doing is having the lights on for only a couple of hours during the week when no-one is home and just turn them on manually in the morning when I am at home. They are such nice fish I just can't bear not watching them

Thanks.

Dave.