Fish tank always has algae blooms? Hangtai Aquarium teaches you how to solve it

Fish tanks and planted tanks are both very prone to algae blooms. Everyone's attitude is invariably to avoid them at all costs, but often some objective factors still lead to algae blooms in the tank. How do you deal with it?

First, lighting and aging water are the root causes of algae blooms! So reducing lighting becomes the first solution that comes to mind, but we always want our fish to show good coloration and look nice, so this is basically very hard to do. We can only appropriately control it at around 8 hours. So what should we do?

The laborious and costly method: There is a very useful magical tool called a sterilization lamp!

Note that sterilization lamps are also toxic. You need to keep it under half an hour, and it must be placed in the bottom filter compartment. Pointing it directly at the fish will kill them. So using ultraviolet sterilization lamps, algaecides or clarifiers is the worst option. It costs money and does not address the root cause.

What other methods are there? The very laborious method: changing water!

A non-toxic, harmless and effective method: maintaining water quality and changing water frequently is the king's way. No need to say more!

The root-cause algae removal method: The nutrient source for algae comes from the food fed during normal feeding. Excess nutrients lead to algae, so controlling food feeding fundamentally cuts off algae blooms.

The leverage method: Add cleanup fish. The pleco (sucker mouth catfish) is the most popular and has the best reputation. Fish keepers say, "No algae removal method works as well as a pleco, preferably one that has been starved for a week, and it needs to be large and able to hold its own against the main fish in the tank. However, this trick only works against green algae. It seems plecos are not very interested in brown algae and black beard algae."

The economical and practical method: wipe with your hands

The above are all algae removal methods for fish tanks. What about friends with planted tanks? Planted tanks mainly have thread algae, which comes from externally introduced aquatic plants. It is generally rare in tap water. The solutions are:

1. Add Amano shrimp (Caridina multidentata), which like to eat thread algae.

2. Use a toothbrush to remove the thread algae tangled on the leaf surfaces.

Introduce a common algae treatment method - Cladophora

Change water frequently, reduce lighting time, increase carbon dioxide. If the filter canister has not been cleaned for a long time, clean it. For areas where algae are densely concentrated, spray 52 (glutaraldehyde) on those spots. After a period of time, it will be gone. But when the algae is suppressed, most people will stop the special measures and return to the state when the algae was blooming, and in that case, the algae will still break out. Here, the key to finding a tank that does not have algae blooms is to seek a method suitable for your own planted tank, whether it is changing water or changing the lighting.

That is all for today's content. I hope this article can help everyone. If there are any shortcomings, I welcome everyone's guidance.