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I'm sure all of us who have had aquariums have seen the telltale green haze of algae growth in our tanks. When I first got my aquarium, I let it run for a week or two to build up some algae. Then I bought a nice algae eater. I really liked him and he worked hard to keep the tank perfectly clear. Unfortunately I think he did his job too well. I had never actually seen algae in the tank and after a couple weeks he started to get lethargic. I realized he might be starving after eating up all the algae in the tank. So I put in some algae tablets, but he wasn't interested. I ended up losing him and have gone for months without an algae eater in the tank.

I'm just now starting to see the first spots of brown algae on a couple plants near the light. I think part of my low algae growth is that I usually leave the lights turned off during the day to save energy. I'm wondering if I need to just leave them on all day to allow the algae growth. I want to get a new algae eater but I don't want him to die from the tank being too clean.

What do you recommend for this? I would like to get another hillstream loach. Is there any other kind of algae eater you would recommend? Should I just leave the tank lights on all day to keep the growth going?

 

     What you have is a self-perpetuating problem. Why do you need an algae eater? To get rid of the algae! But you need algae to keep the algae eater alive, so you find yourself having to increase your problem in order to keep your solution going strong. Sounds like the bureaucratic process in a nutshell! All I can say is if you find a simple solution to this kind of cyclical inefficiency, make sure you share it with as many state offices as possible.

      Hey, at least you ain't got no algae growin' on your back like a sloth. I mean, if I got algae on my back, I don't know what I'd do! Maybe I'd scrub it off with a loofa in the shower. But then I'd have to take showers.

I used to work with the state government and they had enough algae growing on the walls of the building. They had a much easier solution, though. They just ignored the problem and all petitions we made and told us not to worry, they would be moving our office within the next 5 years and couldn't do anything about it until then. Problem solved, right? That's why I didn't accept the job in another part of the agency when they cut funding for all the OPS personnel.

I HATE SHOWERS!

I was a little scared to dump an algae eater into the tank because we have an extremely aggressive betta. I have never seen a betta this aggressive nor as lively before. I know they typically leave bottom-dwellers alone but I just don't want to have to explain what happened to the algae eater when he's harrassed to death to the more.. innocent in my household :X

 We contemplated live plants, as this helps to deter algae growth but then this produces all sorts of other problems - such as having multi-spectrum light for the aquarium.

Light was the primary problem that caused the crazy algae growth in the first place, so we're more strict as to when we use the light - a set  8 hour period to simulate day. Also, I upgraded the betta to a 10-gallon aquarium. Larger aquariums are paradoxically easier to clean and are safer (so I've found) as they regulate themselves better. I also change out a gallon of water once a week.

 So far, no huge algae build ups!

Yeah, I'm with you on sparing the algae eater the pain of being pecked to death by an angry Betta fish. I have 4 bettas and 3 are very mellow. One female is extremely aggressive. I put her in with one of the males to see if they would breed. She had nibbled all his fins down to little nubs by the time I got her out of there. He wasn't badly hurt, but he looked ridiculous. He looked like a female when his proud and elegant fins were cut down to size. His fins grew back in a few weeks, but I don' t think his pride will ever recover.

 I have trouble keeping my fish bowl clean. I have a little betta and its bowl gets so dirty so quickly. I am not sure if its just that I'm not changing it enough or he is just a really dity fish. Is there a trick to preventing a fish bowl from getting really dirty quickly. I don't think that I have an algae problems because its a little fish bowl. Anyways if you have any suggestions let me know. Do plants help keep a tank clean.