algea on decorative fish tank rock?

[maplesky7]

How should i clean it?

My tank was in too sunny of a room and algea ran rampant.

I ran it under water and scrubbed it best I could.

What else should I do?

It's not sunny today but on the next sunny day should I leave it out in the sun?


Thanks,
g

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Gretchen, I would definitely make sure the tank is free of algae before you keep chickens, ducks, snakes or children in it.

 

[Goat_Walker]

Thats what i have to do. Use some algea be gone as well.

When you let it soak in the sun it should flake off. What ever you have left will either need scrubbing, scrapping, or in some cases its just a permenant spot on the plant now.

 

[Goat_Walker]

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[maplesky7]

very funny buff.

the algea on the tank just wiped off but now i'm cleaning the shells and rocks and plastic plants.


so it was soft and easily wipeable but rocks are porrous...so that's why I was thinking about baking it in the sun before I stick it back in the tank.

hmm...algea be gone. I'll have to look for it.

 

[Jeff9118]

For years I did aquarium maintenance on saltwater and freshwater tanks. I also did installation and set up. All for hospitals, schools and private offices and doctors homes ect. Anything plastic can be soaked in a 1 part bleach to 3 parts water solution for about 30 mins then rinse it very well let air dry as this will neutralize any left over chlorine. This is completly safe but I do not reccommend doing this an anything other then plastic. True rocks and ceramics are porous and may absorb bleach and look dry but still be wet in the middle and slowly release bleach back into the aquarium. Also painted items can discolor in bleach. These items can be boiled in water for about 10 mins to kill algea.

 

[georgialee]

Do you have a plecostomus? I NEVER have algea in my tank and it's all because of him! If you don't have one you might want to think about it.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Be careful with a pleco...they tend to grow HUGE!

I had a bit of an algae problem recently. I cleaned it off all the glass and plants, but there was still some on this little skull I had. I figured I'd leave it there because it looked sort of neat. I had had bad luck with snails due to my betta's rampant appetite, but a couple of days ago (after about a month since I moved the tank from school to home) I saw the skull was completely algae free. Apparently some of the little snails survived and cleaned the rest of the tank for me!

Depending on how large your tank is, you could try a few snails. If you have a large enough tank (10+) you could try a single apple snail (Or mystery snail as the stores like to call them). I currently have little brown snails that we got from the laboratory at school. I've heard some people have had trouble with them over populating the tank, but I've never had an issue. I just remove the snails I don't want anymore. Apple snails are pretty neat though. They are messy and they can grow quite large, so if you do get one, you want to make sure you don't over populate the tank. A moderately stocked 20 gallon freshwater tank would be ideal for an apple snail. I've never been lucky enough to have one grow as large as a golf ball, but I know they can get that large, if not larger!

 

[georgialee]

Just to add more of my experience, lol... I have a 65 gallon tank that I've had a pleco in over a year and he's only grown about an inch. If you don't overfeed they shouldn't grow too large. I used to work in a pet store and tere were several snails that hitched a ride with some of the fish that were shipped in. We didn't think anything of it until a few weeks later we had THOUSANDS of snails (literally) that had circulated through the water into each and every fish tank (they all ran on one filter system). It was horrible and no matter how many we took out they kept reproducing. I've stayed away from snails since then. If the pet store has large snails (about 1/2" or larger) I've heard that those don't reproduce at the rate the smaller ones do. Good luck!

 

[maplesky7]

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I did and then the algea happened and my bala shark died, then the plecostomus died, and then the, I forget, the school fish (silver with a light blue stripe) died....the only fish to survive was another one of the school fish.


My tank is a small one 10 gallons. I used to have a 30 gallon but in another part of the room the south wall and never had that problem with the algea. I sold it in a garage sale cuz I thought I was moving...would love to have that size again. But this tank was on the north wall under a window and windows on the east and west too.

The algea eater was doin a great job it seemed at first and then boom the algea got crazy.

boil....good deal...i got it.