[thomisdead]

Ok, here's my problem. I have a 29g tank with one 3.5" RBP and a snail. I can't keep the damned thing clean. I do a partial water change when I vaccuum and clean my gravel, and in another week or less my gravel is all brown and scummy and my plants are disgusting too. I feed my fish bloodworms 2x per day and about 8 small feeders once per week. The tank gets a lot of sunlight for about 2 hrs per day and pretty much just daylight for the rest of the day. I leave the tank light on for about 4 hrs every night. Sometimes it only takes a few days for it to get scummy again.

I'm getting tired of cleaning my tank so often. Any advice?

Also, can someone help me figure out how to post some pics, I can't get mine small enough.

 

[Xenon]

How long has the tank been running, what type of filtration?

 

[phensway]

i think the sunlight speeds up the building of algae, so either take it away from the window or put up with it............ do you have a pleco to help with the control of algae??

 

[acidsurvivor]

If you get too much direct sun to your sun, a lot of algae will perform which is not good. I adivse you to do 25% water changes a week to keep it crystal clear. If you want your tank to become clean in like a day, add carbon to your filter.

 

[Grosse Gurke]

Moved to equipment

 

[thomisdead]

Wow you guys are fast.
I have a Whisper Power Filter for up to 40 gallon tanks. The water stays pretty clear. it's just the brown algae that I can't keep off of my plants and rocks. The filter has been running for at least 2 months now.

I never got a pleco, because I always thought my P would try to eat it. I don't wanna watse $5.
The sunlight thing is a pain, because there is almost nowhere to put my tank that it won't get sunlight for at least a couple of hours.

 

[piranha198220]

first off get a pleco they help so much its amazing

second empty the water from the tank into a tub or buckets take your gravel out and get a big pot and boil the rock in water that will kill anything thats on the rock then take the tank and clean it with hot water you must make sure you keep all the water from the tank the fish need the bacteria put the rock back in the tank and let the water filter though for like a few hrs then put the fish back in

third get a bigger filter it sounds like you have a small filter

i just did this with my 120 i had like 14 buckets and a lot of tubs filled with water....lol....it took me 4.5hrs to do this its alot of work but you have a small tank so it wont be too hard trust me it helps alot

 

[piranha198220]

get a pleco thats like 3in. bigger than your p's thell f*ck with it but if there fed enough they wont kill it ive had my 2 plecos for like 2yrs now

 

[phensway]

plecos have a hard exo skelton and they dont taste as good as a gold fish, thats why piranhas dont normally mess with them, but on occasion it happens..... then shut your blinds if you cant get your aquarium out of the sun, and if you dont have blinds, then get some

 

[Raptor]

I agree sun light is a problem. and do you have a regular floressant bulb. Or is it a bulb made for aquariums. Regular bulbs will help create brown alge.

 

[thomisdead]

I will definetly go get a pleco.

Raptor- it's a bulb made for aquariums.

piranha198220- you really think my filter is too small? it's for a 40 gallon tank and mine is 29. and it does a god job at keeping my water clear. but, by the sounds of it, you know more about this stuff than I do.

 

[SnowCichlid]

yeah everything mentioned above will help you out some. so hop to it chinese algae eaters are good algae riders and are fairly quick when harm comes its way as well

 

[piranha198220]

i didnt see that you filter was that size
well i agree get your tank out of the light but if you get a big enough pleco you wont have too it will eat most of it and if that still dont work they make little pills that dissolve alge also

hope it works out :smile:

 

[Piranha King]

you rproblem is too much light. you cant let the sun hit it, it also could be from your light for the tank.
wes

 

[pcrose]

i think the sunlight speeds up the building of algae, so either take it away from the window or put up with it............ do you have a pleco to help with the control of algae??

yeah the sunlight builds up the algae faster and your plants are helping with this. It is hard to keep a tank clean with plants in my opinion but if you do the right things it will work. get a pleco, snails are not as good as plecos to me anyway.

 

[pcrose]

by the way nice avatar, afi rocks I missed the show in Portland . I hope you get your tank undercontrol as well.

 

[thomisdead]

Thanks for the advice folks.