Algae wont leave me be!

[lilchiwolf]

My two divided betta tankskeep on having an massive algae issue. Been like this ever since I set it up. Now I hear seeing algae growth is a good sign of a healthy tank, buts it just annoying to look at all the time! I have to take things out at lease once a week and clean it all. I have 1 snail that I trade out sides for him to clean, but he can't even keep up with it. My lighting is on timers. Goes on around 9am and shuts off around 9pm. My tanks are not by windows.

I rather not use chemicals so is there anything that I could do to just make it less other than constantly cleaning things?

[vaygirl]

Try cutting your light down to 9 or 10 hours. It may help.

[Alex09]

How strong are your lights? as in how many watts? replaceing the bulb for one with lower watts (less bright) may help. Do you have live plants? Cutting down how long they are on should help as well. I say, cut it down to 6-8 hours.

[lilchiwolf]

Originally Posted by Alex09

How strong are your lights? as in how many watts? replaceing the bulb for one with lower watts (less bright) may help. Do you have live plants? Cutting down how long they are on should help as well. I say, cut it down to 6-8 hours.

I use two 25wot clear bulbs.

[Oldfishlady]

Do you have live plants, if so, what kind and how many

What kind of algae?

[lilchiwolf]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

Do you have live plants, if so, what kind and how many

What kind of algae?

No live plants. And its the normal green algae

[Cravenne]

That's a long lights on period for a tank with no live plants. Try only leaving the lights on for a few hours when you're hanging around the tank. The fish don't need the lights, they are for the fishkeeper.

Also..a few days of blackout will kill the algae you have currently. I've never had to do one, but I've read of people covering all sides of the tank with dark paper and leaving the lights out for a few days...
I'll poke around for a link...

[coolcucumber]

I've got the same problem, but with brown algae. I had it in my other tank, but i bought a snail and its fine :) Il think ill do the same for this tank.

[Oldfishlady]

I agree. without live plants I would go with a shorter photoperiod in the 6-8h area.....manual removal of the algae with regular weekly water changes are just part of the care of an aquarium....when you have water, nutrient and lights....you create an environment for algae.....its normal and expected and some algae can even make the tank look more natural...... but since we are dealing with a closed system....we have to manually control it sometimes....