Need help with algae issue.

[MJK87]

Hey everyone,

My 5 gallon tank has a few live plants and a betta fish. The plants need to be on a 10 hour light period and this causes algae to grow like crazy on the sides of the tank and on the plants and decorations. I have tried amano shrimp and nitrate snails and they do not seem to help at all. The shrimp only stay in the wisteria and the snails continually craw into the filter and die. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep the algae down in my tank? Im seriously considering going back to silk plants. I have one 6500k bulb on a 10 hour photo period. I have some water wisteria, anubis, and a merimo moss ball. I have seen algae drops at the pet store but I wasent sure if they would work so I havent tried them. Everyone that has tanks posted on here seems to have crystal clear beautiful tanks. My tank lasts a week before it is covered in algae. Any suggestions would be greatly appericated.

[Oldfishlady]

Do you know what kind of algae...can you post a pic....

Some algae is normal and expected in a container of water that has both nutrients and light-some algae can be a sign of a healthy system and can help make the tank look more natural by softening edges, however, even the good algae can get out of control and needs manual removal with water changes since this is a closed system....

With live plants you have to balance the system-often you need to get the plants growing better to out compete the algae-can you post a pic, how old are the light bulbs, type of substrate and how deep, any added ferts or injected CO2, how much and how often are the water changes, how long has the tank been running, any other livestock beside the Betta, filter and water temp....

I don't recommend the use of the algae rid products-especially with live plants and more so with the merimo moss ball since it really algae.....often these type of products can kill the plants and inverts like shrimp and snail....

Id the algae and post a pic....sometimes you need to increase the photoperiod to help the plants out compete the algae....

[Fermin]

Hey
Actually, your plants can tolerate lower light conditions, so I'd definitely decrease the photo period for starters.

Does your betta leave behind excess food? I'd also do a thorough vacuuming and a nice water change to decrease the amount of available nutrients to the algae.

You can add some fast-growing plants to outcompete the algae for nutrients. Marimos and anubias are slow-growers.

What type of algae is it? Do some google searches for freshwater algae types if you're unsure. Is your tank in direct sunlight at any point?

EDIT: Ninja'd by Oldfishlady lol

[Anitax3x]

mossball might help :D

[vilmarisv]

What are your water parameters?
A tank wil always have algea, it's just part of the process like OFL mentioned.
But a large amount of algea might indicate your cycling process is very new and your nitrates are still too high.
Algea is very hard to eliminate completely and reducing light hours won't make much of a difference. Your best bet is to make a large water change and wipe off everything you can.