Soft algae question

[ZackLanduyt]

I left town for a couple days and turned off my air conditioning in my apartment to save a little energy, well it got really really warm in excess of 100 degrees in there as I am on the top floor. And as you may have guessed I have some green on a few rocks, the question I have is that I have a pleco that will clean it I am sure but he is a tiny guy right now and I am not sure how long he will take to clean it up, I have heard of the anti algae treatments but wouldn't that kill the little plecos entire food source? If I do this will algae wafers suffice suffice to feed him until the anti algae chemicals dissapate? And how long will it take them to do so?

 

[Twiggles]

mm, I would try just waiting a bit, see what happens before you decide you want to take a chemical route. If you just let him do his thing and avoid doing anything to make the algae flare up it should be gone in a week or so. You could try making your lighting period a little shorter for a while to keep it under control as well.

 

[OrangeCones]

Warmer temperatures would not cause an algae outbreak. Algea is caused by excess light or excess fertilizer (fish poo or food rotting) in the aquarium, or both.

What sized aquarium is this? Plecos are a huge bioload on a tank.

 

[ZackLanduyt]

Hmm I guess the light was on the whole time I was gone, I just realized that

 

[OrangeCones]

Before resorting to chemicals, you might want to try a big water change with a good gravel vacuum followed by a 2 day blackout of the tank. Wrap the tank with dark towels or blanket so no light can get in, and no feeding the fish for the 2 days.

After 2 days, remove the towels or blanket and do another large water change with gravel vacuum (to get rid of the now dead algae). Keep the lights on for only a few hours at first and gradually increase it to the time you want.

If you have no live plants, you don't need to have the light on at all except when you want to enjoy your tank.

 

[ZackLanduyt]

Sounds complicated but I will try that, the algae growth is minimal and I did my bidaily water change last night I will keep the lights off for a few days and see how that goes if I need to I will go all out and do the wrapping plan, thank you orangecones