Tips to Avoid Algae in a Freshwater Aquarium

Things to know about algae in a freshwater aquarium

Every aquarium hobbyist knows some good tips to avoid algae in a freshwater aquarium. Algae are not a disease but they can create some problems into your aquarium and it is going to look less appealing.
You should also know that algae are growing in every aquarium, not just in your home tank. In order not to get out of control, algae multiplying should be monitored and prevented.
Algae are present in any aquarium, as we were saying before, because they are feeding themselves with the same nutrients that the plants are using to grow.
If the plants in the aquarium are not using the nutrients, the algae are going to feast with it. It means that in spite of all your efforts, you’ll still have algae into your aquarium.
A big problem you might encounter in a new set tank, because the plants are not enough and the algae are going to use all the nutrients the young plants are not using.

Types of algae in a freshwater aquarium

There are some types of algae that are most probable to cause you problems some time:
• Blue-green algae is easy to be recognized because it is going to create a kind of blue-green deposit on the decorations in the tank, even on the gravel.
• Green algae appear if the aquarium is over lighted. The water in a tank with green algae is going to catch the aspect of a lettuce soup.
• Red algae are forming lots of red lines that are spreading inside the aquarium. This algae can be very annoying. It multiplies due to the lack of CO2 in the water.
• Brown algae appear because of an improper lighting. It forms ugly and big layers all over the aquarium.
If you are having problems with the algae in a recently set aquarium, you should probably wait for a while for the environment you’ve just created to balance. But if you think the algae are really a problem, you should add growing stem or floating plants in the aquarium.

They are going to use the excess of nutrients and the algae will starve. Obviously, you’ll have to stop adding nutrients until your plants are going to need some.
Another measure you can take against an algae attack is to reduce the lighting of the aquarium. Adding oxygen in the aquarium you can fight the algae, but the problem with adding oxygen is that it will decrease the co2 concentration which will have a negative impact over the plants.
Algae-eating fish (Siamese algae eater, bushy-nosed pleco) are going to help you a lot to put back the unwanted algae.
The conclusion is: avoid changing water if algae’s flourishing is at its peak, stop releasing to much nutrients into the aquarium, set a perfect lighting, use some floating plants and some algae-eating fish, and everything will go back to normal.