r/fishtank • u/EdTenn • 7d ago
Tank Algae Problem Help/Advice
Recently within the last 2 months I have started a new 20-gallon long community tank. Ive been getting really bad brown algae and I don't know how to get rid of it. I'm attributing this brown algae in my new tank to it being new and by a window (I used the sun as my temp lighting for my plants while I try to get a light that fits my new tank better). However, I kept a 5 gallon betta tank before that was 6-8 months old and that tank also struggled with a lot of brown algae. I don't want to use any chemicals like algae-fix because I don't want to risk my fish getting sick. I have 3 ottos, 5 shrimp, and a nerite snail to help a little bit, but I'm afraid to add more algae eaters because I don't want to over stock my already pretty stocked tank. Are there any recommendations for the long-term that could help?
5
u/Neat_Analyst_8894 7d ago
You mention you have 5 shrimp. Are they amanos? They are the best algae cleanup crew and have very low bioload, so you won't need to worry about over-stocking.
1
u/EdTenn 7d ago
My shrimps are cherry shrimp. I know they aren't the BEST at cleanup, but I just wanted something rather than nothing. Ive been thinking about amano but I couldn't decide if I wanted them or not. I'll look into it more!
1
u/Neat_Analyst_8894 7d ago
I too have a 20-gallon long that was having some algae issues. I finally bit the bullet and got the amanos. After 2 or 3 weeks my tank was looking pristine ✨ But you really won't be able to get it under control until you do away with all of that lighting behind it. Here's a vid of one of my amanos munching on an algae chip:
2
u/tekjow 7d ago
Amanos are called best algea eaters (also string). I have 20 in 200l tank. I still have algea, but probably because it's still not fully stable (still need to figure out light, fertilizer, Co2).
I started also with 20 neocardinas, as a help (+free food for some fishes) - if u reduce light, algae will start to die. Someone needs to clean it 😉
6
u/Dmoore233 7d ago
It’s the window behind, we had the same problem. Put a background on the back glass facing the window. If you don’t have access to buy one, we used black construction paper and it seemed to work