Algae keeps coming back

[Rayray95]

Hey guys,

So I have a 10 gallon tank. Currently houses 2 clownfish, 1 bta, 4 blue leg hermit crabs, and 3 Cerith snails. I’ve had this tank for almost 6 months.

I have been doing my weekly water changes, usually on thursdays, and for about the last month I have been having to scrape off this algae from the glass. Majority of it grows on the back glass of the tank with a few spots here and there on the other sides of the tank. I believe it is brown algae? I noticed that each time I’ve been cleaning it, it grows back a little stronger/thicker. Should I be doing more water changes in the week?

I feed the clowns roughly 1/4th cube of mysis shrimp every 2 days.

I have a Fluval 20 hang on the back filter that has a sponge, bag of charcoal that I replace at the beginning of each month, and a bag of bio balls that are also replaced once a month.

My light is an led that I’ve set for white light ranging between 35%-42%, greens and reds, and blue light ranging from 37%-100% all in an 9 hour period. I don’t know if that matters but I thought to put that up there. I’ve been experimenting with the light as well to find the perfect settings.

Should I add something to the tank or should I take something out? Is it brown algae or another kind of algae? Photos enclosed. Thank you!

 

[Cell]

I'd cut the white light down slowly. Just make sure you don't tick off the nem.

 

[StlSalt]

If you want something that might eat it, get a couple Trochus Snails they like to eat that film algae off the glass. Algae Barn has some good info if you want to read up on them.

Utilizing the Trochus Snail (Trochus spp.)

Algae, of course, is not an inherently bad thing; without it, the natural world could not exist as we know it. However, there are many types of algae that

www.algaebarn.com

 

[brandon429]

Tank looks to be in great condition aging as norm.

 

[Darren in Tacoma]

Snails. I would get 8 or 10 for a ten gallon tank.

 

[Saltyreef]

Scraping algae from the glass unfortunately never ends.....
Just wait until your coraline starts growing on the front glass... lol.

 

[Rayray95]

I'd cut the white light down slowly. Just make sure you don't tick off the nem.

Thank you! Should there be 0% white light or is a little ok?

 

[Rayray95]

If you want something that might eat it, get a couple Trochus Snails they like to eat that film algae off the glass. Algae Barn has some good info if you want to read up on them.

Utilizing the Trochus Snail (Trochus spp.)

Algae, of course, is not an inherently bad thing; without it, the natural world could not exist as we know it. However, there are many types of algae that

www.algaebarn.com

Thank you! Will do!
I had a couple turbo snails but the unfortunately didn’t make it past a month in the tank which was so odd. I will deff look into this!

 

[Rayray95]

Tank looks to be in great condition aging as norm.

Thank you!!

 

[Rayray95]

Snails. I would get 8 or 10 for a ten gallon tank.

Doesn’t that seem like a lot though? Wouldn’t 8-10 eat up all the algae pretty quickly? Would they starve?

 

[Rayray95]

Scraping algae from the glass unfortunately never ends.....
Just wait until your coraline starts growing on the front glass... lol.

Omg! I don’t know if I should cry or be happy that my tank is growing

 

[Thales]

This looks like regular algal growth on glass. You can't really make it not happen. I wouldn't even try to address it except for regular maintenance.

 

[vetteguy53081]

The purple stuff is coraline and a sign that calcium and overall tank developing.
The other stuff on glass is diatoms and not algae. Something that a magnetic algae cleaner would address quickly and easily.
You can reduce white intensity a little to reduce it . Snail recommendtion:

Turbo
Trochus
astrea
nassarius

 

[Darren in Tacoma]

Doesn’t that seem like a lot though? Wouldn’t 8-10 eat up all the algae pretty quickly? Would they starve?

Well, we have 4 large snails in our 5 gallon planted tank that grows algae quite well and we have 25 or 30 in our 90 gal reef. Snails are going to eat more than just algae, also. Food that gets stuck in the rocks or settles in dead spots will get consumed. 8 or 10 is just a guess on my part.