Question: Algae Growth in tank

I have 2 axolotl in a 3ft tank. I have had them about 5 months I have an internal stingray filter with the flow set as slow as possible. The substrate is sand. I also have a plastic hide and some plastic plants in there. I do a 20% water change each week. I feed them every day on bloodworm/shrimp/beef heart. i alternate the diet from the 3 types. I vacum out there droppings as i see them. Once a month i do a larger water change where i remove them whilst i do this, into a separate container filled with water from there tank. I use a normal aquarium tube light, it isn't UV.

I keep the tank in my kitchen as its colder in there. The kitchen does receive a lot of day light, a lot more than any other room, but its nice and cold in there. the tank is never more than 18 degrees Celsius.

I seem to have a reoccurring problem of algae. the algue is thick and grows on he tanks walls. it also covers the sans in a stringy carpet and the plants. It is bright green , but is sometimes a darker colour on the tank walls. It comes off very easily. Apart from not being able to see the axolotl when it grows is dosn't seem to effect them. there active as normal, eat well and are growing well.

If i completely clean all the algae out it will start to grow again with int he next week.

It makes the tank look like the bottom of a river if that makes sense?

Any idea why this keeps happening? Is it harmful to the axolotl?

Is it just a cosmetic problem or is it a sign of something else? the water has more movement on the surface than at the bottom and ive set the filter so it breaks the top of the water to oxygenate the water. there is no scum on the water surface and the water is clear.

It is hard to find proper information and so i was glad to find this site
Also i have noticed that one of the axolotl have grown bigger than the other one. i have 2, one is brown the other is albino. the albino is about an inch shorter but is more fatter, where as the brown one is longer and thinner. Is this a colour thing? or a sex thing?

thank you for your time

Axolotl all grow up at different rates, when they are young there is no telling if this is gender related.
The only thing might be that the bigger one is taking in slightly more food then the other, but the smaller one will catch on eventually, or maybe he never will there's no saying in that
If he acts normal, eats normal etc. there is nothing to worry about

As for the algae, you could do a water test to see if your water has become very soft, algea tend to do very well in these conditions
This is measured in GH (general hardness)
Also the PH can be of influence, but for the sake of your axo's this should be between 7 - 7.5

If the aquarium has a lot of daylight make sure it is not aiming directly into the aquarium, direct light is like 10 times more beneficial then indirect light for algea

If your water is fine the algea can not harm your axolotl untill it is really really much, but then you would have cleaned it out way before that

Petshops often have an anti-algea product, but you don't want to use them even if they say it's "safe" for the fish, these products often contain very unpleasant chemicals

If I were you, I'd try to find the outmost dark spot in your kitchen, with no direct lighting and clean the tank out as good as possible, the darker algea tend to be very easy to remove while the light green algea are more stuck to their surface

In the end conclusion this is just a cosmetic thing

Good luck

Hi there, thank you for your reply. If my Ph turns out to be too soft, is there anyway to make it harder?

It will happen over time as a result of food leftovers and dead plantbits, PH is not to low very fast, far more common in my experience with other people that it's to high

ok, don't fiddle with our ph. You'll get algae regardless of the ph, and I honestly doubt algae will grow more in a lower ph. I could be wrong, but I have never heard of this, and it is highly inadvisable to mess with your ph.
Algae is like any other plant, it needs nutrients to survive. How long is your light on? If you have your aquarium light on for more than 8 hours I suggest lowering the time your light is on. If you are getting sunlight in you aquarium, that may be causing some algae outbreaks.
Another way to combat algae is to limit the nitrate in the tank. If you have a ton of nitrate in your tank, the algae is going to have lots of food.
Limiting feeding, waterchanges, and lowering the time the lights are on will help get rid of algae.

if its the way it sounds, the algae making the bottom look like a riverbed actually sounds pretty cool. you can put live plants in your tank. in addition to improving water quality, the plants also out compete algae for nutrients.

carsona246 said:

ok, don't fiddle with our ph.

Click to expand...

Actually, I never said they benefit from a lower Ph, Algea grow best in higher Ph arround 9 actually
I was only mentioning that he indeed shouldn't fiddle but try to maintain the perfect Ph for the axies there's no harm done

Anyways your information is also great :happy:

Icarez said:

As for the algae, you could do a water test to see if your water has become very soft, algea tend to do very well in these conditions
This is measured in GH (general hardness)
Also the PH can be of influence, but for the sake of your axo's this should be between 7 - 7.5

Click to expand...

Sorry this post made it appear as if you were suggesting a low ph encouraged algae growth.
I just wanted to make it clear that messing with your ph is rarely advisable. Ph really doesn't effect algae growth, you're going to get it no matter what. Limiting the nutrients/light available will have the most noticeable affect.

I agree with you, but with "soft" i ment the GH not Ph

I had an algae bloom (my water went crazy green!)

And what I did was keep the lights off, wrap up the tank so sunlight couldn't get in (I taped cardboard to the tank), did a water change everyday till it was a little more clear (usually a little more than half since it was all in the water), and poof! It's all gone and its been gone even after I took the cardboard off and put the light back on

This may or may not work for you...I'd pull off all the algae or swirl it up and suck it out doing what I did too

There are all kinds of algae! Try telling the algae in my saltwater tank that they should like softer water better XD

ah, but regardless algae will be found in your tank regardless of gh/ph/kh.

All true

From what I know you can keep the green algae to a minimum if you do a regular water change every week (20-25% water change). This will no guarantee 0 algae in your aquarium but will deffinately keep them from growing. Myself I love the green algae in my aquarium, especially when they stick to rocks and decorations. I usually just clean the glass with some algae removing tools when it needs cleaning.
Another method to keep algae away is to have plants, healthy plants => less algae.
Hope this help.

Cheers!