How do I verbs my freshwater aquarium of saline residue and unconscious algae?
My aquarium is in serious need of a deep cleaning. I have a serious algae bloom a few weeks ago and used an algae killer to get rid of it. Now there is inert, black algae film on my rocks, silk plants, and walls. I tried just scrubbing and it's not coming past its sell-by date. Also, the salt residue is very hard. Is within a solution I can use to make the cleaning easier? What about the silk plants?
get some algae fish cleaners its relly helpful
Live plants in fact compete with algae for the same nutrients. Depending on tank size it may be easier to put fish contained by buckets and rinse gravel in a sieve, use razor (like for stove tops) to get stale glass. Replace gravel, put fish back in (add the marine they were in - up to 50% tank volume) to prevent shock. do weekly 25% hose down change and get a pleco (I suggest a clown or bristlenose as they stay small unlike some big cousins typically sold).
to prevent a relapse: cut down on light some, add live plants, add algae ingestion fish or snail, don't overfeed, weekly water changes _ clean walls of algae. Some algae is honest, but too much isn't.
Best of Luck!
Answers: Good old fashioned scrub with an algae scrubber pad or a razor blade is the best item you can use. You can also use a tootpick or an old stiff toothbrush to get into small crevices.Just make certain the brush is rinsed very well and has not be used for cleaning with soap or other cleaning agents. You could maybe also try using some table salt as a scrub agent as long as the tank is completely empty and rinsed well afterwards. Like Crystals said, you may want to consider replacing gravel and other decorations you can't remove algae from- that may be your with the sole purpose choice on those things. If things are o.k. in your tank you should not have a run over of algae (as a general rule). Something is getting out of balance likely within your water. May be overfeeding, not changing water regularly enough, the light being gone on too much, and various other things can cause algae. You will end up beside the same issues again most likely- if you don't figure out what cause it in the first place. Hope this helps and wish you luck :)
