[planttastic]

I have a alage problem in my 180 gal planted tank. What would have causes it, and how do I get rid of it?

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[Smooch]

You've got yourself some cyano bacteria going on. It is caused from poor tank maintenance, lack of water flow, ect.

What is your cleaning routine for this tank? How often do you do water changes? How often do you clean the filter? Does the spot where the bacteria is get little or no water flow? The more details you can give, the better. If you only deal with the bacteria and not the cause, it will come back.

 

[planttastic]

Well the tank is a drilled 180. I have the drains going into a tower filter I made. Basically it is a plastic tower with drawers that I drilled holes in. I have filter floss in first tray, ceramic bio rings in second stage. It drips tray to tray into a sump that is returned back to the tank with a return pump. I put the return into a spray bar across the back of the tank. Also have 2 powerheads in the corners blowing towards the middle. I have been lacking on my waterchanges. I Usally do a 50% change once a month.

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[Smooch]

Well the tank is a drilled 180. I have the drains going into a tower filter I made. Basically it is a plastic tower with drawers that I drilled holes in. I have filter floss in first tray, ceramic bio rings in second stage. It drips tray to tray into a sump that is returned back to the tank with a return pump. I put the return into a spray bar across the back of the tank. Also have 2 powerheads in the corners blowing towards the middle. I have been lacking on my waterchanges. I Usally do a 50% change once a month.

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I know nothing about maintaining sumps, so I'll leave that for somebody else.

Here's what I do know:

Filter floss should be changed monthly. If you let it go for too long it will contribute to the excess organics in the tank which is part of the problem.

If the area the bacteria is growing is a dead zone or gets little to no water movement, adjust one of your powerheads so that food, dead leaves, fish poop, ect... cannot collect there. Leaving this stuff around adds to the organic matter content of the water.

Any plants that are covered with the green slime need to be trimmed or completely removed if they are that bad. Leaving this stuff in the tank is asking for more problems.

You did not mention how this tank is stocked in terms of fish, but if it is moderately / heavily stocked, you'll need to beef up your water changes. If it is stocked on the heavier side, you should be doing weekly water changes. To get this stuff under control, you should be doing a partial water change a couple times a week.

If you use ferts in your tank, you may want to look over your regime and see if you are overdosing.

Cut your photo period to 6 hours. This can be changed once the bacteria is gone.

There are a few options for treatment.

The first is using a product called Chemi-Clean. https://www.amazon.com/Boyd-Enterprises-CC02-Chemi-Clean-2/dp/B00025YRJS/182-4168886-0313954?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0 Treat the tank according to the instructions. This is not a magic bullet as you will still need to vacuum the tank, do water changes, ect... And as I said previously, this stuff will come back whether you use this stuff or not.

There is the blackout method where you cover the tank for a few days. I find zero value in this form of treatment and think it is a waste of time as it doesn't actually deal with the problem.

Some people use erythromycin. Again, I personally don't find this necessary as you still have to do the work to actually fix what is going on.

Then of course there is the non-chemical / non-blackout method. Cleaning the tank, doing water changes, not overfeeding, ect... which will also make this go away.

Vacuuming is not a dirty word in a planted tank. Skimming the surface once a week helps prevent this kind of stuff too.

 

[_alex_]

The sump should be cleaned out every few months as a lot of gunk will settle in the bottom.

On our salt tank I use a small shop vac and suck all the gunk out every 3 months.

Home Depot has a 5 gal bucket shop vac for like $40


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[IUnknown]

On a 180 gallon its probably a lack of flow. Anything over 100 gallons, two filters usually helps. You can get erythromycin in bulk here:
Fish Mycin Powder Packets - Erythromycin, Antibiotics: Store Name

You need to get as much as you can out by hand and then use the antibiotics. Its not an algae. Until you get the oxygen/bacteria levels up in the tank, its always going to take over.