Saturday, November 10, 2007

I can see clearly now...

...the algae is gone. My 55 gallon fish tank in my bed room with South American fish had gotten so scummy, the algae was so thick, I couldn't see anything. I finally cleaned it out a couple weeks ago, again. It took me more than a week this time. I used lots of bleach to kill the algae and let the tank come back up to speed before I put the fish back in. I even had the garden hose up the side of the house into the bedroom so I didn't have to haul buckets of water back and forth from the bathroom. I swear that stretches my arm 2 inches. Probably explains tendinitis, too. And I just hate hefting the buckets up on my shoulder so I can not pour the water on the carpet, but into the tank. The hose makes it so much easier, but it takes a while for the temperature to stabilize.

Today I bought 12 new fish, six black neons, two cory cats, and four Columbian tetras. I already had a surviving black neon and a surviving Columbian tetra and these guys are monsters compared to the new tank mates. Ohmigoodness, I never realize how much the fish grow until I get new ones from the shop. I'm not sure what of this purchase is left, probably two of the cory cats and one of the neons.

I did a search for my previous post on the same topic and was surprised to find I did the same thing last December. Boy, does time fly. Maybe I'll be a better fish parent this year and not have the algae problem again. Either that, or find algae eater fish that live in the soft Amazon acidic water with a pH of 6.5.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Michele sent me to visit you, good idea on the hose- Bucket lifting is never easy. We're having a bit too much water at my house this weekend (a broken pipe & water all over my bathroom) Hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Michele sent me to visit you, possibly to remind me I never turned the lights on in our own 50-gallon tank... Oops. Well, it'll slow the algae growth in there...

Have you tried chinese algae eaters? We keep trying them, but other than watching them grow bigger and bigger, we've never seen them make a huge dent in algae.