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Here is the situation. I have a 1.5 Gal tank on my desk at work and I have a green algae problem. I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help my little guy short of scrubbing the tank every week. I do water changes of 10% twice a week. I feed him very little twice daily. His light is on for 8hrs daily and is not in direct sunlight. I didn’t think I could use an otto.
Here is a crappy picture of him from my cell phone


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"No whammy, No whammy, No whammy, STOP!!"

1984-Michael Larsen On Press Your Luck

About the only thing you could do to cut down on the algae would be to reduce the light or you could try putting a few floating plants such as wisteria in the tank.

This would help to reduce the light and at the same time use up the nutrients that the algae are now using.

Jim


P.S. That's a nice looking betta.

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

All i can say is Hornwort! That will be a nice addition, and will take care of your algae problem. Just be sure you have enough lighting, as it might decide to drop its leaves and litter the tank.

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Only feed your betta 1 time a day[only 3-4 pellets then if thats what you use] only keep the light on for an hour or two daily.And try putting java ferns/moss in there!!
Good Luck!!

Yup. I'm that crazy Twilight/animal/music girl

10% twice a week isn't going to be keeping your nitrates down after any length of time. How do you change the water and what is the new water you add? is it aged and of the same temperature or is it cup out- cup in type thing?

I'd be doing bigger water changes, getting a small plant or two and shading the tank a bit from the light Is it a fluro light BTW? I found I got more algae growth with incandescent globes.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I use RO water from our office. Its Generally Cup in Cup out. Currently I am using the trial size Tetra AquaSafe Water Conditioner. I add water to the cup and let it sit for the day so that is room temperature and then add it to the tank immediately after removing the tank water. The lighting is a crappy incandescent with the 15w bulb which should be enough light for a hornwort correct. As for the food its HBH ColorBright flake so it’s a little harder to measure so I think I might switch over to pellets. It also sounds like I should be changing more water so that will have to change.
Thanks


"No whammy, No whammy, No whammy, STOP!!"

1984-Michael Larsen On Press Your Luck

some plants would help and of course, enhance the look of the tank

Pellets would be your best bet over flake (IMO), if you want to vary his diet, get some of the small canisters of freeze dried blood worms or something similar. always buy small at first, to make sure he eats it.

as far as water changes. with how you say you do them. you could expand on that and save on your water conditioner. as most would tell you, that if you let the water sit 24 hours, that most of the chemicals in the water that the declorinator remove will be gone. but if you feel safer with it, still add it then.

and judging by what you posted, there is no filter. so heres what you could do. say on friday afternoon, fill a empty cleaned milk jug with water (and add your conditioner if you like) and on monday, do a 50% or so water change and then repeat it thursday or friday (do less or how much you feel is best). and then before you leave friday, repeate the process with the jug of water.

but yes. the 20% weekly is not enough

again, all my 2 cents.

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

I have had a male betta in the same size tank for 3 years and do 100% water changes weekly all the time. 100% is ideal and isn't too hard once a week, it will help reduce the algae (along with feeding less)and better for the health of your betta.

I do a 100% water change on my two gallon and under betta tanks, using aged water, once a week. Just dip the betta out in a cup and put a cover over it until you get the water changed in his tank. Make sure the replacement water is the same temp as the old and add the declorinatior. He should be fine.

I think Java Fern will out grow the tank, and java moss will be OK. Hornwort is great, but even better is duckweed, or add some shrimp like ghost or cherry shrimp. These will clean up the algae. Or, you could use filter feeding shrimp to get rid of Green Water Algae.

Id buy a filter that is either a small internal, or an UGF or an air-powered internal.

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cut the light to 4 hours, and like stated floating plants will cut down on the light as well.

i do a 100% water change everyweek on all of my bettas and i have no problems here. try changing your water less often but more in quantity.


BTW, its been along time since i saw a betta like yours. solid red, and extended rays. good fish.

Quick little update


I have added a Discard-a-filter(pic below). I only have it on for a few hours daily. 1 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.
Reduced the Light to 5 hours daily
He now gets 3 Hikari Betta Bi-Gold pellets in the morning and 3 at night
Water Changes are now 25% twice weekly(Mon Thurs)
Hornwort goes in tommorow. I'll try and remeber to bring my camera to get a good picture of him.




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"No whammy, No whammy, No whammy, STOP!!"

1984-Michael Larsen On Press Your Luck