Red Algae in Fishtank

[Izzie]

I have a 3gal freshwater Eclipse Aquarium that I keep my halfmoon betta in.
When I brought everything home from college in SD this christmas, the tank froze overnight during a stopover (betta safe in a travel container inside).
Was pretty unavoidable, didn't think it would be a problem.

Got home, of course the few cheap plants I had were dead, as was my HUGE snail population- kind of happy about that originally. They were the smaller long skinny ones- I probably had <50 of varying ages.

However, after a couple weeks, I encounter a problem. I sterilized the entire tank when I got home since it sat for a while (couple weeks) before I set it up again, however:

Within a week of cleaning the tank, I get a large red algae growth on the decorations I have in there. Betta just not impressed with the situation. The algae is red-brown, I can take pictures if requested.

I have a biowheel with my filter, so there is some healthy bacteria in there, apparently no more in the tank. I've been doing water changes/scrubbing every two weeks to keep up with the growth. pH has been okay, I do have a way to adjust/measure it, haven't checked recently.

Should I break down and get snails again? I got the little ones because they didn't creep me out like the huge 'mystery snails' you can get at Petco/Petsmart.
Being only a 3 gal, I don't know if can support an algae eater like an oticynclus.

ETA pictures of the obviously tortured betta. (his name is horus)

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Man, it's been too long!

I may still have freshwater tanks, but this is not a problem for me anymore. I had to refresh my memory.

"Red algae", (aka "red slime algae"), is not an algae at all. In fact, it's not even in the plant kingdom.

Say hello to cyanobacteria. They're pretty harmless btw. Funny thing is, they're the world's leading oxygen producers (even better than plants).

My recommendation - do a partial water change with RO/DI or distilled water. Might also wanna reduce the amount and frequency of food you feed the Betta splendens.

The problem:

Excessive nutrients in the water, (from what I understand, it's the phosphate in the water they love).

In about a couple weeks, the numbers will be in check.

They don't go away completely, you just can't see them.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

You go to school in San Diego?

Andy's Orchids wouldn't be too far from there. They're in Encinitas, just a few cities north of San Diego.

[Izzie]

I went to school in South Dakota- back home in CO to get my act together.

I'll post pictures of it just in case- looks like a dark red carpet on my little bridge.

I doubt it's from over-feeding. Horus only gets fed every 2-3 days- Hikari betta food, and blood worms.

[Izzie]

Is this what you're talking about? Nuisance Algae in Aquariums

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

If it's not overfeeding, it's from the water you're using to change the water out.

What kind of water are you using?

Do you change all the water out or just partially?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by Izzie

Is this what you're talking about? Nuisance Algae in Aquariums

Nice article.

The paragraph about the cyanobacteria says it all.

[Izzie]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

If it's not overfeeding, it's from the water you're using to change the water out.

What kind of water are you using?

Do you change all the water out or just partially?

25-30% change, using brita filtered water with a conditioner and freshwater salt added.

[Izzie]

A friend suggested a get a bottle of 'bacteria' from the store to help restore the healthy ecosystem again, haven't decided if that's a gimic or not.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

It's not necessary.

Time will balance the bacterial populations out.

Adding more bacteria helps a little at the beginning, but not significantly over the long run.

Bacteria need space too. Their populations will die off if there's not enough places to live and not enough to "eat".

Just keep the phosphates and nitrates low.