fish tank cleaning advice please (novice here)

[bathmummy]

we have got a standard 37 litre tropical tank set up with plenty of fish, a bubble tube thing and a big filter. All is fine and well except over the last few days the sides are going green. Our algae eater fish isn?t bothered anymore and it looks horrible.

Is there a treatment I can put in the water to get rid of the green? (only on the tank sides, water is clear, fish healthy)
Can I get a pan scrub (clean of course) and just scrub at it while fish are in there? Is this better that taking them out and stressing them more? Should I do a water change and scrub while half empty?
Please advise me - don?t want to kill off DD?s treasured fish as each time one dies (thankfully not often) she is inconsolable.

By far and away the best thing I have found for this is a device that you can buy in any good fish shop, it's a long stick with a space on the end for a non-safety razor. You then scrape the algae off the glass with this. Forget those scrubbers they are useless.

Ensure your tank receives no direct sunlight and is not in too bright a place as this will encourage algae growth.

HTH

thanks CD, will go and hunt for one of those stick things at our local garden centre this morning. Will not bother with the scrubbers now, pity there isn?t some kind of chemical that magically makes it all go, but that would be too easy

there is a treatment called esha protalon 707, which is great, but if the algae is only on the glass when you're better off just scraping it away. get an algae magnet as well to keep the glass clear, and make sure if you have a light that you switch it off at night.

Algae magnets are brill.

Better still if it's a tropical tank you've got, buy a fish called a Plec if you don't already have one.

They are great as they have great big mouths and they suck on to the sides of the tanks and eat the algae.

My mum and dad had 2 of them and never really had a problem with algae because the fish kept it under control.

my plecco is a lazy fat s*d tho. will try and find out if i can have two in same tank, as he just hides and sucks the algae off the back of the tank, not the front.

They bought one when they first bought the tank and then they got a second one and they never bothered each other.

They had another fish which was called a bumblebee fish I think. I'm sure it was a type of catfish and that was supposed to eat algae but it just laid under a bit of wood all day!

if you don't feed the fish for a few days they the tank often clears up (I think the algae thrive on excess rotting food).

our plec is rubbish at algae eating too
We use a biological water lotion that helps break down the gunk.
Ours are outdoor fish koi/goldfish cross but as they are babies (12 of the lil suckers) we have to house them inside
we are also novices but have learned very quickly indeed.
We also swap half of the water for our outside pond water and then treat all the water with our stuff- I'll get of my lazy bum and tell you what it's called
BacterLife
Activates Filters, Oxidises ammonia, Digest sludge
And it works!!!
made by company called waterlife
We have never had to scrub sides with a magnet, but you do need to get a test kit to test the water for ammonia etc

Dh has just added that he (when he has taken half of the old water) uses a clean sponge that has never been used with any detergent or cleaner, to wipte the tank sides, that way the filter does not have to deal with the muck if you were to do it while it was full, you can even take the water out and then put it back once tank cleaned
Ps our plec lives under the filter...