# Algae in Lobster Tank



## ZeeZ (Nov 3, 2011)

Right now I'm fighting a blue-black algae problem along with normal algae in my Blue Crayfish/Lobster 20 Long gallon tank. I don't have any plants in it because the Cray would just cut it up and uproot everything. Right now I have the lights completely off and they need about two more days beffore the algae will disappear.

However, to help prevent the algae coming back, would floating plants help? I was thinking frogbit. The cray wouldn't be able to destroy these...

I'd really rather not have to use algaicide...


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

It sounds like you might have BGA (Blue Geen Algae) a bacterium/plant form. It can be killed with Maracyn antibiotic treatment and blackout but you need to find the cause to prevent it from coming back. It usually shows up in polluted tanks with low nitrate. You need to clean/fix/upgrade your filtration, check for high phosphate and low nitrate. Also old lighting and lighting that is heavy in the yellow/orange region of the spectrum will contribute.


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## ZeeZ (Nov 3, 2011)

I cleaned out the tank and did a blackout for about a week. I've been keeping up with water changes and rinsed out the filter media with old tank water. The lighting is still new, only a few months old. Now it's the green algae that's starting to come out, so I guess I need to turn down the light timers to 8 hours instead of the 11 hours I have them set on. 

Thank you for your help.


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