This can be of multiple sources: dirty or inefficient filter, fish that died and remained undiscovered, decomposing plant leaves, accumulated mulm, etc. Ammonia appears as a result of decomposing organic elements in your water. Our goal is to find out what causes the ammonia levels to spike in our water - and this is where things start to get more complicated. Problem is that ammonia can not be just 'eliminated' - unless you make bigger, daily water changes in your aquarium - but that will also be a symptom cure. This is why beginning aquascapers see more algae after setting up their aquariums than traditional, low-tech hobbyists. The more light we have (and modern, high-tech aquariums have a lot of light), the less ammonia is needed to trigger algae-bloom. In short: the presence of light and ammonia. Always blame yourself and know that Nature is always right - and always stronger than your will and your ego. That will not solve your problem, but it will only protect your ego. It might sound magniloquent, but our best advice is to listen to Nature and do not repeat all the things you know you did right - we all tend to do that: 'I have good filtration, good CO2, my light is enough, and I still have algae'. It is never a good idea to only treat the symptoms, it is not enough to remove the algae (if it can be removed at all), and it is absolutely the worst idea to use algae remover chemicals (biocides). We have good news: with gaining some expertise - or occasionally spending just a little more money on your aquarium equipment to support the equilibrium - you will surely be able to maintain an algae-free beautiful aquascape. Point is, we should not fight algae! We should find the CAUSE and we should eliminate that! It tells us loud and clear that we made a mistake (or a series of mistakes) during the planning phase, or it tells us that we have a setup problem with the otherwise well-suited equipment or that some environmental factor is just not right.

This should just not happen!Īlgae appearance (algae bloom) shows some kind of 'biological system failure'.

Some of you may even start to think about abandoning this beautiful hobby because of the algae bloom, saying that it takes just too much time to fight algae and keep the aquarium nice and clean, or you might become very frustrated of the ugly image of your aquarium full with algae. There will inevitably come a time in your life when you will see some form of algae appearing in your aquarium.

Round modern fish tank with plant light