Several Problems

Question
I have two beautiful tanks running right now. One is a 10 gallon tank with 5 Tiger Barbs, 1 Chinese Algae Eater and 1 Golden Algae Eater. The other is a 20 gallon tank with 1 baby black molly, a few guppies, 1 platy and a good sized Leopard Pleco. It has the shape of a 10 gallon but is in the 20 gallon capacity. It's more tall than it is wide. If that makes sense.

The problem is with both tanks but I have not yet had my water tested on either tank in quite some time so if you need to have information on the water tests I can do so. But right now, the 10 gallon has tons of algae and I was wondering if there was something I could do that would not cost any money to get rid of the algae. I mean, the tank looks almost dirty from the algae growth. Otherwise I keep the tanks very clean and nice looking and the 20 gallon I think is getting a bit of high nitrates and some ammonia from the last time I had it checked. But I do a 20% water change weekly on the 20 gallon due to the size of the pleco. So if you can help me figure out what I can do to maintain the water levels and keep the algae growth down...I would really appreciate it.

Answer
Hi Lisa,
The best solution to your problem is more frequent water changes, and cutting back on the amount of light your tank receives. Algae thrives on two main needs to thrive--- light and nutrients. Water changes are the best way to get rid of the nutrients feeding the algae and keeping its growth strong. Try to keep the tank lights out as much as you can. You can also try adding some hardy fast growing aquatic plants to absorb the nutrients and compete with the algae.

*I would start doing daily 30-50% water changes until the algae goes away.

Excessive algae is a sure sign your tank is not balanced quite right.

I hope this helps!
Karen~