Betta/clean aquarium

Question
I have had Beta's for about 2-3 years. I have a 2 gallon and a 2 1/2 gallon tank, both filtered, one filter better than the other. Beta in each, one with a snail and the other with a catfish.  I was gone over the holiday weekend and co-workers took care of my fish as they have in the past. When I came back the 2 gallon tank was so algae filled you could hardly see the fish, the snail even has algae on it.  I did a water change before I left and another today, cleaned walls. When I put fresh water in the amount of debris that floats is disgusting, at least to me. This beta has lived probably the longest, a year and a half. My co-worker who got me started on this says to leave things alone, he has lived longer than others. I know he needs some of his water, but is there not a time to really clean out the bottom? A little hot water over the flat marbles and actually rinse the tank, of course saving half of the water?
Thanks, Joanne

Answer
Dear Joanne,
The sudden algae growth is likely due to the two key factors that cause lots of algae growth in the first place...light and nutrients. Controlling these two factors is very important to keep algae problems at bay and it's very easy and simple. Make sure he doesn't get too much sunlight on his aquarium or make sure his tank light isn't on for more than 10-12 hours a day. With nutrients caused by fish waste, especially from the snail which produce lots of waste, this will feed algae growth tremendously.

The best thing to do is your case is to start changing some of the betta tank's water every single day and wipe the walls of the tank down. A good thing to do is to use a small aquarium gravel siphon and siphon the particles of algae as you scrub them off with your algae scrubber. Carefully using a small net to net out the free-floating particles of algae will also help. You could easily do a 50% water change everyday on the tank until the algae problem subsides, which it should in a week or less. Careful feedings and increased tank maintenance in general (more frequent water changes) and making sure the tank doesn't get too much light will help keep algae problems from almost never occuring.

It's alright to rinse the tank, but with a tank the size of 2 gallons or more, it's usually easier to just use a small aquarium gravel vacuum and a 5galon bucket to drain water into.

I really hope this helps!
Best of luck with all your fish and the snail!!
Karen~