I was wondering if algae is harmful to the fish or if we just try to get rid of it because of the way it looks. My tank has finally settled in to 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates and 0 nitrites. There is some green algae growing on the sand but it doesn't really bother me that much if it won't harm the fish.

Algae won't hurt your fish. Some fish actually eat algae - Mollies, Platies and Gouramis pick at it, while some fish like Oto Cats and Siamese Algae Eaters eat it.

There are some algaes that are bad - Black Beard Algae, Stag Horn Algae and Hair Algae - because they can easily take over the tank and are quite ugly. (Only certain fish will eat those, and it's not a guarantee that they will.) It can also start to cover plants, which means light can't get to the leaves and the plants will start to die.

Having a lot of algae could be a sign that your lights are on too much during the day. You could try cutting them by a few hours and see if that helps get rid of it. Or, use a tank scraper to scrape it off the glass, and use a gravel vac' to stir up the gravel so it comes loose and suck it up.

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Algae may be ugly, but on the whole, it tends to act like live plants (well, they ARE live plants) sucking up ammonia and nitrates/nitrites in the water and keeping the tank a bit healthier. Some tanks use algae as a form of filtration (I don't recommend that!) but on the whole, it's not bad for your tank, just ugly, and usually tells you your tank needs tweaking in some way.

To get rid of it, just wide down whatever surfaces it's on with a clean cloth that you haven't used laundry soap on. To keep it from coming back, add live plants, especially fast growing stem plants. Also watch how long you keep the lights on. Fish don't need lights, just that people like being able to see their fish. Having light on all day can actually be harmful to fish, since it messes up their day/night rhythm. Plants need lights, but no more than 8-10 hours a day.

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Lead me not to temptation...I can make it there myself just fine, thank you

The algae is actually a very pretty light green just on the sand so I don't think it's harmful. I cut my lights back to 12 hours a day and switched to a lower watt basking bulb. I don't want to go much lower since I have plants and a turtle that needs the light. I think the turtle is nibbling on it by her weight but she's not eating it all. Not sure if the tetras would eat algae.

I just got a vacuum and I'm all for adding plants so will keep at it.
Thanks for the advice

Turtles nom on plants, lol. (BTW, do you have a platform for the turtle to totally get out of the water once a day? They need to dry off completely once per day.) You're lucky! Turtles eat fish - how are you keeping them with the turtle?

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I'm lucky enough to have a very humble mud turtle - she isn't a hunter and hates greens. I actually saw her put a leaf in her mouth once, make a funny face, then spit it out again. I think she was just scouring it for snails. She also seems to enjoy the company of her new fish friends and they get along great.

I know a lot more about turtles than I do tanks and fish. This is where she basks every day and the fish like the hide too. If I start growing plants now I might have something natural in a few years

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Aw! She sounds like a cutie pie! I LOVE turtles! (Your pic didn't show up though.) :D

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the pic showed up for me, looks good

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Lead me not to temptation...I can make it there myself just fine, thank you