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is there anyway to help stop the algae bloom?
There are a few, I will list the least desirable, more temporary and pricey solutions first.
1. Chemicals: Carried by any pet store. Kills the algae, but may kill your beneficial bacteria and, if I remember correctly, any inverts you may have. Use with caution.
2. U.V. Lights: expensive to buy BUT some higher-end aquatic supply stores allow you to rent them. Does nothing to prevent a reoccurence of the outbreak, but will kill the spores in the water and prevent the algae from spreading. Any anchored algae will naturally die off at the end of its lifespan, and get the algae levels down to a manageable level.
3. Plecos: Very few Plecos will find a good home in a 55 gal., they are simply too big! There is 1 variety which I myself have, which can be a big help. The bristlenose pleco reaches a maximum size of only about 4-6 inches, and can be quite an interesting addition to an aquarium. I was cultivating a black beard algae mat on a piece of driftwood about 7"x5" (no small task in a planted tank without a full-on algae bloom) and my pleco ate every last bit of it not in days, but in hours! A 55 gal. will not grow enough algae to sustain a pleco, so you will have to feed him veggies and algae sheets. They can do nothing with spot algae and algae on small plant leaves. They also do not like to forage near the surface. You must have a piece of driftwood for fiber and a sleeping place, which he will hang upside down from
all day. You will rarely see him during the day, but if you happen to have LED lights you will see him "go to town" the moment you turn your main set of lights out.
4. A Blackout: completely cover your tank for 4 days, allowing no light to reach the tank (although do provide your fish some oxygen!) Should kill the algae, and leave any plants you may have none the worse for wear.
The very best, long-term solution to algae is plants, plants, and more plants! While this may be getting into a whole new division of aquarium keeping, it is worth it and you will have very little algae problems! Maybe a little more expensive to start as well and possibly outside your budget, what with the lighting systems, CO2 injection, fertilizer, substrate, and the plants themselves, so you may want to progress in steps and go "on the cheap."
While it may seem contradictory to the general opinions on algae eradication in fish-only setups, plants will always outcompete algae if given lots of light, fertilizer and CO2, and the more the better (within reason!) There are also some plants which can be better than others against algae. A good plant for initial use is hornwort. It grows fast and is a huge nutrient sucker, and it produces more allelo-chemicals than your average plant. I accidentally pulled out too much while doing some pruning in my tank one day, and within not even 2 days--boom--
greengreengreen water. Hornwort does a great job keeping algae at bay while you are letting your more attractive and less weedy plants grow.
If you don't have the time, space, or money to do CO2 injection for a heavily planted aquarium, you can try a few SeaChem products. There are 2 I like and have had great success with. One is Flourish Excel (not to be confused with regular old Flourish, often considered a must have for planted tanks.) Excel provides bio-available carbon in a liquid form. Another is SeaChem's Acid and Alkaline Buffers. When used in conjunction, not only does it buffer the water and stabilize ph by regulating your KH, but it also converts alkalinity into CO2. A god-send if you are like me and have no kh or nutrients in your water to speak of. The water that comes out of the ground at my place may as well be RO/DI water!
For lighting, you can go cheap if you look around. For example, for my tank I snagged an Odyssea T5 48" lighting system for $50. Lighting systems of that wattage and size can be $300-$500! So what if the Odyssea has a crappy ballast, "my hands ain't broke! " It's no difficult task to switch out a ballast.
It also may be helpful for us to know what kind of algae problem you have. If you are not certain, here is a pretty good list of algae varieties and some tips for getting rid of them.
http://www.aquariumalgae.blogspot.com/I wouldn't suggest a total break down, disturbing the ecology of the tank can cause bigger problems than algae blooms! Plus, my tank is about the size of yours, I know what a pain in the a** it is to move and reorganize a tank like that, not to mention finding a place to keep all the inhabitants while you're doing it. Roomates, spouses, and parents don't like it when they walk into a house filled with mixing bowls, cereal bowls, and planters taking up every shelf and desk space available, each with a little pair of eyes staring up at them.
xp A breakdown will not eradicate the algae spores which will start a new bloom just as the first 4 points above don't; as soon as you pour more water in you get a new dose of spores. It doesn't fix the root of the problem--no competition for the algae. It will still have free reign after the tank is refilled.
For substrate I use Flourite. It comes in a few nice colors, and is in the middle between low end gravel and high-end, pre-fertilized substrates. While the pieces may be angular, they are small and light, so if you have cory's and other substrate sifters you don't have to worry about damaged barbels like you do with big, fat gravel chunks. Of course, you can also go the soil route, but this is best with a new tank without fish because it gets
messy. It is also best to let it "cure" for a few weeks-months, and you better be ready with some plants and a suitable set-up for them; a soil substrate will turn a fish-only set-up into a bunch of muck.
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