Algae?

[AbelR1975]

I set up my 80gal tank on May 15. I have 2 three spot gourami and 7 small tiger barbs. I also put in some dwarf hair grass, Narrow Leaf Micro Sword, and Narrow Leaf Chain Sword. My ammonia level is currently .25, Nitrite .5, Nitrates 5, Ph 8.2, and temp has been at 82.

Within the past couple of days, some brown stuff has been growing...I'm assuming it is algae, but I'm not positive. I have also notice some bright green spots n random places. I have no idea what that is.

I'm posting some photos from today, after I used a gravel vac and tried to remove some of it. Do yall have any advice for this?

 

[Mebbid]

It's just diatoms. It grows in.almost all new tanks until the silica is all used up. It will go away on its own.

That dwarf hair grass needs fairly powerful light so you might run into issues keeping it alive.

 

[AbelR1975]

Ok. Thank you.

The dwarf hairgrass hasn't been doing great at all. I wasn't sure what was going on with it. I have a 48" Current USA Freshwater Plus light and a 40w 6500k fluorescent blub on about 12 hours a day. Ive been adding the API CO2 booster daily and Flourish every 3 days. I also put a few of the root tabs in there. I don't know if thats enough or not.

 

[BBradbury]

Your Tank

Hello Abel...

Don't fret over a little algae. It's good for the fishes' diet, it's a good water filter and a sign of a healthy tank. Most kinds look pretty good in the tank. If you're an aggressive water changer and don't feed too much, add some dark, floating plants like Anacharis and Hornwort to help use dissolved nutrients in the water, algae hasn't much of a chance. Some will "poo-poo" this approach, but maybe they haven't tried it or found another way of dealing with it.

I wouldn't recommend changing the lighting or using medications to treat the stuff, these really mess with fish, plants and even bacteria.

Keep it simple and natural. Just one reporter's opinion. It's your tank, you're the water keeper.

B

 

[Brookster123]

You'll want to cut lighting to 6-7 hours a day and dose liquid carbon daily or else this is only the beginning of what could and most likely will become an algae farm..

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[Mebbid]

Hello Abel...

Don't fret over a little algae. It's good for the fishes' diet, it's a good water filter and a sign of a healthy tank. Most kinds look pretty good in the tank. If you're an aggressive water changer and don't feed too much, add some dark, floating plants like Anacharis and Hornwort to help use dissolved nutrients in the water, algae hasn't much of a chance. Some will "poo-poo" this approach, but maybe they haven't tried it or found another way of dealing with it.

I wouldn't recommend changing the lighting or using medications to treat the stuff, these really mess with fish, plants and even bacteria.

Keep it simple and natural. Just one reporter's opinion. It's your tank, you're the water keeper.

B

I love when people direct comments at me without actually mentioning me. Bbradbury - Your suggestion is to float plants like anacharis and hornwort in the water but why would anyone that runs anything above a low light planted tank want to do that? It blocks off light from reaching the lower levels of the tank wasting electricity and bulbs. When you block all light from getting in the aquarium it creates too low of a light level for algae to thrive which is why your method of algae control works.

For anyone else in a planted tank limiting nutrients is the first step in creating an algae farm. My own tank is a prime example of this because if I don't fertilize for a few days and my nitrates drop to 0 the only thing that grows is algae. It's the same with anyone else running anything above an ultra low light tank.

You'll want to cut lighting to 6-7 hours a day and dose liquid carbon daily or else this is only the beginning of what could and most likely will become an algae farm..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

I agree, but fertilizers are more important at this junction as liquid co2 is already being dosed daily.

With your lighting situation I would suggest skipping the flourish and going with dry ferts instead. It will keep your plants growing staving off the algae demons. Like was said by Brookster, cutting your lights down a bit will help with algae as well. You can also look into getting Metricide 14 day sterilizing solution and dosing it at half strength as your co2 booster. It's the exact same thing but twice as strong.

However, my statement about the diatoms (brown algae) still stands. There's not much you're going to be able to do about them except wait them out.

 

[AbelR1975]

Thank you all for the replies! I've been reading as much as I can about starting a tank and maintenance, but some things need experience. I appreciate yall's donation of the experience

I get that I should cut back the time that the lights are on. When I started, I started by just using the LED lights. The dwarf hairgrass started dying shortly after I put it in, so I started using the T12 as well. The thing I was worried about was that they werent getting enough light. I've seen where people say that you should have 2-4 watts per gallon, but I can't find anything about whether the LED light that I have is sufficient for the plants. During the day, I set it to full spectrum. Do yall have any experience with the Current USA Freshwater Plus? Should I add/remove lights?

Mebbid, do you have any suggestions on a good dry fert? All I've seen are liquids. I checked the phosphates last night and they were about .1ppm.

I tested the water again tonight and my ammonia is at 0-.1ppm, Nitrites are approx .1, Nitrates are 0, Ph is now 8.1. I might should note that I just installed a chiller last night and took the temp from 82 to 78...I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

 

[jglover]

I'm running the 18" Satellite LED+ on a 20H tank and it works fine for low light plants.I also dose CO2 Booster daily and Flourish/Leaf Zone weekly. My plants are growing just fine with only a small amount of algae on the glass and my bristlenose takes care of much of that. These are not high light fixtures and maybe just make it to the low end of medium but they work fine for low light. i keep mine on the full spectrum (the yellow button) and run off the single ramp timer for 6 hours a day.

 

[BBradbury]

Algae Problem

I love when people direct comments at me without actually mentioning me. Bbradbury - Your suggestion is to float plants like anacharis and hornwort in the water but why would anyone that runs anything above a low light planted tank want to do that? It blocks off light from reaching the lower levels of the tank wasting electricity and bulbs. When you block all light from getting in the aquarium it creates too low of a light level for algae to thrive which is why your method of algae control works.

For anyone else in a planted tank limiting nutrients is the first step in creating an algae farm. My own tank is a prime example of this because if I don't fertilize for a few days and my nitrates drop to 0 the only thing that grows is algae. It's the same with anyone else running anything above an ultra low light tank.



I agree, but fertilizers are more important at this junction as liquid co2 is already being dosed daily.

With your lighting situation I would suggest skipping the flourish and going with dry ferts instead. It will keep your plants growing staving off the algae demons. Like was said by Brookster, cutting your lights down a bit will help with algae as well. You can also look into getting Metricide 14 day sterilizing solution and dosing it at half strength as your co2 booster. It's the exact same thing but twice as strong.

However, my statement about the diatoms (brown algae) still stands. There's not much you're going to be able to do about them except wait them out.

Hello Meb...

Mea Culpa on that post. That was a little regrettable and one I should have retrieved. But, I was hustling to defend my post. Am certain you'll understand leaving off the name, but you knew it was in response to your post.

The Hornwort is most suitable for any lighted tank, because it floats close to the light source, the leaves are very thin and it allows filtered light to reach plants below. Anacharis and Pennywort not so much, as they are much thicker and if not tended to regularly, will completely block the light below. However, if one is a good tank manager and tends the plants properly, thinning them when needed and even keeping them in thier own area of the tank, all these will stay healthy and help maintain stable water conditions and keep algae under control.

Again, just one reporter's opinion.

B

 

[Sk3lly]

As a high light, heavily planted tank owner, i would not use the floating plants. As was stated it CAN block out the light to plants that really need it. This isnt always the case though.

I think the best form of algae prevention is to provide the plants with everything they need to thrive. Light, a carbon source and sufficient macro and micro nutrients in the form of a good fertilisation package (such as pps pro or ei dosing). The plants will the out compete the algae for the tanks resources.

To the OP, as you now already know DHG needs a high light level to really thrive. Its not as simple as bolting on more and more light fixtures to provide more light. You need to do some research on PAR (photosynthetically active radiation). In simple terms its the amount of USEABLE light at a given distance from your light source. A plant like DHG needs high light because its a substrate hugger. Its normally a long way from your light fixture. The further light has to travel through water, the more of its energy is lost and the less useable light energy there is. For example; the oceans are dark when you go real deep and they have the sun as their light source!!

Im not familiar with your current sat plus fixture but i bet you your t12 fixture is useless for supplying light energy to the substrate levels in your tank. You need to look at the distance from your light fixture to the substrate and get the PAR ratings from your fixture manufacturer. Then you can see how effective the lighting you have is.

Im very sorry for the length of this post and it may not make great sense as im useless at trying to explain things that make sense in my head lol

 

[jglover]

The Current Satellite LED+ delivers about 25 PAR @ 16" if I recall correctly. It's somewhere on the high end of low light.

 

[AbelR1975]

The Current Satellite LED+ delivers about 25 PAR @ 16" if I recall correctly. It's somewhere on the high end of low light.

I just looked it up, and its 28 PAR at 18" and 21 PAR at 24". I havn't measured the distance between the light and plant, but the tank is 24" tall, with about 2" of sand.....so I'd say that the light is about 20" from the leaves of the plants.

Sk3lly, thank you for that info...it wasn't too long, but it was helpful. What PAR do you think I should have for the DHG?

 

[jglover]

I think you'll need more than the satellite can provide for DHG since it is a high light plant. I've had great success with low light plants. My amazon sword has almost tripled in size using only the Satellite LED+, in about 10 weeks time.

 

[Sk3lly]

Well my bml fixture kicks out 116par at 18" and 77 par at 24". My tank is 24g and this puts me in high light.

I reckon if you can get in and around 80par at 18" you should be able yo grow dhg and pretty much any other plant. High light opens up a wide variety of red, pink and purple plants too

 

[AbelR1975]

With your lighting situation I would suggest skipping the flourish and going with dry ferts instead. It will keep your plants growing staving off the algae demons. Like was said by Brookster, cutting your lights down a bit will help with algae as well. You can also look into getting Metricide 14 day sterilizing solution and dosing it at half strength as your co2 booster. It's the exact same thing but twice as strong.

I tried looking up dry ferts, but there are TONS of different types and I have absolutely no idea what to get. Do you have any suggestions?

 

[Sk3lly]

I tried looking up dry ferts, but there are TONS of different types and I have absolutely no idea what to get. Do you have any suggestions?

Take a look at this:
http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizers-supplements/pps-pro-fertilizer-package.html

You will want to buy a third dosing bottle. Then when you mix your macro packs as to included instructions, add mag sulphate, potass phosphate and potass sulphate in one bottle. In the second bottle add the potass nitrate. This allows greater control over nitrate levels as your fish may produce enough not to have to add. The third bottle will contain the plantex mix which is your micros.

It sounds daunting but it really is very easy

 

[Mebbid]

I tried looking up dry ferts, but there are TONS of different types and I have absolutely no idea what to get. Do you have any suggestions?

Either EI
Estimative Index | Aquarium Fertilizer | Green Leaf Aquariums

or PPS Pro
PPS-Pro | Aquarium Fertilizer | Green Leaf Aquariums

EI requires a weekly 50% water change to reset nutrient levels as it floods the tank with excess amounts of micro and macro fertilizers. Subsequently it goes through fertilizers faster.

PPS Pro gives the plants just what they need on a daily basis keeping nutrient levels low and saving on the amount of ferts you use. It doesn't require water changes except to maintain your tank at healthy parameter levels. This pack costs more due to the mixing bottles that it provides but should last you well over a year.

They both work great, I started with EI and did that for about 6 months before switching to PPS Pro so I could do fewer water changes.

 

[philipraposo198]

A good choice is start with ei and then begin to cut back and watch how plants do. Ideally you will get to a point of great balance without wasting ferts. This also means skipping wcs is not going to cause problems because you won't be overdosing

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[Mebbid]

A good choice is start with ei and then begin to cut back and watch how plants do. Ideally you will get to a point of great balance without wasting ferts. This also means skipping wcs is not going to cause problems because you won't be overdosing

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Aquarium Advice mobile app

If you want to go that route then why not just start with pps pro?

 

[Sk3lly]

If you want to go that route then why not just start with pps pro?

+1. Thats almost what pps pro is