Algae

[dinnerflexor]

I have a tank and I am about to set up a second (1 in bedroom and the new one in living room so I stop hanging out in bdrm
Currently medium planted 25 gal. tank. Current tank and new tank are about 5-6 feet away from South facing windows. I can't get the tanks away since that is how my apt is set up. I'm having algae issues. So far I have been manually cleaning. Water is good even tested for phosphates (0 or close to it) NH-0, Nitrite-0, Nitrate 10-20, pH 8.3 (very hard water here)
What else can I do?

 

[Rivercats]

If your tank is balanced between light/ferts/CO2 then even direct sunlight usually doesn't cause algae issue. My 220 gets direct sunlight from east and south windows as it's in a 3 sided glass sunroom. About 1/3 to 1/2 the tank depending on the time of year and the suns position for a few hours daily. I don't have algae issues and the plants that get that sunlight are quite full and lush.

So what type of algae? Can you post a pic? What type of lighting do you have and what type bulbs? How long do you run it daily? Nitrates in a planted do good at 10-20ppm and phosphates at .5-2ppm. Plants need phosphates as it is a macro nutrient. What ferts are you dosing? Are you using CO2 or Liquid Carbon?

While algae is an issue you should only run your lights 6 hours a day. You can up them to a max of 8 once you correct the issue causing the algae.

 

[dinnerflexor]

algae

I don't use CO2, I fert. with Flourish supplemental complete 1-2 x's/wk. I have 28 Watts of light, 2 T5 6700K 14 watt bulbs (25g tank), Ecocomplete substrate and water test are in the range you mentioned. I run the lights for 1.5 hrs in AM, wanna see in tank and check things out b4 work and I just reduced eve. time to 6 hrs. (was 8) I tried adding a Pic but not sure if it worked. (If it didn't please let me know how)
I recently did a manual clean b4 pic was taken so glass is clean (but green and green spot algae will be back by next sat.). Plants are fuzzy with green algae, water seems tinted brownish green, brown algae in the sand and I think some gray/blk fuzzy stuff on the edge of some plants if you look closely. I threw out the tall grass that had thread algae b/c it shouldn't of been in the tank anyway. Phone wouldn't zoom in clear for specific pics.
I'm a little overstocked: 4 Oto cats, 3 Celebese (1M/2F), 3 fancy guppies, 5 H. rasboras, 4 penta barbs, 3 Amano shrimp, 25% weekly weekend water change and 10% sometimes in middle of week-oto cats poop alot, I've been water testing 2x's/wk to make sure no spikes with current stock, everyone seems to be getting along.

 

[dinnerflexor]

oh and hard hard water here 8.3, my tank measures about 8.3 but tap is coming a little less, I don't understand that b/c I use the tap with conditioner. All fish from LFS and the fish are acclimated to the hard water. Everytime I clean the glass, plants float out-very frustrating

 

[Rivercats]

The black fuzzy stuff is black beard algae. You can spot treat it with Hydrogen Peroxide 3%. Pull up 3ml of Peroxide for every 10g of tank water in a syringe and slowly squirt on the algae. Turn your filter and light off for 20 minutes. You can do a spot treatment every day until it's all treated. Usually within 24 hours the treated algae will begin to turn white/pink which means it's dying. Keep lighting down to 6 hours daily and you might want to consider using some liquid carbon such as Flourish excel daily.

 

[dinnerflexor]

Diluted peroxide won't hurt the fish? I'm real attached to my Oto cats and they are finicky. How many days? Do I treat until it turns pink or until it's gone?

 

[Rivercats]

When used in the amounts I stated it is fine. You treat an area of algae once and only use the amount I listed once a day. You can treat other areas on other days if you have a lot. Don't retreat an area you already treated. It will begin dying usually within 24 hours after the initial treatment. If you don't feel comfortable or understand the procedure then I suggest not doing it.

Something else I seemed to have missed in your post is you said your water looks green. Put some tank water in a white cup and see if it really is tinted green. If so you have an algae bloom which is a totally different problem.

 

[dinnerflexor]

I put the water in a cup and it wasn't obviously green. I think it's more tinted do to debris and poop. I don't dig the gravel cleaner in the substrate, I just graze the top. I was told that was okay. I appreciate your help and please, I'll take any advice. I'll write the peroxide idea in my tank journal if I get brave enough and I will do some research on that method. I will try the Excel. I know something chemistry wise is off, I just don't know what. If I figure that out will the algae problem go away on its own? (I don't mind a little for the Oto's but don't want a bloom and want my plants to grow and fill in more)

 

[dinnerflexor]

okay, now I'm more worried. If it's an algae bloom, would just a little white cup look green. Can you tell by the picture I took?

 

[Rivercats]

I don't know if a picture would show it. If it is an algae bloom the water will become more green as time goes on and you will definitely be able to see that in a white cup. Don't panic, just watch it for now and post if it does indeed turn green. But there should be enough detris and fish waste floating in the water for you to be able to scoop it up in a cup. Overall the plants and tank looks healthy. How much water do you change out weekly? Also is there a large enough filter on the tank to adequately pull detris out of the water?

 

[TangoTank]

How long the Otos been in there?

 

[dinnerflexor]

I'm not sure about the filter, it's what came with the tank. Aqueon 20 probably for a 25 gal. tank. Not sure I could afford anything too expensive right now but what's your recommendation? I was noticing holes in the older leaves, that could be K-potassium def. right? Will the algae correct itself if the tank gets balanced?
I take out about 3 gal. of water on most wednesdays (more of an Oto poop cleaning and 4-5 gal. on the weekend for my water changes. I've not done more than a 25% change. Like today: it does seem my Ammonia is at about 0-.25 consistently (even before the newer fish when I was way understocked-I thought it might be the plants), Nitrate between 10-20, Phosphate seemed almost 0 and Nitrite 0-These seem to be the results I've gotten every time I've tested for over a month.
BTW-you have an awesome tank

 

[Rivercats]

I'm not sure about the filter, it's what came with the tank. Aqueon 20 probably for a 25 gal. tank. Not sure I could afford anything too expensive right now but what's your recommendation? I was noticing holes in the older leaves, that could be K-potassium def. right? Will the algae correct itself if the tank gets balanced?
I take out about 3 gal. of water on most wednesdays (more of an Oto poop cleaning and 4-5 gal. on the weekend for my water changes. I've not done more than a 25% change. Like today: it does seem my Ammonia is at about 0-.25 consistently (even before the newer fish when I was way understocked-I thought it might be the plants), Nitrate between 10-20, Phosphate seemed almost 0 and Nitrite 0-These seem to be the results I've gotten every time I've tested for over a month.
BTW-you have an awesome tank

I'm a canister girl so I really can't recommend a good HOB filter, sorry.

If the holes start out as pin holes and grow then that indicates a potassium deficiency.

IMO a 50% WC once a week is better than 2 small ones as your removing a larger percentage of waste/nutrients from the water. Have you tested your tap water for ammonia? Your nitrates are good but you should have some phosphates in your water.

Thanks the 220 is my baby!

 

[Old Scales]

An Aqua-Clear 50 HOB would be a good size for your 25. It offers more options for customizing your media and you don't throw away any expensive filter insert with all your BB. If I remember right, I paid about $35 for mine at Petsmart. OS.

 

[dinnerflexor]

Thanks everyone. My oto's are a little over a month old and one of my favorites. My algae is pretty much gone now, I even fed the Oto's a brussel sprout cause I was afraid they didn't have enough now but don't know how long to leave it in, one of the Oto's has camped out on it.
I started the Flourish excel, currently my filter has carbon in it (i usually dump out the carbon-I will next change), I lowered the tank temp a few degrees (now at 78 which is room temp), and I decreased light time to 2 hours in AM and 6 hrs in PM. The only other thing is that a few leaves on my crypts started melting and they were just coming back after suffering a complete meltdown during a tank upgrade.
I will look into a different filter, the one I have is quiet but does leave the water a little discolored.
Thank you for your help

 

[Coel]

An Aqua-Clear 50 HOB would be a good size for your 25. It offers more options for customizing your media and you don't throw away any expensive filter insert with all your BB. If I remember right, I paid about $35 for mine at Petsmart. OS.

+1 old scales. The aquaclears are great for their size.