Algae fungus help????

[Islander009]

Hi everyone. I was wondering if I could get some wise advice from the best board out there. I just got my planted tank set up for the past 3 weeks and I am coming across this black and grey stuff and don't know what it is. Started off white and now is grey and black. Tank has cycled as I have 0 ammo 0 nitrite and 20 nitrate. Please need some help??? Please anything is better than nothing.

 

[Islander009]

Oh yea and following seachem fertilizer chart. Have stock of 3 otos 1 Bn pleco 2 UDC Nigrentis 3 neon green tetras 3 cardinals 1 dwarf blue gourami 1 MM Platy 5 Assassin snail and 2 Amani shrimps

 

[Islander009]

Any help or advice guys??

 

[jcolon]

How large is the tank and what type of lighting? Does it look like it's coming from the DW?

 

[Islander009]

Hi Jcolon. Tank is 37 gallon with 2x 24 watt T5ho lights from Catalina aquarium. Light is propped on legs about 2 inches over the tank

 

[jcolon]

2xT5HO bulbs is actually a lot of light ... Two more questions ... How tall is the tank and How many hours are you running your bulbs?

Generally 2 t5ho bulbs can put you in high light range which usually means running CO2 to help the plants keep algae at bay. Runny high lights for many hours with no CO2 usually = algae bloom.

 

[Islander009]

Jcolon I appreciate all the help. Tank is 22" high and i just started running pressurized co2 at 2bps a week ago. So I am wondering it the algae started when I didn't have any co2 can the algae die off with co2 running for 12 hrs?oh ya lights are on for 12 hrs as well. Timer is set to turn on lights and co2 together.

My Otos, Amani shrimp, and bristlenose pleco dont touch that stuff at all. Could you tell what kind of algae is it from the pictures?

 

[jcolon]

Could be dead algae. The best thing to do is just monitor the growth ... If it is algae ... Grayish sounds like it died off. As long as it's not growing, or more algae isn't blooming your ok. Just keep up with the tank maintenance.

I'm far from a high light, high tech tank guy .. So I'll let more experienced members chime in if 12hrs is too long a photo-period for your set up. Certainly without CO2 it would be .. But not sure with yours. I usually run my lights for 8hrs.