Algae ID and suggestions

[BlazerFRS]

I've had this algae growing pretty rapidly in my tank of late.... I've been trimming the most heavilly affected leaves. It seems to have appeared after i dosed my PO4 to 1ppm and added 5 mL of Leaf Zone the other day.

I've been running 15-20ppm of CO2, but my mix dided last night, so now i've got like 4 ppm Making a new mix right after I post this.

My levels are:
NO3- 15ppm
PO4- .5ppm (Using the AP kit, so kinda tough to tell)
pH 7.4 (like I said, my CO2 ran out)
dKH- 5

Plants are as listed in my sig

I'm feeling I either OD'd PO4 w/o realizing it, or the iron in the leaf zone triggered the algae.
I've added a small PH to one coner of the tank to increase water movement, and to dissolve my CO2.

What do you guys think?
Here's the pic:

 

[Purrbox]

I'd be more inclined to blame excess Fe in the leaf zone, than the PO4. I've read time and again where hair/thread algae has been linked with excess Fe. I'd recommend switching to Flourish or Plantex CSM+B.

 

[czcz]

Can you pull the algae off without damaging the leaf? If not, it is probably BBA.

I am inclined to think your problems are CO2 and not PO4 or Fe related. The first step is getting your CO2 high and stable. If you are using DIY, make sure it never drops below 30ppm, and the variance in output is not important. You can accomplish this with 2 1L bottles for every ten gal using the standard yeast and sugar mix. Stagger the bottles with alternating changes weekly. This ouputs >40ppm with a powered diffusor: little high, but my fish do not seem to mind, and a less efficient diffusor will also keep CO2 closer to 30ppm.

Alternative mixes may last longer and provide output. I am of the mindset that changing simple mixes on the regular is fast and effective.

HTH

 

[malkore]

There is much debate about whether iron is the cause of thread algae. Literally half of the people I would call 'experts' say it does, the other half state iron cannot cause an algae bloom.

I would ditch teh AP PO4 kit and get a Seachem one. Its the only PO4 kit besides a LaMotte or Hach that I would trust, and that's only because I had a chance to test my tank water with both at the same time, and they gave the same reading.

 

[BlazerFRS]

I'm very unimpressed with the AP kit, so I may end up getting the seachem po4 kit.

I'm currently looking for a source for proper connectors for a DIY 2x 1L reactor; I'm inclined to use something mechanical over the siliconed caps i see most people using... I'm thining model airplane fuel nubs, as i've seen on one set of instructions. I'll post the link when i get back on my home computer.

Until I get that setup running, I have my hagen CO2 bottle running on honey rather then sugar; this seems to give me more vigorous output for a shorter length of time,

I cannot remove the algae mechanically, so it much be the dreaded beard algae. Should I continue to remove affected leaves, or just let them be and hope it dies back when I get my CO2 up?

Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[czcz]

Suggest removal of the affected leaves. BBA only stops spreading, unfortunately. You have a couple good fast growers in there, which will help.

FWIW, I have been using the plastic airline connector sets from my LFS for my bottle caps. I have also used the plastic connectors that attach airstones to airlines. Make the hole in the cap slightly smaller than the connector, force the connector in, then superglue on both sides. This is also nice because you can do it in a way that allows you to valve each bottle at the cap, making mix changes easier.

Ignore the number of 2Ls in this pic as I was testing something, but you can see the connectors and valves (some are turned away) here.Just a suggestion if you are like me and want to get it up fast, but still want fast disconnects. The threaded bulkheads in the qsl.net article are surely sweet, though. HTH

 

[BlazerFRS]

That's exactly the article I was refering to czcz... here's the link if anyone's curious

http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html

We've got an aero design club on campus, so i'm assuming they could point me to where to get some of those bulkheads locally.[/code]

 

[Purrbox]

Interesting... I didn't think that BBA would get the long tufts of algae like that. Guess I'm too used to the kind in my tanks. If it is BBA, I agree that low/fluctuating CO2 is probably the cause.

Sure would be nice if each type of algae looked more consistant from tank to tank.

 

[travis simonson]

I wish they made an algae test kit, so you could just scrape off a piece of the algae, put it in a test reagant, and compare the results to a color chart to find out what kind of algae it was Dream on, right

 

[BlazerFRS]

An update:

My algae problem persists; I've been trimming algae infested leaves off every couple days. Just did another 50% water change. I got a 2L yeast bottle going yesterday, have yet to see my CO2 rise too much... it's not bubbling too well either.

Hopefully that thing will take off here soon, and help my plants beat out this algae.

Thanks for all your replies so far.

 

[BlazerFRS]

I think my CO2 generator had a leak... I noticed it wasn't holding much positive pressure (not immediately noticable b/c I have it conected to a venturi input on a small PH, so it's never really running too positive a pressure) I cranked down on my metal pressure fitting a bit more, and it seems to be holding presure for the moment.

grr i just wnat to be rid of this algae...

 

[Simpte]

Proper co2 levels will stop it from spreading. Stable CO2 levels are key whether you have 15ppm or 30ppm. Prune infected leaves. Crank up the CO2. Flourish excel will kill it if you overdose 3-5x the recommended dose daily for 7-10 days. It will cloud your water but we've (myself and others) have had no adverse effect of fauna (cherry shrimp, cories, otos, various other hardy species). While I can't recommend this method, it has worked with great success for me.

 

[BlazerFRS]

I've got my CO2 up to ~15 ppm now and rising.... think I may have a weak mix on my hands.

I also recieved my seachem phosphate and nitrate tests today. Got .1ppm po4 and 7 ppm NO3

Have since raised my PO4 to .5ppm in an attempt to get my ratio back in line.

 

[BlazerFRS]

Another Update:

Tested my water just mow and my PO4 is down to lees then .1 ppm... I guess this means it's the limiting nutrient in my tank?

I'm gonna dose PO4 back up to .5ppm now. Would going higher be better do you think?

Just tested my N03, it's also dropped 5ppm from yesterday to 2ppm now.. guess i'll dose that up too

 

[BlazerFRS]

YET another update:

Sorry to keep pushing this one guys, but I'm ust not sure of my progress as yet...

PO4 is back down to .15 ppm or so... I'm assuming the plants are using it so I should keep adding it correct?

NO3 is looking like ~10ppm, about where I dosed it to yesterday.

I also soaked several heavilly affected plants in a gallon of water wih 6 tablespoons of H2O2, hopefully this'll kill the bba.

 

[rich311k]

Yes, dose your PO4 back to 1. My tank does the same thing. I dose NO3 to 10 and it stays there, but I have to keep replenishing the PO4.

 

[czcz]

Agree with Rich and suggest PO4 to 1.0ppm. If it keeps dropping so fast you have to dose it daily, its okay to dose more and cut your dosing to every other day. Just make sure you have no limiting nutrients to keep the plants growing.

 

[Simpte]

No3 is produced faster than po4 which is why its easier to keep those levels high (in a balanced tank).
Keep dosing PO4, even take it up to 2. Keep an eye on No3 though.
Once you find the "sweet spot" for dosing it becomes easy..............
Dose small amount everyday or larger amounts every other day. Waterchanges will keep the levels from becoming to high. (Gotta love E.I.)
Limiting plants is why algae happens in abundance (we all have some in our tanks).

 

[BlazerFRS]

Thanks for the advice everyone; Today I tested and found my PO4 and NO3 were the same as yesterday. Therefore I assume NO3 and PO4 are no longer the limiting nutrients... I dosed about 10ppm of K, since I haven't added much at all since my last WC.

No real change in the algae is apparent 24hours after the H2O2 dip... perhaps my mixture was too weak. If there's no change tomorrow I may dip in a more intense mix of H2O2, or try the 1:19 bleach method.