Algae just on plants?

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GEOlson

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Dec 24, 2010
Messages
95
This has been an ongoing issue for a while in my 75 gal tank. I have a type of hair algae growing on my plants. It seems to only attach itself to plants too. It was covering my Water Onion, and mostly on my amazon sword and it was all over the Dwarf Sagittaria and Broadleaf Sag. It's starting to edge its way on to my new Red Dwarf Lily and new full length Sag.

Here's what it looks like if anyone can ID it properly for me:

On the Amazon Sword
img_1548525_0_43c71277430449008503f2c39b043c06.jpg


Also on the Amazon Sword
img_1548525_1_a01fe2d5f799b53e8180307567cbd1a6.jpg


Getting good growth on my new Crypts, too.
img_1548525_2_edc53db9f14955adabdd810d67b4a772.jpg


I've not found a good solution yet. I had dropped the amount of time of light, 4x 28W T5 Normal Output, but it was rather detrimental to the plants. The Sags and Water Onion are hanging on. I don't know that using Flourish Excel is doing anything on the algae.

Thanks for any help and thoughts.
 
I was just looking at some other threads and saw the suggestion of snails. I did try Zebra Nerite snails at the suggestion of my LFS but they didn't touch it and only laid eggs all over my tank. I'm still angry about that because I was told they would only do that in brackish water and I have never added salt to this aquarium. I was thinking about SAEs but wanted to make sure that if I got something to keep the algae in check that it actually would.
 
Ugh. Looks like bba to me. You might be in for a fight. Google image search bba algae and let us know if that looks like what you have.
 
It does look like bba, I think there may be some staghorn too. It can be hard tell. It seems that adding carbon is an across the board solution. Is there a kit for testing carbon content? I know with co2 that tracking pH can be an indicator. Also if I OD with excel do I need to add other nutrients? I have API root tabs in now but just added my last tab so the only ferts I have left are the tetra liquid. Would more tabs be recommended or other flourish products?
 
Flourish Excel is an option is you are lacking carbon and don't want to go all-out with a CO2 system.

From the sounds of it - you tank is primarily a "substrate-rooted" set of plants - so whatever "Tetra Liquid" you are pouring in may be helping the algae more than anything. Root-feeder plants don't really get that much from liquid ferts as they do from substrate ferts.
 
Florapride, that's what it's called, I just remembered. I haven't been using it, but I have it for when I had anacharis. I have 2 bubble ladders but they definitely don't seem to work as well as excel.
 
Bba is almost always the results of too much light for the amount of CO2 available. Which leads to the question: how big is the tank, what lights do you have, and whats your CO2 system?
 
75 gal with four 48" T5 (28 W x 4) normal output. DIY CO2 of two bubble ladders one 2 liter bottle per ladder. With additional excel doses weekly after pwc. I don't keep up on the co2 ladders like I should an I question how well they work. I also put brake up root tabs and place them between plants every few weeks.
 
Whats the dimensions on a 75g. Are your bulbs arranged 2x2 or 4x1? And who's the maker of your lights?
 
I have two coralife fixtures with stock FW bulbs (6700 k and 10,000 k?) each has 2 bulbs. 75 gal height is 18.5" so probably 17" (I'm guessing) to the glass top. Oh and I have the 3/4" raised, an experiment I'm doing to see how it affects evaporative buildup on the glass. So probably 18" from light to substrate. I usually place them with one near the back and one near the front to better distribute the light.
 
Hmmm. T5NOs have fallen out of favor, so I can't say that I know a ton about how they compare to other bulbs. That being said, it certainly sounds like you may have too much light.

DIY CO2 on anything 40+ usually doesn't work as well do to distribution problems and just sheer output requirements. This might be the problem that you're running into.

Also, you may benefit from some fast growing stem plants to outcompete the algae for nutrients.
 
That does sound good, I like adding plants. Any recommendations? I don't have a ton of experience with plants but am gradually learning about different kinds.

Thank you for your help.
 
I'm a big fan of Wisteria. Good under low-medium to high light, easily obtainable (I think petco/petsmart sell it in those tubes), and looks fairly attractive.
 
Thanks for the help, those are nice looking plants. I'll be sure to get some. Again, thanks for the help!
 
If you're interested in more plants, let us know what you're looking for and the AA collective might be able to think of others.


EDIT: Also just occured to me, some Amano shrimp might be able to help you out. They're known for eating brush algae, and are pretty cool little dudes all around really.
 
Yeah, I've got a few different kinds of plants right now, listed at the beginning of the thread, but there are so many kinds that the cost adds up fast. I'll look into Amano Shrimp, I've seen them at the shop but never gave them too much thought, not sure why. I think my concern was that they would be like the Mystery Snails I had when I started my first aquarium and the had a desire to get stuck on the filter intake within a couple days of buying them. Then this whole disaster with the Zebra Nerites and my tank it still dotted with white eggs, especially the drift wood. I was just wondering, but to planted tanks tend to have a yellow tinge or is that probably something like algae cells floating around?
 
i had an algae problem and the lfs recommended sailfin mollies. they ate the algae and really keep up with it. they are also very neat fish. when they put their sailfin up it's the coolest thing. i have the black and white dalmation mollies.
 
Mollies won't eat bba. Only critters I know that do that are SAE and Amano shrimp. Mollies also want harder and more alkaline water than most fish.
 
well my mollies are in a soft water, low ph (6.5) tank with my german blue rams and dwarf gourami's who require those water parameters. they have been in my tank for about 5-6 months and are doing great. i know mollies can be fw, brackish and salt water if properly acclimated. and they did and do eat my hair algae.
 
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