Algea problem, need advice please

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Alexgcraig

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Messages
69
Location
NYC
Hi,

I'm starting to be overrun with grey beard algea, pics attached (note the algea balls on the right side of the wood... it's also growing on glass, can't see that on pics), I could use some advice here... tank stats below, am I going to have to make the jump to compressed CO2? I'd really like to get a carpet going, but every time i turn the lights back up to 75% on the LED dimmer the algea gets worse, tank has been established for about 5 months now,

thanks!


tank/specs:

55g: dosing PPS-Pro daily (using this guide suggested by Rivercats Newbie Guide to PPS-Pro - PPS Analysis and Feedback - Aquatic Plant Central) + daily Excel as directed on the bottle, lights reduced to 50% on the high light 7000K Build My LED dimmer with 2 hour pause in lighting mid-day, total photoperiod 6-7 hours.

6 rummynose tetras, 8 guppies, 8 pearl danios, 4 ottos, MANY RCS. java moss, HC (barely surviving!), glosso (reaching for the surface, not growing like a carpet...), micro swords (growing ok but slowly), ludwiga (growing very fast), vals (doing ok in spite of the excel), dwarf sag (growing fast), anubias, Amazon swords (w/ root tabs, doing ok). Eheim 2217.

tap water GK/KH; colors turn after 2 drops for each

PH 7.6, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates .15/20

(sorry for the re-post, i was just not getting any answers on that old thread! thanks!)
 

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Perhaps try a 3 day complete blackout of your tank to kill it all off?? Thats all i can suggest. Sorry :(
 
i dont think that a black out would help as this algae could last 2x longer in the dark than pretty much all aquarium plants.
your best bet is to use hydrogen peroxide, I use about 2 ml to every ten gallons but you could go higher I'm just paranoid. what you want to do is shut of anything that is creating flow in your tank let sit for 5 min to ensure there is no current, then apply hydrogen peroxide to effected areas and finally shut lights off for 20-30 minutes and remember to not turn on filter or anything creating flow after you turn the lights back on.
 
i dont think that a black out would help as this algae could last 2x longer in the dark than pretty much all aquarium plants.
your best bet is to use hydrogen peroxide, I use about 2 ml to every ten gallons but you could go higher I'm just paranoid. what you want to do is shut of anything that is creating flow in your tank let sit for 5 min to ensure there is no current, then apply hydrogen peroxide to effected areas and finally shut lights off for 20-30 minutes and remember to not turn on filter or anything creating flow after you turn the lights back on.

Thanks for the feedback, i thought of doing that, but isnt the algea caused by an imbalance between high light, ferts and CO2? wouldnt it just come back eventually? (it's also on all glass)

i was hoping to be able to manage with just excel, my wife is afraid of the compressed CO2 in the house... not sure that's a biggie to be honest... lol
 
Hello Alex...

Remove as much of the algae as you can with a small toothbrush. Then, large, frequent water changes to remove excess nutrients in the water and level the water chemistry. Change half the tank water every week or two. Reduce the amount you feed to a bit of a variety every couple of days and avoid flaked food as much as possible. Fish are very small and don't need much food. Add some floating plants to use up the nutrients. Brazilian water weed is about the best. It's a fast grower and gives off a mild chemical that slows the growth of most kinds of algae. Just drop several stems into the tank.

B
 
Your not getting enough carbon/CO2 in the water. When I use the BML fixtures even at 50% I use 1ml Glut to every 1 or 2 gallons of water daily. Then I run them on 50% for 6 hours and then down to the lowest 10% light for a couple extra hours of viewing. But you can do CO2 if you want.

Is the actual water green if put in a white cup? It kind of looks green. Use a magnetic glass cleaner to clean the glass and spot treat with hydrogen peroxide 3%. Turn filters off, pull up 3ml of peroxide for every 1 gallon of tank water in a syringe, hold right up to algae and slowly squirt. Leave filters off 20 minutes.

If you have a lot of algae you will have to do an area a day. Also with a lot of algae it will actually help to do a 3 day total black out before you start treating. Cover the tank completely for 3 days and don't peek or you break the light cycle. Once you finish this start the first week with only 10-25% lighting on the dimmer. Do your spot treating and up your liquid carbon amount. Also be sure your nitrates and phosphate levels are at the correct levels. The next week you can up the lights a bit more. Continue until you reach 50%.
 
Thanks Rivercats and BBradbury, i had a feeling i didnt have enough CO2 in there and that i may have been overfeeding... re the excess nutrients in the water, should i scale back on PPS daily dosings? or will that cause even more of an imbalance? my LFS has an over the counter CO2 system, costs a bit more but easier in the long run, i'll get that...

i'll keep the dimmer under 50% going forward, will that hamper the growth of the carpet plants?

i checked the water in a glass, it's only slightly green, barely noticeable, maybe it was the iphone camera. will do spot treatments.

i'm ordering phosphate test kit now, i only have the standard + GH/KH

Thanks guys!
 
Any green tint to the water when put in a green cup indicates a green water algae bloom. You have two options... first is using a UV sterilizer which will quickly and effectively kill all the free floating algae. Many on this site have had excellent results using this one... Green Killing Machine Internal UV Sterilizer with Power Head at PETCO.

The other option is to try the 3 day black out which may or may not work. Then you have to do a big water change after either method and run lights very low for a week or two after.

I take a nitrate and phosphate reading each week right before a water change to see if I need to change the amount I dose of these two nutrients. Shoot for 10-20ppm nitrates and 1-3ppm phosphates. If levels are too high or two low then change the amounts you dose the next week. Also if levels are too high you can not dose for a week or either or both. You also need to be doing a 50% weekly water change so you keep water pristine.

Don't buy an over the counter CO2 kit if it's one of those Fluval or other ones that you have to buy replacement CO2 canisters on a regular basis. If you up your liquid carbon to the 1ml per 1 gallon level daily you can probably not have to do CO2. I ran my 220g 100% plant, very high light tank for well over a year on the high dosing of liquid carbon with great results. It's all about finding the balance. If you want to do CO2 then I can tell you what I use and where to buy it online.
 
Uhoh! I'll get that UV sterilizer ASAP! Any risk to fish or RCS?

I'll turn down dimmer to 25%, two 3 hour photoperiod, cut back feeding and do spot treatments rather than full blackout (will do if this doesn't work), shall I also stop daily dosing PPS?

Re compressed carbon, the LFS has something they put together, so I misspoke, it's not quite off the shelf, will be easier to go with their system even though more expensive than what I saw on aquatek website as they'll help with set up and canister refills (I'm in NYC, not too many welding shops accessible by subway!)... I'd still like to see your option, perhaps it's not that complicated!
 
UV sterilizers are safe for plants/fish/shrimp. The only thing it kills are what actually passes through the UV light inside the unit.

Don't stop dosing ferts except for the few days you run the UV as that can cause more problems.

As for CO2 I just use an Aquatek regulator. It's easy to get CO2 refills here tho.
 
Hello Al...

Algae is a good thing. It shows you that you have a healthy tank. I've dealt with all the algae problems. In my tanks, if I reduce the food to just a little a couple of times a week, the algae eventually shrinks to a point that's more manageable. Another thing that's really helped is, I float a lot of Anacharis (Egeria densa) in the tank. This stem plant grows very quickly in water with higher nitrates, because it takes in this form of nitrogen directly through the leaves. It also gives off a mild chemical that's a bit toxic to algae in general. At least, this is the word I got from researching the plant. I always do large, frequent water changes to remove any dissolved fish foods. If you feed a lot of flaked food, you create an environment for algae growth. I feed mostly frozen and freeze dried, less phosphate in these.

Get some Ramshore snails too. These little guys are algae eating machines and won't bother the other plants. Time will also help. As the tank ages, the water, fish and plants have a way of keeping the chemistry stable. A tank with a stable water chemistry doesn't have many problems, including algae. My tanks have been running for several years and I have little or no algae in them.

Just some more tips to think about.

B
 
this is great, thanks for all the tips guys! do you feed supermarket frozen shrimp or you buy from Hikari and the likes?
 
UV sterilizers are safe for plants/fish/shrimp. The only thing it kills are what actually passes through the UV light inside the unit.

Don't stop dosing ferts except for the few days you run the UV as that can cause more problems.

As for CO2 I just use an Aquatek regulator. It's easy to get CO2 refills here tho.

Rivercats, sorry to bother again, which of these Aquatek systems do you think i'll need for a 55g that i'd like to have heavily planted? Will they come with everything i need (apart from the canister!)? CO2 REGULATOR SOLENOID

thank you, as always!
 
Stray light? Where is the tank sited? I used to have problems with algae with sun through the window. All other points are valid but. . .

From the picture it looks like a lot of bright light from the left side of the tank. Sunlight will do more for algae in a tank than most of the things mentioned. Before I upgraded my tank site I resorted to keeping the blinds down during the day while away at work. This seemed to help with some of my early problems before the Mk 1 fish house. A tiny plec, Bristlenose or similar may help keep the leaves clean, or perhaps some snails, I let snails do their thing in my planted tank, while it isn't devoid of algae it is certainly at an acceptable level to be deemed nice or natural. My tank which does not yet include a dedicated algae eater or snails has similar issues to yours here.

The break in the photoperiod is commonly known to disrupt the growth of algae cells, from my live research an hour is more than enough, because it doesn't appear to be working and by the tested nitrogenous results you provide it would lead me to look elsewhere, outside of the tank.

Edit, dying algae consumes O2, be sure to increase the level before you attempt killing it all off.

Do you run an air stone? Try no O2 at lights on, with supplemental O2 only as the lights go off.
 
Rivercats, sorry to bother again, which of these Aquatek systems do you think i'll need for a 55g that i'd like to have heavily planted? Will they come with everything i need (apart from the canister!)? CO2 REGULATOR SOLENOID

thank you, as always!

I run this on my one 55g tank with a 5 pound CO2 cylinder.

New Premium Aquatek CO2 Regulator with Integrated Cool Touch Solenoid | eBay.

New Aqautek Bubble Counter with Integrated Check Valve | eBay.

Glass Aquarium CO2 Drop Checker Test Optional 4oz 4DKH Liquid US Seller | eBay.

Then I have an in-line diffuser on my Fluval 406 canister.

On my other 55g tank I only dose 1ml liquid carbon for every 1 gallon of water. Both are heavily planted, have the same BML light fixture, and both have very good growth. The one with the CO2 does grow a bit faster and plants like the Anubia get much fuller.
 
Be careful with UV!


Make sure it isn't UV/C (available for aquariums) wavelength C is quite harmful to all bacteria. All Uv spectrums are harmful to you, your eyes in particular also rubber and silicone tend to be effected by all wavelengths, uv a/b/c.

There are a number of aspects of its use you should familiarise yourself with before purchase. Flow rates and turbidity I would say are key factors to ensure correct function and safe use.
 
I'm fairly sure you should consider the effects of co2 and your Kh level. (Im assuming its DH, in any case it's low. I'm pretty certain adding co2 to a tank of this Kh level will cause a major shift towards acid water. Too fast a change will result in a bad experience for you.
 
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