Algae.....You name it I got it...and it is getting worse!

[b4tn]

I originally posted this at plant geek but didnt get much of a responce so I figured I would post here and see what some of you guys have to say. I upped my nitrates a bit and am thinking of reducing my lighting period from 12 hours to 10 or 11. Also, I am a bit confused as to how upping nitrates could reduce algae? Ever since I have had fish tanks nitrates as close to 0 is desirable to keep algae in check and was always told to add a plant or two to help keep the nitrates down.

I see Places with Brush, Beard, Thread, and fuzz Algae! It is very slowly taking over the tank and I dont know what to do. I have been reading control threads for weeks and it seems I am doing everything right so I am at the point of frustration now. I will try and detail out what I am doing maybe I am doing something wrong? I just took new measurements so here they are.

Tanks is a 160 liter (42 gallon)
I have a Fluval 204 canister filter with floss in the bottom cup and the other cups have fluval biomedia.
I have Pressurized CO2 with a PH controller
I have 2 NO 30 watt bulbs and a 96 watt PC (3.7wpg)
Heat is maintained around 79-80 degrees
Substrate is all could find local here that sounded decent. It is a sandy nutrient rich mud the LFS recommended for good growth with a layer of quartz gravel on top.
I have three pieces of savannah drift wood.

Bio load:
3 angel fish
3 Black mollies
4 red tailed tetras

Plant load:
It is fairly heavily planted.
Eusteralis stellata
Micranthemum umbrosum
Ambulia
Crypt
Egeria NAJAS
GLOSSO stigma elatinoides
a few species of vals
ECHINODORUS TENELLUS
LILAEOPSIS

I also have three unidentified broad leaved stem plants.

All the plants save for a couple broad leaved plants grow at a tremendous rate the najas and the ambulia grow an inch or more in a 24 hour period at least. Glosso is spreading like wild fire..

Here are my current levels. I just measured them 5 minutes ago

Nitite 0
Ammonia 0
Nitrate between 5 and 10
Phosphate 1
PH 6.8
KH 7
CO2 33
Iron .4

Now, I have noticed Nitrate diminishes very quickly. I dosed potassium nitrate yesterday and brought it up to 15 ppm and in less than 24 hours it is below 10 already. Phosphate was also dosed yesterday but only .5 ppm was used over night.

This is the dosing schedule I was using. I may have to change it to dose nitrate daily of dose more nitrate in one sitting.
Here is the link where I got the dose schedule from
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?p=411374&highlight=#411374

SAT: 50-70% Water Change
KNO3 (Potassium Nitrate) + 10-15 ppm
KH2PO4 (Mono-Potassium Phosphate) + .5-1.0 ppm
K2SO4 (Potassium Sulfate) + 10 ppm

SUN: Trace Mix* @ 5ml/20G of tank volume

MON: KNO3 (Potassium Nitrate) + 10-15 ppm
KH2PO4 (Mono-Potassium Phosphate) + .5-1.0 ppm
If no KNO3 dosing then K2SO4 (Potassium Sulfate) + 5 ppm

TUES: Trace Mix* @ 5ml/20G of tank volume

WED: KNO3 (Potassium Nitrate) + 10-15 ppm
KH2PO4 (Mono-Potassium Phosphate) + .5-1.0 ppm
If no KNO3 dosing then K2SO4 (Potassium Sulfate) + 5 ppm

THURS: Trace Mix* @ 5ml/20G of tank volume

FRI: Day of rest (i.e. no dosing)

SAT: Rinse. Repeat.


*Trace Mix

500 mL Water (Dose on Sun - Tues - Thurs)
1 TBL MgSO4 (Magnesium Sulfate) = Mg + 0.03 ppm/mL or Mg + 0.6 ppm/20 mL Dose
1 TBL Plantex CSM + B (Iron and Traces) = Fe + 0.0025 ppm/mL or Fe + 0.05 ppm/20 mL Dose
1 TSP Iron Chelate (Fe only - Get it from Greg)
1 TSP CaCO2 (Calcium Carbonate - again Get it from Greg)

I think thats all What else can I or should I be doing?


Here are severla picture to help identify

 

[b4tn]

I just re checked my levels. Yesterday I dosed enough KH2PO4 and KNO3 to bring my tank levels to 2ppm PO4 and 20ppm NO3. Today PO4 is 1 ppm and NO3 is 10ppm. This morning I added my trace mix, should I dose KH2PO4 and KNO3 daily to keep the levels at the desired levels or is it ok to leave it till tommorow my normal everyotherday dosing routine?

 

[malkore]

Plants need nitrate, and if they don't get it, algae takes hold. I think you should read some of the stickies in this forum.

Suffice to say, for every 1ppm of phosphate, you want 10ppm of nitrate. Fall too far from that 1:10 ratio, and the nutrient imbalance leads to algae.

You may also need to dose potassium, depending on how much KNO3 you have to dose to keep NO3 at reasonable levels. I don't have to dose KNO3 often, so I use K2SO4 for K, but KCl works well too, and is often easy to find at a grocery store (as a NaCl salt substitute in the spice/baking isle).

I would dose a little again today. Sounds like the plants were nutrient starved and are now sucking it up until they get their fill. Best bet is to keep them happy.

Expect algae to take twice as long to clear up, minimum, as it took to appear. Patience is a virtue

 

[workfortheman]

b4tn,
your plants look extremely healthy (minus the algeas). You say you are getting great plant growth, so I'm not sure how the plants could be "nutrient starved". What do you say about getting some oto's and some shrimp? This is a commonly suggested action to combat various algae. You certainly have enough room in the tank.

 

[b4tn]

Thanks for the replies all, Malkor, I re-read the sticky for fertilizing and it cleared some stuff up last time I read through was before I got started so a refresher was in order, thanks

Workfortheman, I never took notice of your name are you dod also?

And yes, as far as I can tell plant growth is and health is very good! I spent about 2 hours last nigh butchering my poor plants cutting off all signs of algae I could find. Some plants have as little as 3 mature leaves left but once I started cutting the mature stuff away I found lots of new baby leaves trying to break into the light so all should be good. I started dosing nitrate and phosphate at 10ppm and 1 ppm a day now for 3 days and my chain sword really seems to like it. I woke up this morning and had 4 new runners. So I am thinking Malkor is right and they where nitrate starved. Time will tell so far no new algae growth since my trim.

I will see if my LFS has those species. I need a translator

 

[Hoovercat]

I definately agree with Malkore on this one. From my experience any time you let the nitrates get low (10 or lower) BBA likes it. Pruning is the only way I get completely rid of it though. Bleach baths I haven't tried. As long as you keep macro levels at the upper end of suggested ranges there won't be much if any algae grab onto new growth.

 

[travis simonson]

I had similar issues when I was first getting my planted tank running and I couldn't figure it out. I kept nutrients stable, did my water changes, etc. and the algae kept coming back. Finally I decided to take a look at my filters and found that they were clogged with all kinds of algal gunk. A thorough cleaning and my algae started to disappear within a few days. I can't say this is your problem (in fact I'm betting your algae will start retreating soon) but it's always worth a look if you haven't checked lately

 

[b4tn]

What is BBA stand for anyway? I keep seeing it but dont know if it is for brush or beard?

 

[travis simonson]

It stands for Black Beard Algae or Black Brush Algae. Both meaning basically the same thing. Nasty stuff if you get it. Often due to inadequate CO2 levels.

 

[b4tn]

b4tn,
your plants look extremely healthy (minus the algeas). You say you are getting great plant growth, so I'm not sure how the plants could be "nutrient starved". What do you say about getting some oto's and some shrimp? This is a commonly suggested action to combat various algae. You certainly have enough room in the tank.

I cant believe it! I found some siamese Oto's I picked up 5 for about $3.25 each. The names where in German of course but thanks to the algae section at plant geek I was able to pick them out by the zig zag black stripe and goldish body. They also had some shrimp but they where a dark brown so I was unsure what species they where and if they would even do me any good.