algae

[jwh0818]

I have algae in my 20g tank. It's ugly can yall I.D. it and help me kill it all? Yes my tank looks filthy. I uprooted everything to trim all algae and I have miracle grow organic soil topped with PFS so it gets messy! Please do help me!!!!

 

[molly100a]

I'm no expert but it looks like hair algae, try spot treating with liquid co2, how long are you leaving your lights on and are you over feeding. An algae eater might help but you need to figure out why you are getting it. Try cutting back your lights.

 

[jwh0818]

I'm no expert but it looks like hair algae, try spot treating with liquid co2, how long are you leaving your lights on and are you over feeding. An algae eater might help but you need to figure out why you are getting it. Try cutting back your lights.

My lights are on 5-6 hours a day and I skip turning them on somedays. I only feed every 2 days and I watch them devour everything

Edit* I did cut all the plants out that had it, did a 70% water change, and scrubbed it off the driftwood in there. Ive been battling it for months now maybe 4.

 

[Mebbid]

What lights, fertilizers, and carbon source are you running on the tank?

One other thing, don't limit the nutrients in the tank as an attempt to control algae. It will only limit the plant growth and make your problem worse. Go back to a more normal feeding schedule.

 

[jwh0818]

What lights, fertilizers, and carbon source are you running on the tank?

One other thing, don't limit the nutrients in the tank as an attempt to control algae. It will only limit the plant growth and make your problem worse. Go back to a more normal feeding schedule.

I'm just running x2 6500k cfls and the plants grow like crazy. I have to trim every 2 weeks. I don't have ferts other then the miracle grow organics soil and what do you mean by carbon source?

 

[John2.0]

How much of a cap do you have over the miracle grow orangic soil? Also is it the soil or the potting mix?? There is a difference. I have used the mix before and didn't have problems with excess nutrients in the water column but I think I have heard of ppl having problems with the soil if I am not mistaken. How many plants do you have in there? Do you do regular water changes?

 

[jwh0818]

How much of a cap do you have over the miracle grow orangic soil? Also is it the soil or the potting mix?? There is a difference. I have used the mix before and didn't have problems with excess nutrients in the water column but I think I have heard of ppl having problems with the soil if I am not mistaken. How many plants do you have in there? Do you do regular water changes?

I have about a 1" cap. This is the soil I used. I have x2 amazon swords with algae infested leaves and around 40 stems of anacharis each now only about 8" long. I trimmed them yesterday, all were about 2ft long

 

[John2.0]

Does this tank get any sunlight?? Do you do weekly water changes? Is this a 20L or 20H? How old are the bulbs?

 

[Mebbid]

I think a carbon source such as excel is just what the doctor ordered in this case. It's a combo carbon source for plants and a minor algaecide. If you want to save some money then I would recommend buying metricide 14 day sterilizing solution and dosing it at 1ml / 10 g to start and increasing it as desired or needed. The metricide can be safely dosed up to 5ml / 10g or the excel can be safely dosed up to 1ml / 1g

If that alone doesn't solve your algae issue then some dry fertilizers would be your next logical step.

 

[jwh0818]

Does this tank get any sunlight?? Do you do weekly water changes? Is this a 20L or 20H? How old are the bulbs?

Bulbs were just replaced around 2 months ago and I do 50% water changes every 2 weeks and parameters are fine and dandy. Nitrates never reach 10ppm and its a 20L

 

[jwh0818]

I think a carbon source such as excel is just what the doctor ordered in this case. It's a combo carbon source for plants and a minor algaecide. If you want to save some money then I would recommend buying metricide 14 day sterilizing solution and dosing it at 1ml / 10 g to start and increasing it as desired or needed. The metricide can be safely dosed up to 5ml / 10g or the excel can be safely dosed up to 1ml / 1g

If that alone doesn't solve your algae issue then some dry fertilizers would be your next logical step.

Your talkin flourish Excel type? Where can I get metricide from? It's sad because my amazon swords each had around 90 leaves and they were all infested with it so I clipped them all and the new leaves have it bad after 2 weeks

 

[Mebbid]

Your talkin flourish Excel type? Where can I get metricide from? It's sad because my amazon swords each had around 90 leaves and they were all infested with it so I clipped them all and the new leaves have it bad after 2 weeks

The active ingredient in both flourish excel and metricide 14 day sterilizing solution is Glutaraldehyde. The metricide is approximately 2x as strong though.

2 gallons of excel - $20.99 - $0.0027 / ml
Cidex Metricide Omnicide 14 Day Sterilization Gallon | eBay


500ml of excel - 11.66 - $0.02 / ml
New Seachem Flourish Excel 500ml Free Shipping | eBay

 

[John2.0]

Really don't see glutaraldehye "fixing" the problem here but could be wrong. I just see it as masking the problem as it will definitely kill the algae but unless you continue to use it the algae could come right back. Also it is pretty nasty stuff in my opinion and if used wrong can be bad for your tank. Sorry I know I am new here and y'all may like using this stuff here and may have success using it but I didn't. Not to mention its a sterilizing solution. Something about that just kind of strikes me as wrong about putting that in a tank full of fish/plants/and bacteria.
Especially when dealing with algae it all comes back to a balance issue between lighting (both instensity and duration) and nutrients. I know a carbon source falls into nutrients but that comes naturally from a tank setup anyways just in small amounts. MGOCPM will also ad in that as the stuff in it will break down and release more carbon. Find that balance with regular routines and make minor changes and you will be able find out the cause of the problem
Being patient here is the key.

 

[Mebbid]

Really don't see glutaraldehye "fixing" the problem here but could be wrong. I just see it as masking the problem as it will definitely kill the algae but unless you continue to use it the algae could come right back. Also it is pretty nasty stuff in my opinion and if used wrong can be bad for your tank. Sorry I know I am new here and y'all may like using this stuff here and may have success using it but I didn't. Not to mention its a sterilizing solution. Something about that just kind of strikes me as wrong about putting that in a tank full of fish/plants/and bacteria.
Especially when dealing with algae it all comes back to a balance issue between lighting (both instensity and duration) and nutrients. I know a carbon source falls into nutrients but that comes naturally from a tank setup anyways just in small amounts. MGOCPM will also ad in that as the stuff in it will break down and release more carbon. Find that balance with regular routines and make minor changes and you will be able find out the cause of the problem
Being patient here is the key.

Algae free planted tanks are 100% due to a good balance between carbon, nutrients, and light. In low light tanks carbon isn't an issue, but the higher you go, the more it becomes necessary. Out there are two reliable sources of carbon for planted tanks. One is pressurized co2 which is a very expensive alternative and the other is excel / glut. Some CO2 will come from both decaying organic matter (extremely small amounts), some will come from the atmosphere (also very minute amounts), and the rest will come from fish (larger amount than the other two but still woefully insufficient). No matter how perfect the level of nutrients the aquarium has, if the lighting is too powerful for your carbon source then the plants will have reduced growth and that will allow the algae to take hold. The sword plant is a perfect example of this. Algae will grow on leaves that have reduced growth rate. With the sword being planted in a dirted tank then there is absolutely no issue with a lack of nutrients being available to the plant. Without adequate carbon the growth is being stunted allowing the hair algae to grow.

Glutaraldehyde whether it is in excel or metricide is the same exact thing which is basically a fancy carbon molecule. CH2(CH2CHO)2 It is really nothing more than a combination of both Carbon and Hydrogen and will break down into both of those after approximately 12 hours in the tank reducing the concentration of glut back down to 0.

Excel / metricide is 100% safe to use in aquariums and you are right, you will need to continue to use it as long as your light stays at the same level. Until I just recently switched to pressurized co2 I dosed 1ml / gallon of excel in both of my planted tanks with absolutely no issues with plant, fish, or invert health. That is 10x the recommended dosage. If I'm not mistaken from what rivercats (planted tank queen of this forum) mentioned up to 2ml / gallon is safe to use and any more than that will cause it to precipitate out of the water.

 

[John2.0]

Carbon is very much a factor in low light tanks NPTs it is you number one limiting factor. Just as it is a major factor in high tech tanks. All goes back to balancing everything as you mention already same as I did. My whole point was that are other ways to control it in low light tanks which this would be other then adding it. If one soo choices to use liquid or pressurized Co2 that's fine but those are not the only choices out there for low tech or low light tanks. When I first started out in planted tanks I messed with Excel for a very short time. While following the instructions per the label I ended up melting my Jungle vals. Anything that can do that to a plant I didn't really want in my tank soo start looking at different means and realized that you can balance what the tank does naturally with a lil patience making adjustments to your lighting and the amount of fertilizer you add. I didn't come here to argue and sorry if it seems that way also didn't mean to steer this thread off course.

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[jwh0818]

Now now now, yall lost me a long time ago! I will dose glut because I used to run DIY co2 and I never had algae. I have too much nutrients in the water and the algae is consuming it before the plants can. No need for the long drawn out explanations because I can't sit here and read that much. I'll dose glut and yes I know it works I've seen it before. If that fails ill just burn the tank and start over

 

[Mebbid]

Carbon is very much a factor in low light tanks NPTs it is you number one limiting factor. Just as it is a major factor in high tech tanks. All goes back to balancing everything as you mention already same as I did. My whole point was that are other ways to control it in low light tanks which this would be other then adding it. If one soo choices to use liquid or pressurized Co2 that's fine but those are not the only choices out there for low tech or low light tanks. When I first started out in planted tanks I messed with Excel for a very short time. While following the instructions per the label I ended up melting my Jungle vals. Anything that can do that to a plant I didn't really want in my tank soo start looking at different means and realized that you can balance what the tank does naturally with a lil patience making adjustments to your lighting and the amount of fertilizer you add. I didn't come here to argue and sorry if it seems that way also didn't mean to steer this thread off course.

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What's npt?
I don't see it as arguing rather than a debate. It's also vaguely on topic.

Some vals and anubias are notorious for melting with glut. However the alternative is either reducing lighting and by proxy limiting your plant selection even more or adding pressurized co2 and spending from $100 - $300 doing it. Tanks just don't produce enough co2 on their own for anything higher than low light. 9 times out of 10 algae problems in an aquarium are from a lack of carbon supplementation.

 

[Mebbid]

Now now now, yall lost me a long time ago! I will dose glut because I used to run DIY co2 and I never had algae. I have too much nutrients in the water and the algae is consuming it before the plants can. No need for the long drawn out explanations because I can't sit here and read that much. I'll dose glut and yes I know it works I've seen it before. If that fails ill just burn the tank and start over

Fire is a certain way to get rid of the algae

Just take a video of it and share

 

[jwh0818]

Fire is a certain way to get rid of the algae

Just take a video of it and share

Most definetly! Then my tank will be frameless and need some new sealing! Like a whole new tank!

 

[John2.0]

What's npt?
I don't see it as arguing rather than a debate. It's also vaguely on topic.

Some vals and anubias are notorious for melting with glut. However the alternative is either reducing lighting and by proxy limiting your plant selection even more or adding pressurized co2 and spending from $100 - $300 doing it. Tanks just don't produce enough co2 on their own for anything higher than low light. 9 times out of 10 algae problems in an aquarium are from a lack of carbon supplementation.

NPT = Natural planted tank. Some refer low light or low tech tanks as NPTs. Some consider soil tanks as NPTs. Some go a step farther and say self sustaining tanks are NPTs. And your right low light tanks do limit you on plants but there are still in my opinion a huge amount of choices for you can choice from. Have always kept Low to middle light tanks. Have never crossed over to high tech. Have wanted to for awhile but that price tag on pressurized systems is what has stopped me. Glad you don't see it as arguing as some would and I was afraid y'all would here also.