Algae

[Johnny32561]

Hi I wanted some advice on what to do for algae on a 10 gallon, right now it has hairgrass, hemianthus and anubias but today I noticed a little bit of algae. I am planning to drape a towel over the whole thing and stop dosing ferts but is that enough I also have co2 should I stop that too? Any advice is appreciated the algae is just starting out as I only noticed it today
Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Bert2oo1]

What kind of algae? It's normal to get abit of brown gunk down near substrate level.

If it's BBA (little blue/black tuffs) then blacking the tank out won't help and it has to be scrubbed off manually.

If it's GSA (little green dots) then uping your phosphates might keep it away after scrubbing it off

If it's hair algae then blacking out the tank and turning off the co2 and no ferts can get rid of it. However it is dangerous as u can lose plants due to the lack of light. Scrubbing it off also works (you need to scrub pretty hard with a toothbrush)

At the end of the day though these are methods to remove it for now but if conditions stay the same it will come back.

You need to focus on what may have caused it to begin with. Lack of co2? Lack of ferts? Lack of flow?
All these play a major part. Figure out what u lack and the algae will disappear.

You will always get some form of algae in a planted tank but if u get it quickly and find out the cause of it then u can adjust to suit

Hope I helped!





30g planted, 90g Oscar tank

 

[Johnny32561]

It's mostly hair algae so I blacked out the tank. Do I decrease or increase co2?
I am pretty sure the problem was too many ferts so i will stop dosing as many and do a water change. I'll black out the tank and not dose ferts until I see improvement


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Fresh2o]

Typically when you decrease light, the demand for CO2 and ferts are less. In your case, I would decrease the light (or do a blackout) but keep the CO2 and ferts the same. Having too much light but not enough CO2 and ferts usually results in an algae outbreak.
How do you know you are overdosing frets? What are your levels for nitrate and phosphate? What fert regimen are you using?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Johnny32561]

I'm using estimator index and I know I overdosed because for the first week I eyeballed ferts with a 1/4 tsp spoon and I forgot the water change


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Fresh2o]

With EI water changes are a must.
I use PPS-Pro because I don't do 50% weekly water changes and the plants in my tank don't show fert deficiencies. Plus, I only measure the dry salts (with a scale) maybe once or twice a year. Squirting 2 mL a day is pretty convenient.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Caliban07]

I'm using estimator index and I know I overdosed because for the first week I eyeballed ferts with a 1/4 tsp spoon and I forgot the water change


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Excess nutrients don't cause algae bud and the point over EI is to overdose. If nutrients caused algae then everyone who used the EI method would have algae. Algae is caused by improper balance of light and co2. On nearly all algae cases, reducing the lighting levels will help because as Fresh20 quite rightly pointed out less light reduces the demand for co2. When you plants do not have enough of everything they need, algae begins to show.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Bert2oo1]

If you go the Tom Barr black out method then u stop ferts and co2 completely. U can add abit of excel as an Algaecide if u wish


30g planted, 90g Oscar tank

 

[Bert2oo1]

If you go the Tom Barr black out method then u stop ferts and co2 completely. U can add abit of excel as an Algaecide if u wish


30g planted, 90g Oscar tank