Algea problem

[drew765]

I just recently decided to go towards a planted tank with various easy to grow plants. I upgraded my lighting to a Odyssey 154 watt 4 bulb unit with a timer actinic light on at 6am with white light till 2pm then white light till 845pm then led moonlight till midnight..darkness till six am and so on.. And I have acquired some sort of algea, what would be the best way to get rid of the issue?!

-Drew

 

[abbyn]

I had a really bad algae problem and I got a couple of snails which seemed to take care of it

 

[NanoJack]

Reduce photo period to 6-8 hours max.

 

[drew765]

I went to my local pet store and told them !y situation and they acted like the algea was caused by a overfeeding issue and recomended using a bio boost and a water declorinator which I already use on water changes and no food for 48 hrs does this sound right to you guys and gals?

-Drew

 

[DMunoz84]

Yeah your light is on too many hours. Actinic blue are coral/saltwater lights and can cause the algae problem by itself. I would start there, then 6/7 hours of lights this includes your moonlight hours/hour. Personally I run full light (324w) from 12:30pm to 8:00pm then moonlight from 8:00 to 9:00pm but my tank is very heavily planted with co2. You can do a 36-48 hour black out too, that should help your algae problem immediately then cut your hours of lights back. Once you see you're in good shape again you can bump up your light hours by 30 minutes a week. when You see Algae creeping back in go back 30 minutes and leave it a while. Some people can have lights on 9 hours some only 5 depends on the needs of the plants. ?

 

[Brookster123]

Yeah your light is on too many hours. Actinic blue are coral/saltwater lights and can cause the algae problem by itself. I would start there, then 6/7 hours of lights this includes your moonlight hours/hour. Personally I run full light (324w) from 12:30pm to 8:00pm then moonlight from 8:00 to 9:00pm but my tank is very heavily planted with co2. You can do a 36-48 hour black out too, that should help your algae problem immediately then cut your hours of lights back. Once you see you're in good shape again you can bump up your light hours by 30 minutes a week. when You see Algae creeping back in go back 30 minutes and leave it a while. Some people can have lights on 9 hours some only 5 depends on the needs of the plants. dde04

I'm not sure you're 100% correct about the actinic algae.. There is no real evidence behind this theory. In actuality any light can cause algae alone.. There are far to many variables to assume any one factor is the sole cause.. Drew.. It's hard to tell from the photo, is it brown algae? Are you dosing ferts, carbon? Co2?

 

[DMunoz84]

I'm not sure you're 100% correct about the actinic algae.. There is no real evidence behind this theory. In actuality any light can cause algae alone.. There are far to many variables to assume any one factor is the sole cause.. Drew.. It's hard to tell from the photo, is it brown algae? Are you dosing ferts, carbon? Co2?

Lol of course any light can cause algae in any spectrum. I'm sure it is 50-50 out there with the actinic being good for plants or not to. The same argument was made about LEDs. The majority do not run the actinic bulbs in planted tanks for a reason but to each their own.

 

[Brookster123]

Lol of course any light can cause algae in any spectrum. I'm sure it is 50-50 out there with the actinic being good for plants or not to. The same argument was made about LEDs. The majority do not run the actinic bulbs in planted tanks for a reason but to each their own.

I agree! They're not ideal but detrimental?? I think not I run my blue LEDs full time on my finnex, makes the rams look purty...

 

[DMunoz84]

I've actually been thinking I may leave my moonlights on during full light as well lol

 

[Brookster123]

I've actually been thinking I may leave my moonlights on during full light as well lol

its been a couple months and the only algae I have is some gda on the glass and anubias.. I don't hate it though.. Otos seem to like it too!

 

[drew765]

I just have root tabs by seachem I thought about buying some excel and see what that does for the algae.. What do you guys think

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[Brookster123]

With that much light you absolutely need some liquid carbon.. Metricide is twice as strong as excel at half the price on amazon.. You may want to think about some liquid ferts too like flourish and API leaf zone (micro and macro)

 

[DMunoz84]

Agreed the lighting hours are very long liquid carbon dioxide will help your plant growth hopefully it will overcome the Algae them

 

[Rivercats]

First off can you post a picture of the algae so proper identification can be made?

When dealing with algae you should only run lighting 6 hours or you can run lighting 3 hours on, 2 hours off, then 3 hours on. Since algae needs a longer photoperiod to being photosynthesizing using a siesta period will make it very hard if not impossible for most algae to grow.

Actinic lighting is in a blue range that aquarium plants can't utilize. There is much debate how and if freshwater algae can use that blue range. I personally wouldn't be using it. Plants grow best in about 5000K to 10K range. 6000-6700K range gives a nice range in both blue and red which makes red/pink plants and fish look their best. It does however look dimmer to the human eye. 10K has a much lower red range and is high in blue light which will look brighter to the human eye but will wash out plant and fish that are red/pink.

When using high light you have to provide either high dosing of a liquid carbon or pressurized CO2 along with using dry ferts to provide all the macro and micro nutrients plants need. Higher light means plants photosynthesize faster which means they need more CO2 and daily ferts.

When a tank is balanced between lighting, CO2, and ferts you won't get algae. Also depending on the type of algae some can be spot treated.

 

[drew765]

This is the algae I am dealing with.. Thank you so much everyone for your replies!

-Drew

 

[drew765]

I am ordering some excel tomorrow I haven't dosed excel before.. I have flourish root tabs in the aquarium now

-Drew

 

[Rivercats]

If it is branching as it appears to be in the picture you have staghorn algae. I would treat it with hydrogen peroxide 3%. Turn off filters, pull up 3ml peroxide to every 1 gallon of water and slowly squirt on algae. Leave filters off 20 minutes. You may have to treat an area a day if you have a lot of algae to treat.

Also you appear to have a type of Val so you need to be very careful with dosing a liquid carbon. I would start using 1ml for every 10g of water for 2-3 weeks. Then you can up it alittle until you build to the level of dosing you want. Val's often melt with liquid carbon especially in higher doses.

 

[drew765]

I started dosing excel 1ml per 10gal last night and did so again this morning. I just also had a spawn of swordtails overnight 3 or 4 that I've seen.. So maybe things are starting to look up? Maybe just a coincidence.. But should I dose the hydrogen peroxide and dose excel ?

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[drew765]

Day 3 of dosing excel, 60 percent water change, declorinator , and 7 ml of excel and trimmed some of my vals that had alot of staghorn on them..

I will keep up with the updates day by day.. Nothing has really changed.. Thanks again everyone and @rivercats !

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[drew765]

Previously on day 3 added 45ml of excel not 7ml

Day 4 added 20 ml no new growth of staghorn is noticeable.
How long should I keep overdosing? Or from now on just 5ml per 40 gal?

-Drew