Help with Algae

[jehenry89]

I know the image is bad, but can anyone help me with IDing this type of algae. I have never seen anything like it and I can't seem to find anything online that looks like it. I want to figure out what it is and get rid of it before it gets out of control.

My first thought was green hair algae but its not long and stringy. Its coming up in small clusters over the glass and plant leaves.

 

[Rivercats]

It looks like Green Beard Algae which is just green colored Black Beard Algae.

How long are you running lights daily? What type of light and bulbs do you have? Is your tank planted? If so are you using CO2 or liquid carbon? What about ferts? What is your nitrate and phosphate levels?

BBA can be spot treated with hydrogen peroxide 3% or liquid carbon but unless the problem causing it isn't fixed it will just come back.

Right now start with running your lights only 6 hours daily.

 

[jehenry89]

It looks like Green Beard Algae which is just green colored Black Beard Algae.

How long are you running lights daily? What type of light and bulbs do you have? Is your tank planted? If so are you using CO2 or liquid carbon? What about ferts? What is your nitrate and phosphate levels?

BBA can be spot treated with hydrogen peroxide 3% or liquid carbon but unless the problem causing it isn't fixed it will just come back.

Right now start with running your lights only 6 hours daily.

Thanks for your response! I have been running aquariums for a long time but as of two months ago, it has been my first try at planted tanks so I am still really new to all these issues. I never had an issue with algae in any of my non-planted tanks so any advice you can give me would be great. Everything I learned about planted tanks, I learned via this amazing forum.

-How long are you running lights daily? I was running them for 10 hours daily up until early yesterday morning, I dropped it down to 8 hours after reading that 8 is the minimum.
-What type of light and bulbs do you have? I have 2 t5 bulbs - 2watts per gallon
- Is your tank planted? Yes, I have ozelot sword, Java fern (tied to driftwood), Anubias nana (tied to rock), Red Rubin Sword, Hygrophila corymbosa, and Limnophila aromatica.
-Are you using CO2 or liquid carbon? Co2. I have a 5 gallon tank running at 30 psi at about 3 bubbles per second. My Ph is 7.0 and my KH is 6. I don't have a drop checker at the moment and I don't really have the funds right now to get one (ps4 is on the way!!!) but I found a ph and kh graph and according to that, it says I am right where I should be.
What about ferts? Flourish comprehensive 2x a week and a flourish tab for the swords.
-What is your nitrate and phosphate levels? Nitrate levels were 0 when I last did test, 6 days ago before my last water change. I have to do one today, so if it is any different I will update this. Phosphate levels, I actually don't have a test kit for however they shouldn't be more than .5 because I do have a phosphate and silicate remover bag in my canister.
I really don't think I am over feeding however I am not sure if the feeding is different in planted tanks compared to non-planted. I feed the fish about a quarter of a tab of both frozen brine and frozen veggies every other day.

Some additional info-
I guess I should mention, this tank has only been set up for about 3 months. I cycled it using filter media, gravel and items from my old aquarium that I was upgrading from. The cycle only lasted about a week and a half. After about two weeks, when I was sure everything was stable, I started to add additional fish. about 3 weeks in, I had an outbreak of brown algae. I read that it was normal in newly cycled planted tanks and will go away within a few weeks. After about 3 weeks, it stopped growing back after i scraped it off before water changes. Then almost immediately after the brown algae went away, this green algae started to grow.
I don't know if this is true but I read that fluctuating the co2 could cause issues like this and therefor a while I had a horrible fight with my co2 regulator. I really think it was faulty because I checked every inch of my setup with soapy water and wasn't seeing any holes. I eventually bought a new regulator and the problem went away after that. However, for about a month while I had the old regulator, the co2 was all over the place.

What makes black beard algae green anyway? Just out of curiosity.

 

[Rivercats]

Well your running CO2 but not using proper ferts and using a phosphate remover. Your phosphates are most likely 0 and you want 1-3ppm of phosphate in a planted tank plus your nitrates are 0 and they should be 10-20ppm in a planted tank. This is your problem. Believe it or not when there aren't enough nutrients in a planted tank it's actually easier for algae to use the available nutrients they can find. By using CO2 your increasing photosynthesis and growth on plants which means they need even more nutrients. Flourish is basically micro nutrients and plants need both micro and macro nutrients. Macro's are nitrates, phosphates, and potassium.

You have a couple choices. You can buy the rest of the Seachem line of macro ferts and dose them or you can buy dry ferts that run $15 plus shipping. Dry ferts will last years in a tank that size which is kind of overkill but you have to start dosing more complete macro and micro ferts.

Oh and take out the phosphate remover as you don't want to use that in a planted tank.

Here's a good link to show you the basic algae's found in planted tanks and some info on them.... James' Planted Tank - Algae Guide.

 

[TankMan7]

Planted tanks need Phosphate and Nitrate - in about a 1:10 ratio of phosphate to nitrate. 1-3 ppm Phosphate and 20-30 ppm Nitrate should do the trick. Good luck!

 

[jehenry89]

Well, originally I put that in thinking that my tap might have high silicates because it removes both.
So basically I have to take that out and I have to get macro supplements and that should solve my issue? Do I dose per instructions and can I does them in the same day?
Thanks for your help!!!

 

[TankMan7]

That's a good place to start. You might start using Excel as well and reduce your photo period to 6 hours until you get things under control. Higher doses of Excel work wonders on this type of algae.

 

[TankMan7]

Sorry - yes, dose per the instructions and the same day is fine. I dose using PPS Pro and made my solutions. Google it - there are a lot of resources out there. I'd put a link in myself, but I am on my phone Keep us informed.

 

[Rivercats]

Removing the phosphate media and buying and using macro's will help but you have to understand that you have to get your tank balanced between the lighting, CO2, and ferts. You may have to play around with lighting times to see what is the amount of time you can run lights daily without algae. Eventually you need a drop checker to see if your reaching optimal levels, and then making sure you have enough nutrients for the above light and CO2.

Also with BBA you need to spot treat it with hydrogen peroxide 3% to kill off what's in the tank now. Turn off your filters, pull up 1-3ml of peroxide to every 1 gallon of tank water in a syringe. Slowly squirt algae as close to it as possible. Leave filters off 20 mintures. Algae usually starts dying in about 24 hours. If you have a lot you can spot treat an area a day.

 

[jehenry89]

I have excel but I honestly thought it would exacerbate the issue not make it better. Well, I am set to do a water change today so after that I will go out and pick those up from the store.
I will make sure to update the post after a few days for anyone else in the same situation as I am.

Thanks for your help guys! Really appreciate it.

 

[jehenry89]

Removing the phosphate media and buying and using macro's will help but you have to understand that you have to get your tank balanced between the lighting, CO2, and ferts. You may have to play around with lighting times to see what is the amount of time you can run lights daily without algae. Eventually you need a drop checker to see if your reaching optimal levels, and then making sure you have enough nutrients for the above light and CO2.

Also with BBA you need to spot treat it with hydrogen peroxide 3% to kill off what's in the tank now. Turn off your filters, pull up 1-3ml of peroxide to every 1 gallon of tank water in a syringe. Slowly squirt algae as close to it as possible. Leave filters off 20 mintures. Algae usually starts dying in about 24 hours. If you have a lot you can spot treat an area a day.

Ya its on the shopping list but I probably won't have the funds to get it for a few weeks. All my money from my next check is going into my ps4 lol. I also have to get a phosphate testing kit if I plan on supplementing it. >< Ya I figured I would have to mess with it but I didn't think it would be so difficult! I am sure once I get all this figured out, it won't seem nearly as bad lol. It really is worth it though because the fish seem to love hiding in the plants and it really makes the tank look so much better. So whatever I have to do to make it work I guess!

 

[jehenry89]

So I am still having a few issues with this algae. It seems to be concentrated in an area around my wavemaker. Currently, I dosed macro/micro nutrients twice this week and I have my lights set for 8 hours per day. Any ideas?

 

[Rivercats]

Turn lighting down to 6 hours and spot treat. Turn CO2 up if possible. Also not enough ferts allows algae to out complete plants So you might also want to up your dosing on ferts as well. Be sure to monitor your nitrate and phosphates weekly.

 

[jehenry89]

Y I just did testing. My nitrates are at 20ppm and phosphate is at 2ppm. I forgot to turn my lights down before I left last week so I just did it. I also turned the co2 up a tad
Do I have to spot treat? I really wanted to avoid it.
There is an improvement from last week when I came home from work so I am happy.

 

[jehenry89]

I really want to get rid of it so I am going to go out and get a dropper and dose it. How much is safe to use with scaleless fish and inverts? 1ml per gallon is what I keep reading.
Thanks again rivercats!

 

[Rivercats]

I really want to get rid of it so I am going to go out and get a dropper and dose it. How much is safe to use with scaleless fish and inverts? 1ml per gallon is what I keep reading.
Thanks again rivercats!

Well you levels of nitrates and phosphates are good but be sure not to let nitrates go any higher. If your asking how much fertilizers are safe for inverts and scaleless fish then lets say you would have to grossly overdose before they would be harmful. I've seen people using the EI dosing regime with nitrate levels up to 100ppm and phosphates to 20ppm with no issues to stock (not that I recommend levels that high). So considering your levels I would just turn the photoperiod down and up CO2 if possible. Do you have a drop checker to monitor your CO2 level in the tank? Also spot treating with the peroxide during a WC is a great time to do it since filters are already off.

 

[jehenry89]

Sorry, I meant how much H2O2 is safe to use with scaleless fish and inverts. I guess it really doesn't matter seeing how I will be doing a water change within 30 minutes. I am planning on spot treating tomorrow afternoon during my water change. I will update the thread after doing so. Hopefully this helps!

I am planning on getting drop checker within a few weeks, at the moment I don't have the money to buy anything unless I can find one for really cheap lol.

 

[Rivercats]

Oh it matter how much you use! You only want to use 1-3ml H2O2 per every 1 gallon of tank water for spot treating.

 

[jehenry89]

Awesome thanks! On the plus side, I can really tell the difference in my plants after dosing the macro nutrients. Most of my plants have better color and seem to be growing faster. I am pretty excited to see the progress within the next few weeks.

 

[jehenry89]

Just did my first spot treatment. The big clumps bubbled for about a minute after I put the peroxide on it and did a 50% water change after about 30 minutes. How long should I wait before I do another treatment and how much water should I change after the second treatment?