What algae is this?

[zenkatydid]

BBA? Hair? Staghorn? How do you tell the difference? And, most importantly, how do I make it go away? And yes, there is also green spot and brown algae on those leaves, too... :|

Tank: 28gal bowfront (AR620), planted
Lighting: 1.5wpg, on 12hrs/day
Dosing: Red Sea daily trace mix, DIY CO2 (2x 2l bottles)
Inhabitants: 3 danios, 1 golden algae eater

Still waiting on my test kits to arrive, so no results yet. Tank is *probably* cycled, has been set up for more than a month. We do weekly 20% pwcs.

 

[7Enigma]

Oh GOD, thats staghorn. Seriously a PITA to get rid of. I still have some residual staghorn in my tank. It is generally caused by fluctuating CO2 levels I believe. Very nasty stuff that tends to start at the edges of slow growing leaves and work their way in.

Best method is leaf removal of affected areas, but I successfully treated with hydrogen peroxide on my anubias leaves with great results.

 

[zenkatydid]

Well, we've only just added the DIY CO2 two weeks ago, so once that settles in, will the staghorn go away? Like... does stable CO2 kill it, or just stop it from growing, or what?

If the DIY CO2 just never settles down enough, is there any other way of controlling it? Or should we abandon the CO2 altogether? :/

What about the green spot and the brown? Is that caused by the same thing, or is there some other way we can control that?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

More than likely, you will have to manually remove it, or use HP to kill it off. With a stable CO2 level, it should stop it in it's tracks, but probably won't go away. Also, with DIY, make sure your levels are at good levels. A low fluctuatting CO2 level will only increase the staghorn growth. So if you aren't sure if you have a good level, add another bottle of DIY. Better to be a little high than a little low.

 

[zenkatydid]

well the tank in question had 1 2l bottle added last weekend, and another 2l bottle this weekend. each bottle has 2cups of water, 2cups of sugar and 1/4teaspoon yeast. is that enough for a 28gal tank, or should we add another?

how do i test for co2 levels? and what should it be at to keep the staghorn at bay?

 

[rich311k]

You can determine your CO2 levels by knowing your KH and PH levels. Please read the following it will explain it to you.

Co2 Calculations

 

[rkilling1]

Staghorn is caused by low or fluctuating CO2 and with the addition of NH3/NH4 will grow like crazy. You said your 'cycle' should be over, but do you know your NH3 level?

 

[zenkatydid]

no, as i said, i don't have the test kits yet :/ but if the cycle has completed, which i am led to believe it *should* have by now in a tank this size, then the ammonia *should* be 0. this is all speculation, though. hopefully the kits will be delivered in the next few days and i can find out for sure.

 

[zenkatydid]

TEST KITS ARE HERE! wheee! (well, the first lot - KH/GH still to arrive)

pH: 6.7
NH3/NH4: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 5

cycled! *dances* oh that is such a relief! XD

SO, there is no ammonia to be giving the staghorn anything, it must be purely the co2, right?

 

[fish_4_all]

It could be anything not limited to CO2 and/or ammonia. I removed my CO2 and got staghorn when my CO2 should be a steady 3ppm, not fluctuating. I slowed mine down with more PO4, which your green spot algae is an indicator of being low PO4. Everything needs to be balanced in order to take care of all algae and even then you can expect some kind of algae because it is almost present in anything but the best tanks.

The only way I can think of to prevent a lot of it is to sterilize every plant, fish, ornament and anything else that will ever go on, in, above or around the tank to try and prevent the spores from ever entering the aquarium. With that, the best we can do it make sure everything is balanced as best as we can do and deal with it by removing it when it needs to be removed.

 

[zenkatydid]

haha great solution, i love it

i have no problem with algae visually, as long as it's not out of control. it's more than i'd rather my plants got the nutrients they were taking. i guess i'm using the algae as an indicator that something's out of whack.

the phosphate thing is something that confuses me. i have always understood that the presence of phosphate causes algae, but it seems that you can use it to remove algae as well? i have read multiple pages on this, and am still confused. do some algaes like phosphate and some hate it, or something? can anyone explain that relationship for me?

 

[fish_4_all]

I don't know the relationship but I have never induced an algae problem by adding PO4, but when I don't dose it I can count on Greenspot and sometimes some other soft algeas to show up pretty quickly. I only dose .77ppm 3x a week so it isn't a huge amount but it is dosed and higher than we would expect to be in a "healthy" tank. Mine tests to about 2ppm every other week. My nitrates are right in tune at 20ppm so all should be well.

 

[zenkatydid]

thanks, fish_4_all. if the stabilising co2 doesn't affect the growth, then i will definitely try this. i might try it anyway, to get rid of the spot, as you say. thanks again.

 

[Purrbox]

The idea that high phosphates cause algae is an outdated idea that has been disproven by many people. Unfortunately it was such a strong belief for a fairly long time, that you still see that information drifting around. Phosphates are actually one of the macro nutrients that plants need to grow, and if limited will slow down plant growth and cause algae like Green Spot Algae.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

The idea that high phosphates cause algae is an outdated idea that has been disproven by many people. Unfortunately it was such a strong belief for a fairly long time, that you still see that information drifting around. Phosphates are actually one of the macro nutrients that plants need to grow, and if limited will slow down plant growth and cause algae like Green Spot Algae.

I agree with this in part, that it phosphates are needed by plants. But the other thing to look at is some algaes do prefer higher phosphates, and if you were to cut off the nitrates, then the high phosphates will cause a much faster outbreak of the algae. But if all nutrients are available, then high phosphates is not an algae creator, as the plants will outcompete the algae.

Now the same goes for nitrates, other algaes prefer high nitrates. And of course, it takes phosphates to drop out to cause the problems as well. So all in all, it boils down to deficiencies, and whatever excess nutrients you have will be the determining factor for what algae will get the upper hand.

 

[zenkatydid]

lwb, that makes much more sense to me. i will be able to explain to my boyfriend that he has outdated ideas much better than i could "uh, just cuz" it's amazing how far the aquarium hobby has come in such a short time!

is a higher bioload going to affect the phosphates much, or do you think we'll need to dose it? we are planning on adding more fish, were just waiting for test kits and such before we did. we may get a few cherry barbs to keep things in check on a general basis. is there any 'every day' product i can buy that will dose phosphate, rather than a seachem product or something?

also, in regards to dosing, rather than strarting a new thread:

i bought some "no salt" to dose potassium. it says the ingredients are potassium chloride, ammonium chloride, magnesium stearate and tricalcium phosphate. is that the right one? by the breakdown it seems to be _mostly_ KCl. and how do i work out how much to use?

you guys are so good, did i mention that? you help me so much <3 thank you!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Yup, and like Purrbox had explained, high nutrients don't cause algae. It's a nutrient that drops out that causes it. And the higher the excess nutrient you have, the faster the problems will occur.

 

[zenkatydid]

ok, i have all my test kits now! additional results:

KH: 1.5dKH (27ppm)
GH: 5 dGH (90ppm)

these both seem quite low. is that a problem? is there something i should be doing about it? oh, and what is the standatd KH/GH unit that i should post results in - degrees or ppm?

pH: 6.8
.: CO2 = 9ppm

very low... we have 2 2l bottles of DIY CO2 on this tank (28gal)... it seems bizarre to have to more than double that to get a decent amount - what are we doing wrong?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Are you calculating the gh and kh correctly?

 

[zenkatydid]

i am following the instructions - the kh turned a sort of greenish colour on the first drop (it was supposed to be blue), and went full yellow on the second drop, so i am saying that's 1.5. the gh took 5 drops. i have the AP test kit, if that makes a difference.

also tested the phosphate, and am a bit confused about the result. it said to read the results after 3 minutes. i wasn't timing it - as usually i just come back to the test a little later - but the longer i waited, the more opaque the water was. the colour was closest to 0.5ppm, but it kept "reacting"... is that right?