It's not Cyanobacteria, what is it?

[jubei]

Hello again


Well I just can't stay away, and nor can my algae!! let's see this bright green slimmy algae only grows on the sides of my tank. Now I've had cyanobacteria and I know what it does(smothers plants and lays down sheets on the gravel) this algae doesn't do any of the above. I clean the sides of the tank and do a 50% water change every week. After one day I can see the algae forming on the sides already, by the end of the week (day6) I cant really see in any more. I hate cleaning this thing every week, ever sense I set this tank up again after I moved about 6 months ago nothing but problem with algae. what should I do I keep this thing up like a baby and still my plants just can't get the upperhand over the algae.

Tank info
100G
96watt X 3 @5000K
co2 yes
PH 6.8
KH 3.5
NH3 0ppm
NO2 0ppm
NO3 5ppm
PO4 0
lots of fish

Whats going on?

Thanks guys and gals

[malkore]

your nitrate is low and so is your phosphate. CO2 at 16ppm...a little on the low side.
do you dose trace? potassium? iron?

algae is always a nutrient imbalance/deficiency - plants stops growing so the algae is able to take hold.

[betowess]

I have the same algae I'm pretty sure and have battled it from day one, tho BBA (Black Brush Algae) and GW were the real evil ones which I've recently defeated... But that's a whole other post.

On the very happy side I can report that recently I have noticed if I do a 36 to 48 hour total black-out (meaning cover the tank with a dark blanket as well) this weak common algae just croaks straight away. And that is really good news for me, because this stuff is definately prolific, as I believe you know. What confused me was most of my water parameters were in the proper ranges. But conditions that plants prefer, algae like as well. Yet plants have enough stored energy to handle these black-outs and thankfully algae don't ... so I've heard. And you may want to experiment cutting down on your light time to keep it away after you wipe it out.

Regard malkore, everything he says is right on. You definately want .5 to 1 ppm PO4. More than that and algae go postal. And if you have pressurized CO2
crank it towards 25 to 30 ppm. You could check out the PMDD store (its in Rex's FAQ) if you want to save a bunch on dry ferts... Bob