Weird Algae in tank, HELP!

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Joey2619

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Nov 6, 2005
Messages
130
Location
Long Island, New York
Not sure what's going on in my tank, but this algae sprouted up a little while ago, and it's been getting worse very rapidly. What does this appear to be and what should I be doing to remedy the situation?

img_1156590_0_1154b548ca7fd978e1c7836a8f026f12.jpg
 
Looks like green thread or hair algae. In a planted tank, that usually means an imbalance of nutrients.

Post your fertilizer regime & other tank spec. & the plant gurus here will be better able to help you.
 
I don't do anything to the tank. PWC every month. There's one fish in it. Not much going on. Haha. Light doesn't go on all the time either.
 
most of the time an algae outbreak is due to overfeeding. i had a similar case about a month ago... but mine was more brown, anyway i cut down on my feedings (amount fed, and times fed), i also dialed in my fertilizers. my algae is 90% gone (and it was bad). only feed as much as they will in 2 mins, and i cut back to once every other day... it'll take a while to get rid of, but it will shrink back. the water change is a good way to remove a majority of any unused nutrients left over in your water, ie food or ferts the plants and fish are not consuming... just scoop as much algae out every week during your water change as you can, really monitor your feedings, and be patient.
 
This is a pretty good discussion of algae in a planted tank:
Algae Control! - Article at The Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish

The principle is nutrient balance. In a non-planted tank, you can use nutrient restriction - ie doing lots of water changes so there is no nutrients left for algae to use. This is not practical in a planted tank as your plants need the nutrients.

In a planted tank, you need to balance the nutrients (CO2, lights, fertilizers - N, P, K) so that it favors the plants & not algae. It takes a bit of trial & error to get the right balance. <you are not injecting CO2, so you are left with playing with the light (how long it is on) and ferts.>

Increasing the pwc's as suggested may work if you happens to have an excess of one nutrient that is causing problem. The pwc acts to reset the nutrient levels. In typical EI fert regime, you do a 50% pwc every week to reset the tank so there is no excess. Usually, you also add a balance fert regime after the pwc so there is no shortages. For now, you can try just the pwc reset. <Your fert is the fish poop ....> You might consider adding ferts or playing with the light period if that does not solve your problem. <Meanwhile remove as much algae mechanically as possible.>
 
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I appreciate the helps guys, I did a 50% WC today, and took out a good amount of the algae. Next week I'll take out the rest of it. Are there any potential tank mates I can put in there to keep the algae under control? The problem is the tank gets about 4-6hrs of sunlight a day, plus the stock hood light. I also only have one pictus cat in there, so there's not a huge fish load.

Any ideas?
 
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