55 gallon algae ridden

[jeremyblevins]

alright i feel embarrassed to post this but my 55 gallon aquarium is full of hair algae and some bba on the java moss. the hair algae is covering most of the aquarium and i clean up all i can each week but it's back again usually half way through the week.
the tank has a 4 foot shop light with 64 watts
diy co2
gravel substrate
driftwood
fluval 305
water wisteria
anacharis
java moss
5 pearl gourami

my ideas are that it's either cause by
1 the diy co2
2 the lack of ferts
3 the low stocking level

the only fertilizer i have is aqueon plant food, and due to my budget i can't really afford the 25 for dry ferts.
so any ideas?

 

[Greenmaster]

I would get a fish that would eat the algae... then when it is all gone I would supplement the fish with algae cakes.

 

[jeremyblevins]

Well I plan on introducing rcs and mts to the tank once I get a good colony of both in my 10 gallon. But I would rather fix the imbalance then just try to hide. The only fish I would think of adding for a cuc would be ottos.

 

[Smitty]

What kind of lights do you have? When I used DIY C02 I had a lot of problems with various algea. BBA has been the bane of my existance since that time... Going to presurized C02 has helped a lot but i still have BBA.

I don't know about the hair algea but I can say that Hydrogen peroxide works wonders to kill BBA (someone else on here pointed me in that direction, thanks!). Only thing is I don't know how well the shrimp will get along with it. I have never been successful in keeping any in my tank.

 

[jeremyblevins]

I have a shop light with 2x 32 watt t8
I've used h2o2 before to kill the BBQ it worked. But then it grew back. And I don't have the money to consider doing pressurized co2. And I don't have the shrimp yet it'll he a couple months probably before they go in my 55.

 

[Smitty]

Well, I don't think there are any shrimp that eat the BBA. Not sure on the hair algea though. I've been told that Siamese Algea eaters will eat BBA but the one that I got never did.

How long are you lights on for? I would say if over 8 hours then cut back to only 8 hours and see if that helps. I actually have mine split at 4 hours in the morning so I can see it when getting ready for work then 4 hours in the evening so I can see it while home at night.

 

[jeremyblevins]

well i have all my tanks set for 12 hours for my snake and stuff. not sure about cutting it back. would the break in the middle hurt the plants at all? and yeah i don't think shrimp will eat the bba but i'm sure they'll help keep back other algae, but i don't want to rely upon them i'd rather get my other stuff evened out first.

 

[JohnPaul]

Well, I don't think there are any shrimp that eat the BBA.

Actually Amano shrimp will eat BBA. I have a tank sitting next to my computer here with BBA on the top of the filter and I am watching my Amano in there pulling at tufts of it as we speak.

That being said, they'll only eat the BBA if there is nothing more appealing in the tank (that means no feeding, or very very minimal feeding, of anything else) and they don't eat a whole lot at once, so if you had a lot of BBA in a tank you would need a small army of Amanos to really put a dent in it.

 

[DragonFish71]

RCS will eat the BBA too.


I had a piece of DW coated with BBA and put it in our shrimp tank. In a week they had it mowed down to just wood again. Their tank is the only one of ours that doesn't have any algae at all growing. Awesome lil guys for sure.

 

[Smitty]

I stand corrected Which I could get either of those shrimp to live in my tank

 

[jeremyblevins]

Okay that aside haha. But I would rather fix the imbalance that's causing it then to rely upon the shrimp.