Best way to clean out an algae outbreak?

[Luananeko]

Long story short, I had the wrong light fixture on my 40g planted breeder tank when trying to start it up. This combined with some overfeeding from my husband while I was out of town means I had a big outbreak of all sorts of algae... I've added a better light and adjusted feeding back to where it should be, but in the meantime I have a bunch of algae I need to remove as much as possible to give the plants a chance to catch back up and outcompete it properly. I know how to prevent it from coming back, it's just a matter of getting the darn thing back under control.

What's the best way to do this with minimal plant loss? Pull out the plants & decor, give them a H2O2 or bleach bath, rinse, then put back in? Use a syringe to squirt H2O2 directly on the plants with the water lowered? I've never done any of this before just heard people mention it, so a guide with dosage amounts/steps would be appreciated... I'm kinda nervous about hurting my shrimp and cherry barb babies with any sort of mistake

I also have a bunch of algae creeping along the top of the sand substrate... Is it best to just scoop out the very top layer to remove it?

Any help is appreciated!

 

[Coursair]

I would start with a 3 day blackout perhaps.

Reduce lighting to 6 hours daily after that, get a timer.

Try direct application as well.

Good luck.


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[Luananeko]

I already have the lights on a timer for 6 hrs, split photo period. Wouldn't a blackout hurt my plants? They're already struggling to recover from the insufficient lighting I had before realizing my previous light didn't have enough PAR.

 

[Coursair]

Ah ok. Normally it would be fine, but if they are already compromised, I can see why you'd worry. I'd make sure at least one photoperiod is a minimum of four hours. If I remember right that is how long plants need to do photosynthesis.




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[Coursair]

Are you using CO2?


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[Luananeko]

I'm using Excel, dual Hydro V sponge filters, a Finnex Planted Plus LED fixture plus a Fluval Full Spectrum LED fixture. Actually I misspoke about the photo period now that I went to check. I have the timer running 8 hr split photo period, 4 hrs for each part.

Most of the algae is cyanobacteria now that I look at it carefully... About half of it is that, then there's a green haze on the glass, and a bit of hair algae on the rest... I'm actually not sure that many of the plants are salvageable at this point, but I want to give them a chance Especially my fissidens fontanus moss, I'd hate to lose it all after spending so much time growing it out in my other tanks...

 

[Coursair]

Cyano ? Darn, that's a rough one. GL. I've only had an algae issue in one tank, so I'm sure others will have better advice.


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[Luananeko]

Yeah... This is my first time dealing with cyano

I know it thrives in low flow areas, but since this tank is meant to be a breeding tank I don't know how to up the flow without endangering the babies. I was hoping dual over-sized sponge filters would do the trick....

 

[MICEY]

best way to remove algae is to put a bristle nose in the tank they will clean every bit of it in a few weeks and keep the glass and plants spotless

 

[Luananeko]

I have otos, in addition to ghost shrimp and nerites already. Critters that eat algae are not something I'm lacking, and I don't really want to get a BN that will uproot my staurogyne starts From what I've read, no algae eaters will touch cyanobacteria anyways.