combating algae in a planted aquarium

[Pteronarcys]

So I know this type of question has been asked many many times and I have searched and done research to keep informed, though I appreciate input in my attempts to combat algae.

I have found that in moving around different provinces and even living in the states for a while that with each place I have to get used to the different water parameters and learn how these affect a planted aquarium. I have moved to Calgary a few years ago and have had a planted tank going for over a year now. I had a horrible outbreak of BBA after going home to Ontario last summer and having someone here in Calgary watch after my tank. They found the CO2/fert dosing and water change thing confusing and when I came back I had BBA all over everything including the gravel. I fought against it using excel and got my parameters back in check but with it being on driftwood, rocks, gravel, intake/outake, etc I just gave up after a month or so and tore it all down.

I am now 2 months into a new set-up. I now have all ADA substrate in the 65gal. I am running CO2 through an aquamedic reactor hooked into my ehiem return. CO2 is controlled by a pH controller and set for 6.2pH. My KH is 2. I have 6 - 39W HO T5's with alternating 10k and rosette bulbs. Lights are on a timer for 10h. I am dosing with flourish products (Iron, Trace, Nitrogen, Potassium, Flourish, and Phosphate). 50% water change each sunday.

The plants I have are Myriophyllum tuberculatum red, pogostemon helferi, Hemianthus callitrichoides, utricularia graminifolia, hygrophila compacta, Bacopa carolina, winelov fern, limnophila aromatica, and Ludwigia arcuata.

From what I can tell I am getting enough CO2 because plants will be bubbling after a few hours after the lights come on. I did have a small occurrence of blue-green algae and fixed it with maracyl. That showed me I wasn't dosing for nitrates enough. I also increased my circulation with a few powerheads on low. I just finished the treatment with the antibiotic and did a water change. I still have green spot algae coating the rocks and on some plant leaves (especially the older ones) and all over the back glass. I am now noticing a small bit of black brush algae appearing on my driftwood (it is new not the old one I used to have). I am not sure how slow HC is supposed to grow but it is spreading very slow.

I am going by the seachem dosage chart based on my size of aquarium. I am thinking that because of my high lighting and CO2 the recommended dosage isn't enough and my main limiting factor is the nitrates and perhaps potassium causing the plants to stall and allowing algae to bloom. I say this because I consistently read very low values on my drop test for nitrates and I have test strips as a quick back up and they don't seem to read any nitrates, nitrites, or ammonia.

I am not sure if I should dose more often than twice a week with flourish nitrogen and I am doing a cap full right now per dose?

I will try to take some pictures and post them soon.
Thanks

 

[Rivercats]

You might be better off going to dry ferts. I dose PPS-Pro, others dose El. I order my ferts from Green Leaf Aquarium. It's way cheaper than the Flouish line and you can adjust your ferts as needed for your tank. Check into both of those methods and see whatmight work for you. For me I find the PPS works best, with a 220g I can't do a 50% water change weekly. Instead I do 10 gallons daily.

 

[Pteronarcys]

I have been recently looking into powder dry ferts. I think I might have issues getting KNO3 in canada since it is banned due to it being an ingredient for explosives. I have seen it online at a lot of american stores but I don't really want to ship it across the border and have an issue.

I have not done the EI or PPS-Pro methods before. I would consider myself an intermediate with planted tanks even though I have been working with them for about 7 years. I have progressively been learning and trying new things over the years. If I can get the powdered stuff I may start making my own ferts. I don't have an RO system and only using tap water and I think I need DI or RO to make those ferts. I have contacted a Canadian site that has them listed and I have asked them about their products.

I still need to use up my seachem stuff (which I have several bottles of each fert). So in the meantime I am going to try to figure out this algae issue before I get another outbreak and just give up..lol.

 

[aqua_chem]

GSA is indicative of either a CO2 issue or low phosphates, and given your setup of high light and CO2 with Flourish ferts, I would lean towards the phosphates. Liquid ferts generally don't cut it on 'high tech' setups. Dry fertilizers will be extremely beneficial to your setup. I heavily lean towards EI (being as you're already doing weekly 50% water changes), but PPS is also a viable alternative.

As an aside, CaNO3 is more readily available in Canada and is replacement for KNO3, and might even be better given your soft water. Just up your K2SO4 if you feel like you need to.

Also, what size is your tank?

 

[Pteronarcys]

I will up the dose for phosphates using the seachem I have. I was hoping my oto cats and SAG would get rid of it, but doesn't seem to be disappearing. I don't have signs of deficiencies in the plant leaves. Just don't like how black beard algae is coming back in small little tuffs on the wood.
I just replaced my pH probe so I hope it is working fine. I calibrated it, but couldn't get it to read exactly what the test solutions should be. I have a separate pH meter that is portable and it reads about the same. I also tested with the drop tests (though those are somewhat subjective.. is it light yellow or more orangey). So I was worried I wasn't providing enough CO2. The ADA soil keeps my tank at 6.8 without CO2, so I had brought it down slowly over several weeks to 6.2. I was watching for pearling and behaviour of my fish. So far all is good. I am sorta going off the pH, KH, CO2 charts to ball park how much CO2 I have in my tank. Though I still think it is a nutrient issue since I had some cyano bacteria appear in conjunction with low or zero nitrates in testing for them.
Should I dose nitrogen daily? or should I continue with twice a week but larger doses?

 

[aqua_chem]

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about dosing Seachem N supplement to give solid advice. If you're still getting Cyano or seeing nitrogen deficiencies, up it. Otherwise, stay where you're at. As we said, dry ferts will be your friend.

What I can say for sure is that you shouldn't be using the KH/pH/CO2 charts. That relationship is derived assuming that carbonate is the only buffer. Once you introduce another buffer in significant quantities, it invalidates the relationship. In your case, the buffers from the ADA Aquasoil is the culprit. Your CO2 levels will probably be somewhat lower than the chart calculates, but without knowing more about the buffering agents, we can't really derive a decent formula. I would start SLOWLY lowering your pH set point until A) the problem goes away (might take some aggression on your part with H2O2 or Excel) or B) you start seeing negative side effects on the livestock, in which case back it off.

Honestly, I'm not a fan of the pH probes.

 

[Pteronarcys]

Ya I used to have my pH at 6.5 but have lowered it till plants pearled and fish/shrimp don't seem affected. I have 4 crystal shrimp and many many yellow neocardina. I want to do more crystals but wanted to see how these guys did first. Have to get my tank set properly and dosing down pat first though. Not 100% sure I actually have 6.2pH so I may go a bit lower over the next few weeks, gauge the response of livestock and plants. I don't have any air supplied at night... causes too much pH swing. So far there seems to be enough O2 in the water to last the night, though the CO2 does come on to keep the pH. I have tried in the past just having it off, but the water would go up in pH 0.5-0.8 pH which is still a big swing.
In making the powder ferts... do you just mix them with tap water.. keep them in a pop bottle? Or does it have to be DI or RO water?