Fed up of algae

[maestromad]

Hey guys I'm pretty fed up with the algae in my tank now.
I have a 110L tank which is home to:
5 guppies
3 ottos
3 smudge spot cories
Lots of assassin snails

It's planed with baby tears and some crypts, I have an issue with the dark green spot algae and also have found what I think is black hair? (If that's right) algae on my plastic plants. Some of the leaves on my plants are also completely covered in a very dark algae.

I only have the lights on for 8 hours a day and this tank is not in direct light.

Not sure what to do I've been battling this for ages now complete blackouts do not work just upset my fish.

I wish there was a simple solution, any adobe greatly received ?

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Down the photoperiod to 6 hours max, and stop feeding as much. Do you dose ferts, CO2, etc? You can spot treat algae with excel, that has worked for me alot. what types of plants are they? how long has the tank been set up?

 

[aqua_chem]

First things first, you need to tell us everything you can about the tank that relates to plants/algae. This includes:


Any water parameters
Typing of lighting
Age of the tank
Any supplements (metals, carbon, etc)
Maintenance routine
Etc Etc Etc

 

[maestromad]

Thanks this tank has been set up for a year now, I dose with flourish excel although I haven't been as regular lately.

The plants are crypts and baby tears.

What do u mean by spot treat? At the moment I'm having to run the algae off with a toothbrush or my nails

 

[Rivercats]

As AquaChem asked what type of lighting do you run? Do you know your nitrate and phosphate readings? How often do you do WC's and how much do you change out each time? Once the cause of the algae is found and corrected you may not even have to do any spot treating.

 

[maestromad]

The lighting is two interpret tropical daylight bulbs I shall lower the time period today.

I should also mention that I get very thick brown gunk on my filters and when cleaning this is disturbed and distributed throughout the tank and is very difficult to siphon all up.

I clean the tank once the week work permitting and at the longest once a fortnight, with a 50% water change

My readings for nitrATe is 5ppm I don't have a phosphate test

 

[Andrewz00]

First things first, you need to tell us everything you can about the tank that relates to plants/algae. This includes:


Any water parameters
Typing of lighting
Age of the tank
Any supplements (metals, carbon, etc)
Maintenance routine
Etc Etc Etc

I agree with Aqua_Chem here.. we need more detail and you arnt providing much... without it, no one can help.

 

[maestromad]

I have answered the questions asked but ill do them again;
110L tank set up for 1 year
Plants are baby tears crypts and a few of I think it's wondelov sessiflora
I dose flourish excel it was at least once a week but has been slightly sporadic of late.
Readings:
NitrAte 5ppm
NitrIte 0 ppm
PH 7.4
Ammonia 0 ppm
I can't test for anything else.

The lights are 2 interpret daylight bulbs 18w

Hope this helps, I've also included a picture btw the tank was cleaned last night, the dark spots are algae on the glass

 

[Andrewz00]

Sorry if i missed a few of your answers previously...

all your levels seem to be fine... i would imagine it has to do with the amount of light the tank is getting.... what is your current photo period? how many hours of light does the tank get?

 

[maestromad]

It's currently on an 8 hour timer from 1pm to 10pm just so I get to see the fish when I'm there! A previous poster has said to drop it to 6 hours which I will once I work out how to change the timer.
It's frustrating as the tank looks dirty all the time!

 

[Andrewz00]

Yes absolutely drop the time down to 6 hours or less... i run 5:45 pm - 11:45 pm....

Also, does the tank get sunlight? is it near windows?

I would HIGHLY recommend getting a phosphate test kit... they are not expensive and will give you a great deal of info. For example, if your tap water tests HIGH for phosphates, no matter how many PWCs you do it wont help....

This is the one i use... API Phosphate Test Kit

 

[maestromad]

Just went to the lfs for things for my other tank. They didn't have a phosphate kit ? the tank is near to patio doors but not in loads of sunlight.
I'd say this problem is around 6 months old, over the summer I worked a month straight and the tank got quite dirty just having trouble getting it back to its pristine ways. Shame there isn't a fish that loves difficult algae!

 

[aqua_chem]

The dark green spots are actually usually indicative of a lack of phosphate in high demand tanks,

 

[maestromad]

Ok so if I test the water and it shows low how can i up it and will it affect the fish?

 

[aqua_chem]

It won't effect fish one way or another. It's hard to say whether its a problem or not without knowing your lighting setup...

 

[maestromad]

Exactly what do u need to know?

 

[maestromad]

The tank ha two 18w 24 inch interpret tropical daylight bulbs which run for 8 hours a day, I use flourish excel and on initial setup root tabs for the crypts

 

[aqua_chem]

What kind of light you have, ie, wattage if you have CFLs, bulb type if you're using fluorescent (T8, T5, etc). This will give us an idea of the intensity of your light.

 

[aqua_chem]

Are these bulbs end to end or parallel? How tall is the tank?

 

[maestromad]

Sorry i believe they are t8's, they are parallel to each other and the tank is 18 inch high with the lighting approx 3 inches above that.