help

[tetragirl83]

I have a 55 gallon tank with a canister filter with a Sera 500 reactor and a 10 lb co2 tank with a solenoid bubble counter. I also have an air stone inside the tank with black sand substrate, some rocks, a piece of drift wood with a few plants. Not sure on the sames of all, but my concern I am having is that I am getting a bloom of brown algae, I have been on top of changing the water, monitoring the co2 level and the amount of sunlight coming through the window, but within a couple of days the algae is back. I find it all over my plants, my piece of drift wood and on the glass. Is there something I am doing wrong???





I can give you a lead up to how it started...... My tank was doing well with having a planted tank with fish. I had about 10 fish total ranging in 4 different tetras, an albino cat and a plecco. I decided to try getting into a co2 system with using a hang on fluval 75 filter, so I bought a Sera 500 Reactor, got a 5 lb co2 tank with a regular regulator and hooked it up in the tank with a power pump. This dumped way too much co2 in my tank and ended up killing all my fish Which had me learn the hard way at setting it up. After killing all my fish I ended up shutting off the co2 regulator and doing a water change on the tank. I kept the tank with just plants and researched how to change the co2 system. Then I ended up getting a green hair algae bloom before hooking up my new co2 system. To get rid of it I took out everything with green hair algae that I could, boiled it on my stove in water and syphoned what I couldn't take out, also scrapped all the algae off the drift wood to have filter.

My out come....I bought a canister filter and hooked up my Sera reactor 500 to it, then running my air line to a 10lb co2 tank with a check valve and into a solenoid with an air bubblier. I also purchased a kit to test my co2 to make sure I don't have too much co2 pouring into the tank. Now I have a brown algae problem, which is all over my drift wood and on some of the leaves and stems of my plants. How can I fix this????

 

[tetragirl83]

pics

Trying to post pics from to my Thread of the algae in my tank.

 

[Sk3lly]

How old is the tank?? Looks similar to a diatom bloom. Might be worth researching.
As for the co2, a drop checker would be of some use to you. It works as a co2 indicator in the water. You fill it up with indicator fluid (4dkh bromine blue) and stick the drop checker inside the tank using the suction cup. The indicator fluid will change colour according to your co2 levels. If the fluid stays blue then theres low co2. If it goes yellow then theres too much unless your heavily planted. If it turns green then you got it just right ? be aware a drop checker will take hours to change colour. So any co2 adjustments should be done slowly and in small amounts. It might also be worthwhile getting a timer hooked up to your co2 solenoid. I set mine to come on one hour before my lights and it goes off two hours before my lights go out

 

[tetragirl83]

My tank is about 5 Months old. I do have a co2 indicator on the side to test my levels and have my solenoid on a timer that also controls my light. I researched ways to deal with algae and found a plant forum talking about using hydrogen peroxide to treat the problem.
I began by taking all my filter matter out of my canister, took out 2 plants that are not tied down out and put in 2 high power power heads to increase water flow. I then added 1 tbsp per 10 gallons of hydrogen peroxide into my 55 gallon tank. The algae began letting go from the rocks, my drift wood and from the leaves of my plants. I let it filter around for 15 minutes and then shut off my canister filter and did a 50% water change. This really cleared the algae out of my tank and my plants look much greener with less brown algae on them.
In this forum they recommend you use this with caution as all snails, fish and other animals may be affected by this treatment. As for me... I already did damage to all my fish by jumping the gun with setting up my co2 system before fully knowing what I was doing and killed them all. So I recommend this to people who only have a planted tank.

 

[foster53]

Looks like diatoms. Try testing your tap water for Silicates. Higher silicate levels contribute to diatom issues.

 

[tetragirl83]

I have City water and put water conditioner in my tank every time I do a water change. I have a standard testing kit for ammonia, ph, nitrite and nitrate. recommend anything else??

 

[Sk3lly]

Looks like diatoms. Try testing your tap water for Silicates. Higher silicate levels contribute to diatom issues.

How do you test for silicates? Ive never heard of such a test

 

[tetragirl83]

silicates

Found the test kits and absorbents on ebay. I bought both, one is used in my canister filter and it is said it absorbs the silicates in the water and I bought a test kit to see if its working.

 

[Rivercats]

You don't want to use a Phosphate remover in a planted tank as plants need phosphates.

How long are you running lighting daily? What fixture and bulbs are you using?

Are you using any type of ferts for your plants?

As for the peroxide treatment IMO it's best to spot treat algae with 3ml of hydrogen peroxide 3% for every 1 gallon of water. If you leave your filters on the H2O2 can kill BB. When spot treating with it turn your filters off before treating and leave off 20 minutes. Since H2O2 oxidizes out of water very quickly a WC afterwards isn't absolutely necessary.

Often algae comes from running lighting too long daily. It's also from an imbalance between lighting, CO2, and ferts. You can also use liquid carbon daily at a rate of 1ml per every 2 gallons of water. Metricide 14 Day Solution is the most economical to use.

 

[tetragirl83]

I have an LED light that I have on a timer running 12 hrs at a time. I finally got my co2 system working properly and on a timer with an indicator in the tank monitoring the amount of co2. I was using 2 liquid ferts in the water per every water change. I just cut back on the liquid and added plant fert tabs to every plant. My tank at the moment is looking great with nice clear water and my plant growth is improving. I Also added snails to my tank the other day and if it continues to do well, planing on adding fish soon.