So Much Green Covering My Tank Glass!

[LindaC]

Okay, since I've upgraded my lighting, I have an abundant amount of green algae covering the glass on my tanks, it's so bad I can't even see through the side of the tank. I read that if I leave it alone for 2-3 weeks, it will go away, is this true? How can I go that long, I guess I can deal with it on my sides and the back but the front will be hard, I'd like to see the fish!

What causes this algae? Does it have anything to do with the nutrients?

 

[fish_4_all]

Higher light, higher nutrient uptake, higher dosing needed. Also, If your lighting is high enough you will either need to start CO2, up your dosing of Excel or increase your CO2 input.

What are you dosing and how much?
What is your lighting now? I saw it on your other post but others will need to know
What are you using for carbon? CO2 or Excel?
Is your tank heavily planted or not, maybe types of plants might help.

 

[MattAquaBio]

Like fish said, a nutrient imbalance, you can try reducing the length of time you have the lights on each day for a while until you get the tank under control, but ultimatly i think its a nutrient imbalance.

 

[Purrbox]

If the algae on the walls is hard to remove, then it is Green Spot Algae. Increased PO4 dosing will help get this under control.

 

[7Enigma]

Purrbox,

I've heard this a lot now and I'm having a hard time buying it. My tank constantly is battling GSA (mainly along the strip light entrance), and my phosphates by my AP liquid test kit are ALWAYS above 0.5ppm. Most of the time its between 1 and 2ppm. I'm scared to death about dosing more phosphate since I already have algae problems (IMO due to the high phosphates!), but I'm starting to wonder if I have a faulty test kit or something is causing a false reading. My tap tests at ~0.25-0.5ppm.

I dose NO phosphate in the tank, as it all comes from my fish food apparently.

 

[Glenc]

I still get green algae on my glass, and my ferts are in line. I'm running almost 5 WPG as well. It usually starts off as light brown, which is easy to clean off. If I get lazy and leave it, before long, it goes green and is hard to remove. Upping my P04 to 1.5 to 2 ppm has brought it to a standstill, but I still get it. It just takes longer to show up, about a month. I would try to stay on top of cleaning it off while making sure your ferts are in balance. Your tank is adjusting to a new brighter light. It's like your driving along and you just stepped on the gas! No matter what you do you will always have one algea issue or another, the higher light you run the more issues you will have. You'll get better at learning how to handle algea the longer you do this planted tank thing, but it will always be around. As you learn to balance your tank, algea will become less and less bothersome. Any you do get will be minimal, try just to clean it off and live with it

 

[LindaC]

Thank you, I did end up wiping it off last night, I just couldn't stand looking at it any longer. I waited so long that I couldn't even get it all off, I may do a 50% water change when I get home to reset the tank.

I also noticed some green spot algea on a couple of Wisteria leaves so I tested my phosphates (Seachem phosphate test kit) and they were 0.5, even though I had added phosphate the night before. So I ended up adding 3/4 tsp last night, along with my micros. I can't believe how fast my tank is eating the ferts up! I've been testing my nitrates and they appear to be at 20 ppm, so I haven't been adding any KNO3, but now I'm wondering if I should be. My test nitrate test kit is an AP and I'm not that sure of it's realiability. I want to purchase a better kit, any suggestions? I really like the Hagen test kits and they just came out with one for nitrates, so I may give that a try.

The last thing I did was turn off one of my lights to bring the wattage back down to 65, just until I get home and do a water change. When I'm running both lights, I have approximately 3.36 wpg. I so glad that the bulb I just purchased is a 50/50, which gives me 65 watts in the front and 32.5 watts in the back.

This is still a lot of light for me when I've been use to running just below 2 wpg. I am also injecting pressurized CO2.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Purrbox]

You're AP kit is fine as far as hobbiest test kits go. To truely make the leap to a better kit you would need to spring the bucks for a LaMotte Nitrate Test Kit. This may or may not be worth it to you. As long as Nitrate levels are testing at 20ppm or above you kit is probably fine. It could be that you have enough fish waste and/or a deficiency in one of your other ferts that is causing it to remain the same.

 

[malkore]

Purrbox,

I've heard this a lot now and I'm having a hard time buying it. My tank constantly is battling GSA (mainly along the strip light entrance), and my phosphates by my AP liquid test kit are ALWAYS above 0.5ppm. Most of the time its between 1 and 2ppm. I'm scared to death about dosing more phosphate since I already have algae problems (IMO due to the high phosphates!), but I'm starting to wonder if I have a faulty test kit or something is causing a false reading. My tap tests at ~0.25-0.5ppm.

I dose NO phosphate in the tank, as it all comes from my fish food apparently.

The AP phosphate kit is not terribly accurate. I always suggest teh SeaChem one instead.

and 0.5ppm of PO4 is too low. TravisSimonson and I both run 1.0-1.5ppm to keep the green spot away. Travis has even run 2.0ppm without incident, but its nothing he or I would advise.

Green spot is usually too low PO4, or, nitrate is too high compared to your PO4 levels (the 1:10 ratio guideline)

 

[7Enigma]

Purrbox,

I've heard this a lot now and I'm having a hard time buying it. My tank constantly is battling GSA (mainly along the strip light entrance), and my phosphates by my AP liquid test kit are ALWAYS above 0.5ppm. Most of the time its between 1 and 2ppm. I'm scared to death about dosing more phosphate since I already have algae problems (IMO due to the high phosphates!), but I'm starting to wonder if I have a faulty test kit or something is causing a false reading. My tap tests at ~0.25-0.5ppm.

I dose NO phosphate in the tank, as it all comes from my fish food apparently.

The AP phosphate kit is not terribly accurate. I always suggest teh SeaChem one instead.

and 0.5ppm of PO4 is too low. TravisSimonson and I both run 1.0-1.5ppm to keep the green spot away. Travis has even run 2.0ppm without incident, but its nothing he or I would advise.

Green spot is usually too low PO4, or, nitrate is too high compared to your PO4 levels (the 1:10 ratio guideline)

I mentioned the 0.5ppm so I wouldn't be lying, but it rarely is below 1.0. It normally fluctuates between 1.5 and 2.0 without phosphate dosing, and my nitrAtes range between 20 and 60 at any give time (very difficult for me to decipher the AP nitrAte test kit). I just make sure its not light orange (10ppm), and not blood red (80+).

 

[malkore]

so it sounds a little more like your case is nitrates just getting a little too high for the given PO4 levels.

 

[7Enigma]

so it sounds a little more like your case is nitrates just getting a little too high for the given PO4 levels.

Possible. They fluctuate quite widely depending on the week (between squeezing out the filter inserts and gravel vacs).