Weird Black Slime On Plant Leaves

[Sandbox]

For the past few months i've been getting this black slime all over my plants nearly lost a sword to it but I trimmed the leaves which consisted of it and the plant is growing back great just looking for opinions or answers to my problem any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[aqua_chem]

Kind of looks like diatoms. Can you give any specifics on the tank setup.

 

[Sandbox]

It's a 38g tall, 2x 34w CFL bulbs, Non dirted just gravel, lighted 11hours a day, nitrite level is nill but nitrate is around 5, phosphate and ammonia levels are stable also.

 

[mohican]

What do you do for CO2?

 

[aqua_chem]

How long has it been set up?

 

[Sandbox]

I use excel, and its Been up for about a year now

 

[Sandbox]

I've found out I do have brown algae any tips on how to get rid of it? Been dealing with this problem for a long time and would love for it to just be gone.
Thanks,

 

[Ilminded]

I've found out I do have brown algae any tips on how to get rid of it? Been dealing with this problem for a long time and would love for it to just be gone.
Thanks,

I had the same problem where I was having algae growing on the slow growers in my tank and it turned out to be the beginnings of BBA.

 

[Sandbox]

What did you do to resolve it?

 

[Ilminded]

What did you do to resolve it?

Since I don't have constant CO2 from my DIY set-up, I just cut back the light period as recommended on these forums and its slowly being killed off.

 

[Sandbox]

I cut back from 11 hours to 6 is that around reasonable?

 

[Ilminded]

I wouldn't go that crazy off the bat. The best thing to do is gradually go down. When I first noticed I went from 12 to 10 hours. Then when it wasn't going away went from 10 to 8. Then, after talking to RC, I went to 6 hours. Its best to keep notice for when you do change something so you have an idea of what went wrong when something goes wrong.

I just switched my photo period to 6 hours a few days ago and I am seeing gradual results. Another thing is that my lights are 13W 5000k CFL's in a 10 gal tank. So most likely my problem was too long of a photo period.

 

[Sandbox]

Okay thank you very much for the information I will see if the reducing of light will fix my problem, greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

 

[Lifeoffroad]

I have the sake problem. Mine actually turned into bba but I got rid of it by killing it off with Excel and then getting a new light. I went from a regular florecents to an HO florescent. I noticed a big improvement it no longer turns to bba. I also got rid of any blue lights. I liked them for color but it seems to make that stuff grow.

I was also told that I need some type of substrate to be rid of it completely. I have just gravel and flourish root tabs. But people told me that be the plants getting it's nutrients from the substrate and not the water, it's less likely that there will be excess nutrients in the water column for algae to use. It makes sense to me. But a huge improvement for me were the lights. My old light would do nothing for the plants and would be great for bba.

Sorry one more tip I did was stocked up on plants and I even got one of those moss balls. Can't say it works but I can't say it doesn't work either.

Good luck! Keep on fighting.

 

[Ilminded]

I have the sake problem. Mine actually turned into bba but I got rid of it by killing it off with Excel and then getting a new light. I went from a regular florecents to an HO florescent. I noticed a big improvement it no longer turns to bba. I also got rid of any blue lights. I liked them for color but it seems to make that stuff grow.

I was also told that I need some type of substrate to be rid of it completely. I have just gravel and flourish root tabs. But people told me that be the plants getting it's nutrients from the substrate and not the water, it's less likely that there will be excess nutrients in the water column for algae to use. It makes sense to me. But a huge improvement for me were the lights. My old light would do nothing for the plants and would be great for bba.

Sorry one more tip I did was stocked up on plants and I even got one of those moss balls. Can't say it works but I can't say it doesn't work either.

Good luck! Keep on fighting.

You just need to focus on the triangle of resources in a tank, Lighting, CO2, nutrients. If one is out of whack, you get alage. The issue is finding what your problem is. If you know its nutrients, then add in what is needed or if you have too much, get a floating plant like duckweed, to fix the problem. If your CO2 is too low, either increase it (easy fix with tanks) or cut back your lighting so it doesn't force the plants to preform photosynthesis.

 

[Sandbox]

Actually just ordering a T5 fixture off eBay will hopefully see if that helps and I also use root tabs and excel did you double dose the excel for the algae problem?

 

[Ilminded]

Actually just ordering a T5 fixture off eBay will hopefully see if that helps and I also use root tabs and excel did you double dose the excel for the algae problem?

Before going crazy with changing your lighting, there is a good article on here where they put the Watt per gallon rule mathematically in regards to different lighting set-ups. It goes into full detail the difference between CFL's, All the T's and their HO counter. They don't go into detail about LED's though. Basically, CFL's get more to the Wattage per gallon rule than all other lighting if you take out the height of the tank. However, the lumens associated (how deep the light penetrates) are typically higher with the CFL's. Where is you have a tank like a 55gal, 1 Watt of CFL equals to 1.75 watts to watt per gallon rule.

 

[Lifeoffroad]

Actually just ordering a T5 fixture off eBay will hopefully see if that helps and I also use root tabs and excel did you double dose the excel for the algae problem?

Did you get the HO light

 

[Lifeoffroad]

Before going crazy with changing your lighting, there is a good article on here where they put the Watt per gallon rule mathematically in regards to different lighting set-ups. It goes into full detail the difference between CFL's, All the T's and their HO counter. They don't go into detail about LED's though. Basically, CFL's get more to the Wattage per gallon rule than all other lighting if you take out the height of the tank. However, the lumens associated (how deep the light penetrates) are typically higher with the CFL's. Where is you have a tank like a 55gal, 1 Watt of CFL equals to 1.75 watts to watt per gallon rule.

This is true that's why I upgraded. The standard T5 was only giving me about 80watts in a 55 gallon tank. The Hos give me plenty at like 120or so. It does have to do with spectrum as well though. The blue bulbs made a tremendous difference in my algae growth. By removing the one blue bulb.

 

[Sandbox]

Yes it comes with 2 39w 6500k bulbs