Algae bloom

[India_R]

I have recently started adding fertilizer to my planted tank as my nitrate levels were low, and I was noticing deficiencies in my plants. I have been adding fertilizer for about a month now and the algae in my aquarium has significantly increased. This would be fine as I could just manage the lighting, but my nitrates haven't increased and the deficiencies have just been getting worse. I don't know what to change.
Any advice would be appreciated as I'm new to the hobby.

 

[Aiken Drum]

What fertiliser are you adding? What light fixture are you using? How long is the light on for? What type of plants are you keeping? What is the nitrate? Can you give more details about the deficiency you are seeing?

 

[India_R]

I am using seachem flourish. The light is a strip light and is on for about 12 hours, less on the weekends as I turn it on when I get up and then after I have tea. I can get a wifi timer if it needs to be on for less time. The plants I currently have are wisteria, vallesnaria and one other I can't remember the name of the other plant, however it isn't as fast growing as the Val or wisteria.

 

[India_R]

I have an api testing kit which reads the nitrate at 0-5ppm normally 0ppm. I think that the deficiency is lack of nitrate as my Val is beginning to get some discoloring but I think maybe calcium too? I don't currently have a picture but I can add one later. The new growth on my dwarf Brazilian chain sword is pale and twisted/deformed. The growth on my Val is deformed too. I haven't noticed any effect on the wisteria yet.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Flourish essentially contains zero nitrogen so will do nothing for the nitrate levels of your water. Very few aquarium fertilisers have nitrogen or phosphate because they are considered to promote algae growth and normally fish waste will provide enough of these essential nutrients.

Some fertilisers do have nitrogen and phosphate. NA Thrive if its available in your location (N. America). We have TNC Complete here in the UK. Aquarium Coop do a fertiliser that has these nutrients in them, Tropica too.

Before we go down that route, can you tell us a little more about your tank. How big is it? What fish? How many? What plants?

Most aquariums stocked with fish and planted with low demand plants will not have issues with low nitrate. I would double check you are doing the nitrate test correctly. Really shake the heck out of bottle #2. Like bang it on the countertop. Take a sample of water to your LFS and get a 2nd opinion.

You might be over lighting too. 12 hours is a lot, and it could be causing the plants to strip out all the nutrients and causing poor growth.

 

[India_R]

My aquarium is 30L or 7.9 gallons. I currently only have a very low bio load as my stocking is 2 guppies. The plants are vallisneria, wisteria, and dwarf Brazilian chain swords.

Thanks for the tips on the nitrate test I will try it again and see if I get a different result. I live in New Zealand so not sure how many of those other fertilizer options are available down here, but I will look into it. I have heard that aquarium coop os good but I don't know if they deliver to NZ. I will also lower the lighting and see what that does in terms of the plant growth. I may not be able to get a sample tested by my LFS but will try.

Thanks for the advice so far.

 

[India_R]

Here are some photos of my plants.

Sorry of the links don't work I am struggling to work out how to attach an image.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Wisteria is going to pull a lot of nitrogen out of the water, ammonia or nitrate.

 

[India_R]

Hi back again,
I have changed my light settings now, so it is only on for just over 3 hours with the same dosage of fertilizer. I have had this setup for about a week now, and my plants do look slightly healthier, although they are still yellowing and melting at the tips of the leaves. I have ordered a new fertilizer (tropica specialised nutrition), but I will wait for a while longer to see what other impact the lighting changes has on my tank. I have noticed the water being a little cloudy but I have recently begun dosing melafix to help one of my guppies that has fin rot, so I think that may be the cause of that.

I think that the algae growth may have slowed down a little as well but I am not 100% sure. I recently removed quite a bit of hair algae from around the plants so I will wait and see of it comes back as fast.

 

[AlbanyFishGuy]

I had the same issue when i started dosing fert. I cut my lights from 8 hrs to 6hrs and now dose every other week with water change. Algae now under control, plants doing amazing! Fertilizer i am using is aquarium co op easy green

 

[AlbanyFishGuy]

You can also try trimming the Val (just a little bit close to tips where its discolored to encourage new growth. Some people dont trim Val, but others recommend it. Ive had success.

 

[India_R]

Thanks,
I will try that. I actually trimmed it about a month ago, but it has grown back quite well so maybe with the new light it will work better again ��

 

[AlbanyFishGuy]

Hopefully it works out! Yours looks a world better than the one i currently have. In the past, i know that theyve taken awhile to establish, but this one is being so stubborn. All the plants in this tank have exploded and look great...except the Val. Its the same tiny size, and two of the leaves are discoloring a mix of yellow/brown/clear. Not sure why the other 12 plants are all loving life lol

 

[AlbanyFishGuy]

The other thing ive ran into with my plants (when it comes to yellowing leaves, especially at the tip) is that my nitrates have been too low. Normally people think its best to have as little nitrate as possible. But the plants NEED the nitrate so i have had success keeping them at around 20-40ppm. Good luck!

 

[India_R]

The other thing ive ran into with my plants (when it comes to yellowing leaves, especially at the tip) is that my nitrates have been too low. Normally people think its best to have as little nitrate as possible. But the plants NEED the nitrate so i have had success keeping them at around 20-40ppm. Good luck!

I think that is my problem because every time I test my water the nitrates barely register. I have tried adding more fertilizer but then I was told that flourish didn't have my nitrate so that barely helped. It could just be my test but hopefully it will improve once I add this new fertilizer.