High Phosphates

[jibboo]

I'm battling some green algae right now ... and believe that my problem may be due to high levels of phosphates. my test kit is showing a reading of about 2.5 ppm (which I believe is high ???).

Anyways, I was hoping that someone could shed some light of the best way to reduce my green algae or phosphates.

I have 55g, 2x65 CF lighting, plants, and a rubber nose pleco.

I read somewhere in this forums that someone else doses phosphates to get rid of their algae (I think their issue was green spot algae) ... I have both green/brown hair algae and green spot algae. Its not overrunning the tank, but I do have to scrub the glass every week during water change ... and it makes my green plants look dark green/brown. So, maybe I'm describing the wrong algae.

I fertelize my plants with the Flourish products ... although I don't dose the Phosphorous due to my high phosphate level. ... is that correct? Will doesing Flourish Phosphorous raise my phosphate level?

 

[travis simonson]

Typically, high phosphate levels do not cause the types of algae you are reporting (green fuzz and green dot algae). In fact PO4 levels above 1.0 ppm generally will get rid of green spot algae on your glass and plants. While 2.5 ppm is high for PO4 (I would shoot for around .5 - 1.5 ppm) your problems sound like they may lie in your nitrate levels. Green algae is often indicative of problems with NO3 or NH4. What does your NO3 test kit tell you? Also, do you have any testable levels of ammonia?

It's also possible that the algae you have is blue-green algae, which can be brought on by excessive phosphates. Does it have a very potent smell if you get some on your hands? And I'm talking very potent here, quite unpleasant If so, you've likely got BGA which can be treated by lowering your PO4 levels (water changes, running PhosZorb or something similar in your filter, feeding less) and running a three-day blackout to kill the existing algae.

 

[jibboo]

the algae doesn't smell and I have 0 levels of ammonia and nitrite. My Nitrates are almost always in the 20-40 range ... which I see people say is high around here. My test kit says 40 and under is acceptable.

I'll see if I can get some pics tonite and see if that helps identify the prob.

 

[jibboo]

here's an example of the algae (see pic)

The bright green is new growth and the rest of the plant looks dark green/brown from the algae. I couldn't understand how the plant went from bright green to brownish in a couple weeks. ... hopefully you can see the culprit for me.

 

[travis simonson]

Boy, I'm having a hard time seeing it very well. Is the algae very rough and bristly feeling or does it come off easily?

 

[jibboo]

its rough and bristly ... like the plant is disintigrating underneath it or something.

 

[travis simonson]

OK, very likely it's a form of beard algae - itself a type of red algae. This can usually be remedied by stabilizing CO2 levels at 20-30 ppm, although you should prune off as much of the affected growth as possible in any case. It can be pretty nasty stuff if left unchecked. If you're not running CO2, you'll still want to prune the affected growth and stabilize your nutrient levels at ~10-15 ppm NO3 and ~.5-1.0 ppm PO4. If you're not running CO2 I would highly recommend looking into it in order to help avoid this and other types of algae. With the amount of lighting you've got you're right on the edge of needing CO2 as a necessity. Hope this helps

 

[gone fishin]

I have had the same thing in my tank for like forever. Managed all my params didnt matter Its just choking off the plants ond creating a nitrate imbalance. It really sucked. I finally gave up last week and baught some algae destroyer at wallys. Kicked its butt in like 2 days. Now it just wipes off,mostly to think of all the leaves I cut off. I tried for a long time to keep everything natural, bummer. At least now its like a clean slate. Way more manageable.