That darn Algea

[BillD]

If you are going to use hydrogen peroxide you have to apply it pretty much directly to the algae. This is usually done with a syringe or turkey baster. From the picture it looks like there are not many plants. Adding phosphate will only make matters worse. You could remove the plants and dip the stalk/leaf portion in a solution of 1 part bleach to 19 parts water for about 2 minutes. This will kill the algae, usually.

 

[Patrice]

Ok , it's bin 1week and i removed the fish and shrimp. I added 60 ml of HP and all the black algae is dead now. Still have normal spot algae on glass, decoration and gravel . The glass was easy to remove. But know, how do i remove algae on the gravel ?

 

[Patrice]

Any suggestion, i know that maybe it will come back . But Anyone that know how kill they algae fast would be helpful .

 

[Patrice]

Well, from what i can tell, hydrogen work very well,even doing a full aquarium if you don't have shrimps.
Bleach works, but i would need to add its in the tanks, which will kill all a beneficial bacteria.
Now i have only 2 possible solution. One start over, 2 find out whats is missing in my fertilizer if its not to late. one day i will inform you of my findings.

Just to make sure we are on the same page, i have all most all type of algae in my aquarium. Plants a growing and they older one are dying.

 

[krbooker]

I'm having a similar situation with one of my tanks and black hair algae growing on everything. I've tried shrimp but apparently they only like algae in it's beginning stages, when it gets too long they won't touch it I'm trying siamese flying foxes now, apparently they love algae if you can find the real ones.

 

[epiphysis]

I have done a bit of reading lately on algae and found that staghorn is a lot related to water hardness. Considering the thread so far, everytime you dosed more ferts the problem get worse. My try to lower your dosing a bit.

If you do have a kit to measure hardness it might help to compare your tank at different stages (before and after dosing) as well as measuring your water source.

 

[Patrice]

I will verify the general hardness. But just to make sure. Usually my gh is stable at 6. I will get you back on that.
I am adding more nitrate and its getting worst. But its not very high neither, 8ppm.

I do notice that nitrate, po4, iron are not being absorbed from the plants. Make me wonther what's missing. I see old plants dying and new plants growing. Doing internet search, you will find that its p04 deficiency. More likely the plants are not absorbing the phosphate. What, i don't know?

 

[epiphysis]

Its starting to sound more like a nutrient problem.

If you dose PO4 and iron together there is a chance that the two will combine and precipitate out of the water. Hence it will be unavailable to your plants. Therefore its suggested you do not dose macro ferts and micro ferts on the same day. I dose macro's on the day of a water change and then micro's 2 days later. But I don't have a high-tech setup, so I can skip 2 days.

Also, it could be that potassium might play a role here. One of the many functions of potassium is that it helps plants to take up nutrients. You mention that old plants are dying (or I assume older parts of plants). In my experience potassium is the first thing to look at. Just a slight increase to see what it does.

 

[Patrice]

Thanks for the replied, i appreciate it.
Ok that what i already did. More phosphate i am closely measuring it at .4 ppm

Did a new batch of macros. Cut the quantity in 2 and from there, I will add what i need.
Pps-pro is a system that you need to add every day dosing. Sooo can i add they macro at night time and micro in the day or vice versa.

 

[Patrice]

Phosphate maybe the big problem now. I am having lots of air bubble everywhere coming from now where in the last 4 h. I don't know a lot about iron phosphate, but i think they strive on this. I am wondering if phosphate is in my water for the day, will it attach its self into they iron if dosing happened in 24h period.

 

[epiphysis]

To be honest I'm not very fimiliar with the Pps-pro system. I use diy dry-ferts and just stick to the basics. Looks very similar though. Got some research to do this weekend again

Your phosphate level is fine. And if your macro and micro's appart it will help.
But try to up your potassium a bit just to see what it does. Increasing the potassium will have the least negative effects. You can dose it up to 80ppm without any problems. Tom Barr doses some of his tanks up to 200ppm, but he's in a different ballgame.