What algea is this

[Pezzep]

And how do I fix it. It's green algea that's only been growing on my substrate haven't seen it on any plants yet. I also got some fuzzy stuff on my rocks, they don't get long or any thing just small and black as you can see in this photo. There was also white stuff on the glass in the tank that got a little green stained, not sure what it was from. It's hard feeling when I scrape it, comes off like dust.
Posting more pics in later posts on the iPad it won't let me post multiple pics in one post...

Green algae

 

[Pezzep]

The white stuff turned green, at the back beside the heater

 

[Rivercats]

How long has the tank been set up? The stuff on the glass looks to be green dust algae with will eventually run it's course and go away on it's own. I use an algae magnet in new tanks to keep it off the front and side glass but just leave it on the back until it goes away.

Even in the pic it's hard to tell the bottom algae. Is it in little tufts and furry looking. That's kind of what it looks like. If so it's BBA, black beard algae which can be other colors than black.

How long are you leaving your lights running daily? What type of lighting and bulbs are you using? What plants are in the tank and how many? Are you using CO2 or liquid carbon? Are you using any ferts?

Start by reducing your lighting to running 6 hours daily until algae is gone. Then you can spot treat the BBA with hydrogen peroxide 3%. Get a syringe and pull up 1-3ml of peroxide for every 1 gallon of tank water. Hold syringe very close to the algae and slowly squirt it. Turn off filter/s before treating and leave off 20 minutes after treating. If you have a lot to treat you will have to do a treatment every day to get it all. Usually the BBA will begin turning red, pink, or whitish within 24 hours which means it dying.

 

[GoldsGuy]

Is the green algae slimy? Looks to be Cyanobacteria which is actually bacteria and not algae and can quickly spread.

 

[Rivercats]

Here's some good pic's of different algae found in FW tanks... James' Planted Tank - Algae Guide. You can use these to compare to what you have.

I don't see any cyano on the substrate but you do look like you have some yellowish brown diatoms on it. If you tank has been recently set up diatoms can be present for a the first months.

 

[Mordachai]

Thanks for that link, RC - I see now that I have Staghorn algae, not BBA.

Not sure if that's better or worse, but it's more accurate

EDIT: Sorry for the confusion - I meant my tank has Staghorn, not the OP's.

 

[Rivercats]

That's not staghorn on the rocks on the substrate. Staghorn isn't green or black and tufted like what I'm seeing on the rocks in that pic. That looks like BBA. You can actually have several kinds of algae going at the same time in a tank... not trying to cheer you up or anything am I... lol.

The same still holds true for running lights less, spot treating. Also using liquid carbon daily and ferts as needed goes a long way in helping plants outcompete algae.

 

[Pezzep]

I run lights 8 hours a day two 13 watt CFLs on 7.9g I double dose excel soon to be metricide I dose nitrates phosphates/potassium and micro nutrients about 5.5 ml a week. There isn't a lot of algae on the substrate basically that tiny little ball I shows in the pic and then some on the sand. I believe I have a little staghorn or bba on a little of my moss due to a little extra food when shrimp were still in here (the puffers ate my shrimp lol) the green stuff sort of falls apart in my finger tips and dissolves away and I rub them together.

 

[Pezzep]

As for plants I have Christmas moss, wisteria or water sprite, anubias nana, some sort of rotala, under my light it's a little pink in colour the leaves are narrow, green cabomba and althernia renikii or however it's spelt.

 

[Pezzep]

Oh yeah the tanks probably 3 months old maybe less

 

[Rivercats]

Try upping your liquid carbon to 1ml per every 2 gallons of water. And run lights even an hour less. Then spot treat all the algae, peroxide works well on moss, and see if it stays away.

 

[Pezzep]

Try upping your liquid carbon to 1ml per every 2 gallons of water. And run lights even an hour less. Then spot treat all the algae, peroxide works well on moss, and see if it stays away.

Yeah I'll turn the timer down an hour and I've recently just started doing about 4-5 ml of carbon so hopefully it will help. What exactly is a ppm? Like what would I be dosing milalitre wise at 1-3ppm per gallon

 

[Rivercats]

I correct my post, it should have been 1-3ml of peroxide to every 1 gallon of tank water.

 

[Pezzep]

Oh, okay perfect. I'll start that tomorrow. There isn't a lot of algae so hopefully one day will do it. Thanks for all the help!

 

[Pezzep]

So I did some spot treatments with just excel so far and have the lights down an hour less, there already seems to be less of the algae on my substrate there is still some sort of string algae on my moss and such tho so hopefully a few more spot treatments and it will be gone!