Yet Another Algae Thread

[Mordachai]

I'm struggling with a 55g that used to be a low-tech planted, froze due to loss of power during winter two years ago, I recently emptied & replaced with new plants, waited 10 days, then began adding new fish a few at a time (monitoring ammonia / nitrites - all zero).

However, I noticed that the fish seemed to be getting sick - discovered that nitrates were ridiculously high (80-100ppm), and water changes wouldn't significantly dent that (I assume that the material that had accumulated in the substrate must be creating so much nitrate that 12hrs after 75% WC I was right back to the 80-100ppm).

So I emptied it again, and replaced the substrate with brand-new substrate, refilled, acclimated the fish & plants, and all seemed (water was incredibly clear).

However, now I have a massive algae bloom. My plants - which did really well for the first week after changing the substrate, are now doing very poorly. The main thing that changed is I replaced the 2x T5 normal output 6700k light with a buildmyled.com 5000K LED. I'm not sure if it qualifies as high - but it is way more light than the 2xT5NO light fixture I had before.

So, the plants have a lot of algae growing right on the leaves - some of it is just flat green patches, some of it is hair algae (which can look white, green, or even brown depending on the light & density). And some of what is affecting my plants seems to be a black patch which will grow into a hole in leaves.

I'll attach some pics in a moment - but I need to try to find a way to upload them at their native rez, otherwise they'll be too blurry for anyone to make much out of them.

So... I'm adding pressurized CO2 injection when it arrives (maybe in a week), and I've dropped back to my lower intensity 2xT5NO lights.

I need help with:
1. Why might my plants doing worse under the increased light of the LEDs?
2. What might the black growth be that "burns holes" through the leaves?
3. What can I do to get things into balance?

I am not overfeeding. I have a lot of algae / bottom eaters (4 amano shrimp, an adult golden mystery snail, 2 ottos, and 7 bee shrimp).

I did a 25% WC over the weekend to help with water clarity & to remove a skein of what looks like oil on the water surface (which came back within 24hrs).

The water has been pretty darn clear, but the algae yesterday suddenly became intense, with what I think must be the hair algae suddenly colonizing almost all surfaces (all glass surfaces for sure) in what seems like a single day!

For filtration I have a Fluval 306 maxed out with pre-filter material, ceramics, and fine particulate filter material, and a Whisper 60 HOB filter that I've had for many years (which was all I used to use for the prior 8 years without much issues).

 

[Mordachai]

Here are 4 pics. Sorry, the quality seems better when I view them in the phone, but here they seem a lot blurrier.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I think co2, or lack there of, was a major component to the algae problem. To my understanding, those BML lights are very bright... you might need to add dimmers or really crank up the co2. Also reduce photoperiod durations to 6 hours a day.

I'd PM Rivercats about this if she doesn't chime in on here. She had 3 of these BML fixtures, so she would have some insight from experience using them.

What are you using in terms of ferts? Are you also dosing a liquid carbon like excel or glut. The liquid carbon also has a side benefit of being an algaecide.

 

[Mordachai]

I have dosed only what was recommended on the bottle - I can't recall the brand (yellow bottles, if that helps). One week's worth so far. One of them has iron, magnesium, and some nitrate (my nitrates are zero since I replaced the substrate). The other is a general plant fertilizer, don't recall what's in it.

Yes, that light is pretty intense.

River thought I had blue-green algae before, and maybe I do again? The plants came over. My fungal stuff that was growing on my plants is finally gone! And the fish are - for the most part - much healthier now. (my otto cats seems very lethargic, and of two mystery snails one died within a day, which is suspicious... but the other appears quite happy).

So... my paranoid self thinks there's something in the tank which is not at all healthy for the ottos and snails and plants. Cyanobacteria or whatever.

OTOH, the amano shrimp recently molted, and the bee shrimp seem perfectly fine (as well as the other gold mystery snail).

 

[bshenanagins]

I have dosed only what was recommended on the bottle - I can't recall the brand (yellow bottles, if that helps). One week's worth so far. One of them has iron, magnesium, and some nitrate (my nitrates are zero since I replaced the substrate). The other is a general plant fertilizer, don't recall what's in it.

Yes, that light is pretty intense.

River thought I had blue-green algae before, and maybe I do again? The plants came over. My fungal stuff that was growing on my plants is finally gone! And the fish are - for the most part - much healthier now. (my otto cats seems very lethargic, and of two mystery snails one died within a day, which is suspicious... but the other appears quite happy).

So... my paranoid self thinks there's something in the tank which is not at all healthy for the ottos and snails and plants. Cyanobacteria or whatever.

OTOH, the amano shrimp recently molted, and the bee shrimp seem perfectly fine (as well as the other gold mystery snail).

Yellow bottles sounds like something from tetra. I would lean more towards Seachem for liquid supplements (Micros and Macros).

 

[Mordachai]

Whoops, my bad! It's Kent Marine: Iron & Manganese, and Kent Marine: Pro-Plant.

Is the assumption that I'm not dosing enough? Or too much? I really want the plants to grow (obviously), but the algae or whatever went totally nuts. I've got large blooms of a reddish brown growth on some leaves and on the intake tube of the whisper HOB, and I've got leaves disintegrating on my banana plant (and a new leaf it was nearly finished building disintegrated ), and super-bright-green growths on a lot of leaves, and hair-algae on almost everything. I'm looking at plants that seemed to be doing awesome last week doing like crud this week.

Seems like there should be enough nutrients since I gave it the recommended dose for the week... but I don't know how one tests for that?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

So... I'm adding pressurized CO2 injection when it arrives (maybe in a week)

This is the main culprit to your algae problems. Too much light, not enough co2.