Emily6

Hey so even as a so-called "senior member", I have yet to toast the algae problem. :-/

At the moment, my latest confusion is that I have everything but the kitchen sink going on with my tank. But the plants grow great!

I have green dust, brown diatoms, some green spot, and every now and then a bit of green fuzz algae. I can't tell what these have in common but I'm thinking some kind of imbalance. None of them is really making me crazy (and all but the diatoms only grows on the glass or driftwood)- but combined it's enough that I spend 30 minutes scrubbing the glass and brushing the plants every week.

I do weekly 50% water changes (65 gal. tank) and light it for about 10 hours a day under 156w (the tank is 2" deep). I have CO2 injection on a timer with the lights. The pH sits around 6.1 during the day, a little higher at night when the CO2 is off.

I dose dry ferts using the EI method. More precisely, I dose 3/4 tsp. KNO3, 1/4 tsp. KH2PO4 and 1/4 tsp. Plantex CSM+B - 3 times a week. On top of which, I throw in 3 cap-fulls of Excel after the water change each week.

I have the tank fairly loaded with plants and fish- so probably a good bio-load overall.

So I'm left thinking something is just off enough to make lots of different algae happy.

Thoughts?

The Trigger

How old is the tank? Diatoms only usually appear in the first couple months after setup.

Emily6

Pretty old- I took it completely apart about a year ago. That's the most recently everything has been reset.

Newt

Algae Cause & Treatment Type of algae Cause Solution
Black Beard Algae (BBA): Low CO2, low nitrate, excess iron> Add CO2, N, trim, spot treat with Excel
Blue Green Algae (BGA): Low nitrate> Blackout + add nitrate
Cladophora: Low nitrate + Low CO2> Add nitrate, add CO2
Diatoms: Excess silicates, Low light> Wait, add catfish, use RO water/sponge
Green Dust Algae (GDA): Spores> Wait out life cycle, remove + WC
Green Spot Algae (GSA): Low phosphate + Low CO2?> Add phosphate, possibly add more CO2
Green Water (GW): Ammonia + high light> Reduce light, Wait, Small WC, UV filter
Hair Algae: Excess nutrients, silicates> WC, Excel, feed less, is something limited?
Milky Water: Bacteria bloom> Wait out, protect filter, add fish slowly
Staghorn: Ammonia + low CO2> Remove, WC, protect filter, Excel
String Algae: Excess nutrients> WC + get biofilter working

The Trigger

Have you changed ANYTHING else recently? This usually won't happen unless you change lighting, add bioload, add more ferts than normal, lower co2 etc. Anything at all you can remember? And you say this happened out of nowhere?

Emily6

It started when I redid the tank a year ago... and never really left. But I didn't really change my routine then.

The only thing I can think of is that I started doing water changes from the faucet directly with a hose- but I treat with Prime before adding tap water.

The Trigger

have you tested your nutrient levels with a kit? something could be way high and you would never know....

Emily6

No, I haven't- I have a hard time finding kits that test for things like that though. Have any suggestions?

The Trigger

I have an API master test kit. Pretty decent for what it is. There's better ones but the API's are pretty common and give u a pretty close ballpark idea of where ur levels are. The two main ones you will need is a test for Nitrate and Phosphate. The phosphate doesn't come with the master kit so you will have to buy it seperately. But those are the two things I would test for just to get an idea of where you're at.

The Trigger

Any LFS or pet store that stocks aquarium supplies will sell these test kits.