Aquatic Plant Central - Algae

Diatoms!!!! :(

TarantulaGuy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:03:38 GMT

Bah on these foul fickle creatures. They're covering my plants. New growth gets them in a week or 2. Old growth looks like it went through a mud bath. This is not a new tank, just newly planted. The tank itself has been setup for 6+ months, planted heavily with c02 for the past month and a half. Otos aren't doing the job, I have 4 or 5 in my 29. What can I do??? :(

So close! Need some really good advise, please!

Trio123 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:51:31 GMT

I have been working on this tank for two and a half years now. It is a high tech wannabe tank with a fly by the seat of her pants user. 65 gallon tall model tank.

Description of Tank:
It has crummy substrate (your usually gravel with a little sand) but it is aged at this point and I have Amano nutrient sticks I add monthly. I've got a CO2 injection system and a drop checker that I have moved around the tank (left for hours) and stays green (the optimal color). I have also checked the CO2 using the calculators which also say it is in the optimal range. My lighting is two Life Glow T5 HO 54W lights providing what most sites call medium light which should be plenty for what I'm trying to grow (amazon swords, rotalia, hygrofilia, crypts, anubius, and java fern). I add nutrients based off of the EI dosing but I have altered it to better fit my tank. I have a powerhead on the left side of the tank but might need a bit more flow. I do 40-50% water changes every weekend. I get reasonable plant growth but......

Inhabitants:
Knifefish, two rams, five congo tetras, one otto, nirite snails, and a whip tail catfish. I feed them frozen food mostly because the Knifefish gets aggressive when he doesnt get his brine shrimp, mysis, or bloodworms.

Problem:
ALGAE! I use this website for my major algae guide because the pictures are so good: http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm
The types I am getting are: BBA and/or Oedogonium, Hair, Green Spot, Cladophora, and a little spot of blue green... I could tank could provide a nice model of algae types for discussion of what not to do... :help:
I have been testing the nitrate and the phosphate everyday and what I've found is the nitrate starts out at 10 at the beginning of the week (after water change) and gets to 20 by the end (I add NO nitrate additions because of this). The phosphate stays extremely low 0.1 ppm but if I add a significant about I get algae growth like crazy! I was getting yellow spotting so I learned from some articles to add potassium and trace elements (CSM+B) so I dont know what other nutrient could be holding back nitrate uptake.

Please help, or send me to a really good book (not about tank aquascaping or the basics) that gets into the details of maintaining a good tank.

And PS I am going to change the substrate when I move.

PSS sorry for the length :-#

Asking for advice.

F1_Cobra — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:22:23 GMT

Hello all, I'm a newbie to the world of aquatic plants and have been dabbling with adding plants to my main tank for a couple of years now with limited success. I'm disabled on a limited income and live in rural Arkansas where the only pet store is just too nasty to purchase anything from and with our limited budget, ordering online doesn't' happen very often, so I don't have access to all the products I read about here, so i'm asking for advice on what I can do with limited means to cure my algae problem?

The attached pic shows my main tank that has mostly apontigentens(sp?)grown from seed obtained from Walmart.....and a couple of other larger plants obtained from Petco by my neighbor who occasionally makes trips to a larger town and has purchased a few plants for me....i'm sorry I don't know any of the plant names. Mostly, the plants do ok.....I used to feed them Excel till I ran out and haven't been able to afford to order any and just use some plant food by Tetra.....I do 50% water changes on a weekly basis...usually....I get lax about that sometimes.

Anyway, over the past few months i've developed a pretty bad algae problem that the H202 doesn't take care of....I think you guys call it BBA??....It turned my tank into a lush charcoal colored long shag carpet for lack of a better term....lol. I removed most of it by hand, and replaced all the large rocks and driftwood, but I can't seem to get rid of it all together.....what do you guys recommend? Did I cause this problem by stopping the use of Excel?

Thanks for any help you can give.....I look thru this site with amazement and wonder....the beautiful tanks you folks put together is just incredible, and I can only hope to one day have a planted tank as beautiful.

PS....I'm also attaching a picture of a 10 gal tank I just put together to entertain my granddaughter with, and I don't know what kind of plant my neighbor got for me...can you identify it?

Thanks again,Michael

Attached Thumbnails

Cladophora algae (close ups)

Glaucus — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:11:43 GMT

I take it that this is the dreaded Cladophora? Its growing in between gravel and low growing plants, where it attaches itself. I imported it into my tank with some new plants and its growing quite fast. I tried manual removal but this won't help much because of the minuscule remnants on the gravel. It easily grows back.

Are there any other (nutrient) measures to discourage its growth?

Attached Thumbnails

In Need of Some Serious Algae Issues!

Bimmer — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:45:09 GMT

I have this problem with several different types of algae in my 72-gallon bowfront. I bought some nice Amazons as you can see in one of the pics from a LFS only to find out they were infested with snails. Since I have Discus I didn't want to use chemicals so I slowly over a period of time sucked nearly all of them out using a Diatom filter. By that time the Java moss got hair algae. So I took that out and put it in another tank with clown loaches and regular lighting and it seemed to to work pretty well. I've since reintroduced the java moss. But this white stuff is weird. It's almost a pale blule color. VERY hard! Don't know if I should take all the rocks out and soak them in a solution or what. And finally the amazons. I took them all out about 2 weeks ago. pruned em down pretty far and got all the hairy growth on them and now it's back. I've stopped using ferts of which I was only using Flourish Potassium anyways. I was using a homemade CO2 method but I've since shut that down about three months ago. My water temp is a consistent 84 degrees and the lights consists of (2) bulbs that are 65W/10,000K that are on about an average of 10 hours a day.

I am fairly new to plants but not a total newbie. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm about ready to pull all the rock and natural wood out and start over leaving the substrate and gravel alone.

This is just to give you an idea of what the natural color of the rocks used to be to compare it with what it looks like today.
[IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG]

Now, 6 months later this is what I have and it's driving me nuts trying to figure out what to do first especially since I have discus in the tank and knowing how sensitive they are to drastic changes.

Brown algae in...

oakleyhoma — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:42:10 GMT

a 30g that was cleaned VERY thoroughly about 2 months ago. It's not a real problem, no problem with other algae types as of yet. It's just a little unsightly, especially on slow growing java ferns, etc. Eco complete substrate, but I do have a few smallish "local rocks" which may very well contains silicates - these are metamorphic rocks, probably some sort of gneiss. I've read that brown surface-covering (diatom) algae is a common, early type that frequently appears. When should I expect it to naturally recede? (of course, then some green type will then probably appear). I've recently replanted moderately dense with stem plants so maybe that will help reduce it. My light is fairly low, ca. 1.8 wpg.

swordtails: what algae types

oakleyhoma — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:16:43 GMT

do they eat?

Hair Algae

wax — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:35:56 GMT

My hair grass is infested with hair algae and I was wondering if I was to give it all a dip in a bleach solution if this would be okay to kill the algae.

Who or What Consumes Duckweed?

WntrMute2 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:29:42 GMT

The title says it all. I'm tired of fighting a losing battle with the floating monster. Please help!

Thanks in advance
Dave

planted tank algae issue

WhiteDevil — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:48:40 GMT

Hi again.

Ive searched and nothing really answered what I was looking for.

I have a tank with algae issues.

My 52g planted has algae all over the glass, my rubblernose and BNP did nothing for this, the otos didnt much either. I am loaded with MTS in this tank and they go around this stuff.

lighting is 2x40W 6500K
substrate is plain jane flourite
no Co2
Dosing excel 5ml/day
if anything it came on stronger with excel

What can I do to combat this stuff

My lights are on for 24hrs

Tank is established and planted well, not much room to plant more without removing hardscaping.

Filtration is a penguin 660R w/ sponge RUGF system and a AC70 HOB and an AC20 powerhead for cirrculation.

Thanks

Anything else let me know what I left off

Water parameters are fine, havnt had any changes in the readings in well over 10 months.

Green Water - Nitrate to blame?

mattmathis — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:33:27 GMT

I have a 10 gallon tank shrimp that I have been cycling. I woke up this morning to a Green Water Algae Bloom. It is not really bad now. Do they get progressively worse?

It has been finished cycling (fishless) for 3 days, and I have been adding a drop or two of ammonia every day since then. It usually takes 1 day for the ammonia to drop back to zero. Nitrite stays at zero. The nitrates are really high, around 80. I was waiting until right before I got my shrimp to do the large water change.

I read that high nitrates could cause algae blooms. Do you think that is the problem? Should I do the large water change now? And then do another right before I get the shrimp?

Thanks!

Is this Algae?

michelleml — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:52:05 GMT

Got new plants and found this. Im a newbie so don't no much about live plants. So please any help

If its algae will shrimp or fish take care? I only see on this one plant

Thanks

Reversing Green Spot Algae

Glaucus — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:54:10 GMT

Some plants in my planted tank are covered with GSA. I did a search on the forums and found out this is likely caused by low PO4 levels (<1ppm); I meassured less than 0.4 ppm. So i am increasing phosphate levels. Will this convert GSA infested leaves to spotless leaves or will it only prohibit GSA growth on newly formed leaves?

Algae Grower Extraordinaire (With CLOSE-UP PICS)

genetao — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:59:10 GMT

I've been struggling with the algae for many months, and with all of my research, and trying to do what the experts say, I just simply can't banish the algae.

MY TANK SETUP

10 gallon tank - Medium to Heavily planted setup for about a year.

8 Cardinal Tetras & 1 Betta

Fertilizing Regiment - I use Seachem's full line of ferts including, Iron, Phosphorus, Nitrogen, Trace, Excel, Flourish and Potassium. I follow Seachem's recommended dosing schedule, but follow the EI method, slightly overdosing on all macro and micro nutrients. I typically dose about double of what Seachem recommends. (My tank goes through nitrates fairly fast). I do a 50% water change once a week to reset the tank. Substrate is the usual gravel.

When I test my water, the nitrates are about 10ppm, and phosphates are about 1-2ppm. Ph is 7.4, Gh is about 6 dKh. Per the EI method, all of this is within range.

I do not use CO2, hence the reason why I use Excel instead. (CO2 is rocket science/voodoo to me). But I usually double dose on Excel too.

Lighting: 2 spiral compact fluorescent bulbs each 14 watts, totaling 28 watts with a mylar reflector. Sounds like a lot with just using Excel right? But remember that these are spiral bulbs which are pretty inefficient when factoring in the re-strike, and plus the tank looks dimmer than my other nano tanks. The lights are on for 8.5 hours a day.

I use an AquaClear 30 filter, along with a powerhead to keep up with the proper amount of flow. Believe me, there is plenty of flow. My Betta hates it! And the cardinals swim against the current in a shoal.

Plants:
Cryptocoryne
Anubias Nana
Anubias Barteri
Anubias Nana Petite
Java Moss
Java Fern
Hornwort
Sagittaria subulata

Yes they are mostly low light epiphytic plants. But using Excel with fairly inefficient spiral bulbs, added to the fact that I'm keeping up with all of their fertilizing needs, I would think that this would be a balanced ecosystem.

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I have two different types of algae that I'm struggling with.

The first one is some kind of hair or thread algae. It looks black, but upon closer inspection, it's very dark green. I ruled out BBA because it can be pulled apart and pulled off of plants. In fact, every now and then, I'll see a small clump of it riding along in the flow of the powerhead.

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Then there's this other, I'm guessing, mulm-type of algae. I have no other words for it, but I have it in all of my tanks. It can't be fish poop, because even in the 2.5 gallon tank with only a single betta, I have this algae. And I use the EI method on that tank too with a 50% water change once a week. There's no way a single betta can poop out this much stuff. So it can't be poop. It's gotta be some sort of pesky algae. But what exactly is it? This algae loves to grow on the floss filter media of the Red Sea Nano filter, especially because the filter is transparent, and is underneath a pendant light.

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If you can tell me what I'm doing wrong and how I can fix it, please, I could use the hand. Short of telling me to break down my tank and start anew with AquaSoil, CO2, and fast growing stem plants with HO T-5 lighting, I'm hoping someone can point the error in my way.

Thanks for your help!

Classic (i think) algae problem. Advice????

flashbang009 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:38:29 GMT

i'm having a bad algae outbreak in my 75 gallon, i had algae bloom/gw, and i got rid of that with a uv sterilizer, but of course another type of algae formed. It is a green coating on all the hardscape. on some of my plants, i have some thing growing that looks like quartz out of the leaves of some plants. I have plenty of nutrients obviously, i dose excel daily, and flourish every 3 days. I have a decent amount of plants, but i plan on getting more. My question is this. I believe the algae is coming from excess nutrients. If i increase the light (right now im at about 62 watts total, i know its too low wpg) so the plants can use more nutrients, will this help? And i assume adding more plants would help too?

And the plants i have in there, some bacopa, ludwiga, and a few swords, are growing, if anyone was thinking my wpg was the problem.

Advice??
Thanks!