[Wet Thumb Forum]-What is this stuff and how do we get rid of it ??? - Fertilizing

Madpiano · 04-08-2003, 04:50 AM

Hiya

Our Big Tank has an outbreak of this really horrible stuff. It's kind of black and green and grows in long strings with a couple of branches. Reading through the lagae information pages, I have now come to the conclusion, that we seem to have a Red-Green-Staghorn-Hair-Algae Colour-Morph black ????

Please help.

Does any fish eat it ?
How else can we get rid of it (before it takes over the tank)?

Here is some Pictures of it:

Algae from Hell

Thanks
Sabine

Madpiano · 04-08-2003, 04:50 AM

Hiya

Our Big Tank has an outbreak of this really horrible stuff. It's kind of black and green and grows in long strings with a couple of branches. Reading through the lagae information pages, I have now come to the conclusion, that we seem to have a Red-Green-Staghorn-Hair-Algae Colour-Morph black ????

Please help.

Does any fish eat it ?
How else can we get rid of it (before it takes over the tank)?

Here is some Pictures of it:

Algae from Hell

Thanks
Sabine

ekim · 04-08-2003, 05:56 AM

Sabine, that is one cool tank!
Very nice stand and light fixture too!

What kind is it?

About your question, the best way to get rid of the algae is probably manual removal!
Trim all effected leaves.

To keep it from getting worse or coming back you will have to correct the problem... water parameters.

Can you tell us, PH, KH, GH, NH4, NO2, NO3, PO4 and the size of the tank and how much light?

Good luck

Madpiano · 04-09-2003, 01:21 AM

Hello Ekim

This an Akvastabil Tank. They are made in Denmark. They are really nice, but a bit pricey.... The lightfixture comes with the tank.

OK here are our measurements:

Tank Size 530l
Lights: 2 Fl Tubes (T

, 1 Grow Lux and 1 Triton, both are 58W

PH: 7.3
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Nitrate ca 30mg/l (between the 20 and the 50 pink

)
Phosphate 0.8 mg/l
Free Iron: none
Chelated Iron: None
KH 4.8dKH
GH: 11.2dGH

We are injecting CO2 since 3 days with a JBL system, appr. 1 bubble/sec. The PH dropped to 7.3 from 7.5 over the last 3 days. The KH has gone up from 4.2 to 4.8 ( I thought it would go down ???)

Thanks for any help

Sabine

Madpiano · 04-09-2003, 01:25 AM

Sorry, forgot Fish

3 Angel Fish
5 Copper Tetras
12-15 Neons and Cardinals (they never keep still. There is about 15 alltogether)
7 Harlequin Rasboras
1 RTB Shark
2 Clown Loaches
2 Whiptail Carfishes
4 Albino Cories
1 Oto
possibly 1 Amano Shrimp, but he may have been eaten. Haven't seen him for a while.

ekim · 04-09-2003, 03:22 AM

Are you sure the lights are 58 watts each?
Anyway that comes to 116 watts over a 140US gallon, about 0.8wpg!
You should try to get some more light over your tank.

Increase your bubble count until you PH is about 6.8 this will give a good amount of CO2 for a KH of 5.

Does your tap water have nitrates?
If they are low you might want to do a few 50% water changes to get your nitrate down to about 10ppm.

Good luck

Madpiano · 04-09-2003, 04:55 AM

Hiya

Yeah the lights are 58W each. (1.50m long). We do have the possibility of adding more light (2 more tubes).

Tap water has about 40mg/l Nitrates (it varies), so that's a no-no.

50% water change would be 265L !!!! Thats 27 Buckets !

We normally change water whenever it rains, about 2 - 3 Buckets each time (we live in the UK, so rain isn't really difficult to come by

)

What about the Iron ? There doesn't seem to be any in the tank (chelated or other). Is that a problem ?

We have used some root tabs the other day, but otherwise there is no ferilizers in there. Plants are growing well though and are even bubbling slightly

Greetings
Sabine

ekim · 04-10-2003, 11:41 AM

You will need some potassium and traces w/ iron.

Trim and remove as much algae as you can.
Change as much water as you can to get the nitrates down to 10ppm.
Try to get the CO2 up to 20ppm
Add some potassium & traces w/ iron

That should get you started.

Good luck

TJ · 04-11-2003, 09:13 AM

Hi. I live in Uk also, so i maybe able to help with nutrients available to you.

Things are very difficult to acquire here as you may be aware.

The root tabs you are using ?

What type are they.
Are they the API iron tabs, that come from fish shops or the Phosphogen that you get from B+Q, wilko etc. ?

If Root tabs by API, then these will ahve iron in there as a nutrient.

If the latter then these will have Nitrogen and Phosphate in also, which maybe compounding your problem.

As for other nutrients. If you have a Hydroponics supplier/manufacturer in your area, then most of the sources of nutrients can be acquired from there.

Dont get the K20 Potash from the garden centre as your potassium source though.

Cheers
Mike

They can hide, but they cant escape