Darned Algae still after blackout!

2346 Views 14 Replies 5 Participants Last post by trenac, Jan 29, 2005

chrisl

Discussion Starter · Jan 19, 2005

Hi All,

I recently redid my tank to an Amano like central mound aquascape in my 75gal and obviously took to much plant mass out at once. I developed ? algae, it's dark green, filamentous at the beginning that have developed into little 1/4"size 'balls' along the edges of the plants mostly. I cut back on my nutrients, both macro and micro by 1/2 for 5dys. with incr. growth. I then decided to do a 3 dy blackout that I just removed this am: yellowed a fair amt. of glosso and about killed my E. Stellata that wasn't so hot to begin with, but the algae remains. It killed off some, but the majority still is quite thriving! Aargh! I say

So any other suggestions to try at this point? It's the worst on my anubias leaves and humm...flaking out on the name..the base of these plants...hate that when it's at the tip of your tongue!

Any and all sugg's greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Chris

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trenac

· #2 · Jan 20, 2005

Since the algae appeared after the re-aquscape then most than likely you stirred up some root tabs.

Do you have green slime algae? I'm not sure from your description given.

Giving your water parameters & tank setup info will help us help you more.

chrisl

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jan 20, 2005

I haven't tested in awhile so I'm not sure to be honest. I can check what I have and get back. But I bet you're right about the root tabs, I used a fair amt. last applied and totally forgot about them. The algae is not green slime algae, more like a hair/fuzz algae of sorts. I looked thru the one online page I had marked w/ pics, sorry it's from another website, http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9 and the closest thing I saw was at the bottom describing the 'brush' algae and does look like this in area's, but consolidated into the balls I described earlier: http://www.plantgeek.net/articles/gg_algae_faq/bba2.jpg

And it's is on the anubias, as well as the spraybars, wood I just put in, crypts and not at all really on the glosso and bacopa for instance. Well, bleaching everything isn't going to work. Copper? Is this right?

Thanks,
Chris

gnatster

· #4 · Jan 20, 2005

Copper? Is this right?

Better to find the imbalance and correct then use Copper. All inverts will be killed and there is anacdotal evidence the copper is absorbed in the silcon and leaches out when you stop using the copper.

trenac

· #5 · Jan 20, 2005

Chris... Checking your water parameters is one of the first things that I would do along with removing as much algae by hand as possible and clipping off badly affected leaves. You can do a dulited bleach dip on equipment and plants, at 19 parts water to 1 part bleach. I agree with gnatster on the copper, I would only use it as a last resort if at all. Once you get the algae cleaned off then get some SAE's to help keep new growth under control.

www.glass-gardens.com

· #6 · Jan 20, 2005

I've had a problem with algae blooms after going after an over grown tank like a weed whacker, in my experience, the best way to deal with it is to remove as much of the algae as possible by hand, including trimming off leaves that are infested, and waterr changes every other day and a reduced photo period (I cut it down to about 8 hours)
for a week or two and it seems to bring everything back into balance. I don't use any ferts during this period either.

I haven't found a treatment for algae yet that comes in a bottle that

a) actually works

b) doesn't have some detrimental effect on tank inhabitants.

plantbrain

· #7 · Jan 20, 2005

Chris, there's no reason you should not go down to Albany and talk them. They deal only in planted tanks. Join sfbaaps also, the oldest local plant club around.

Regarding the algae issue: after any large scale whacking, always do a rather large water change. This will help.

But the blackout is not for killing these types of algae, it's only effective against BGA and GW sometimes.

This type of algae needs pruned off. You need to give the plants what they need to grow well, then prune off the infected leaves as the plants grow.
Much of the algae will go away through pruning and good conditions for the plants.

If you placed root tabs in there and then went in a disturbed them, welcome to algae. I do not suggest people use them personally nor have I seen the need. They can work in some cases but certainly are not needed.

You need to make certain your CO2 is good, then add KNO3, traces, Berk water has some PO4 in it(about 0.5ppm). You can add some though.

The plants went south because you had poor conditions to begin with, not because of a 3 day blackout. They ship plants all over the world and they can certainly handle 3 days of a blackout, if the plants were hurting, they were already on their way out.

You can scrub off the algae on the tougher leaved plants and good condition will do the rest.

Regards,
Tom Barr

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chrisl

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 20, 2005

Thanks guys for the help!!! I really appreciate it!!

1. Yup, I love "large scale whacking"! lol That's what I did alright. Lesson learned about lg. water changes next time!

2. Blackout not effective against this kind of algae. Great to know I'm not going nuts as I thought blackouts killed ALL algaes. Another lesson learned.

3. And I'm sure those root tabs did contribute to the problem. I think I may scale back using them in the future.

4. Well, every leaf on the anubias are affected. Is it ok to cut all the leafs off the ryzome if necessary?..now I remember it but the sp maybe off...and not kill the plant? I'll try to scrub them clean first, but if leaf trimming is necessary for all the leafs, will photosynthesis continue from the ryzome alone?

5. I'll cut the photo period down as suggested and incr. the water changes as well till I get a handle on the problem.

6. My co2 is is about 24 with a KH of 5 and pH of 6.8. I'll keep it as it is for now.

7. Interesting Tom your comment on the deterioration of the glosso and E. Stellata. You're certainly right conc. the Stellata, but the glosso was really green and healthy before. Maybe it happened cause I cut back on the NPK by half? Not sure. But you're certainly right in that my tank has not been doing near as well comp. to the heavier planted tank was. And I wasn't sure why either. I've got a ways to go on this tank.

Ok then, I've got a game plan. Again, Thanks for all the Help!

Chris

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trenac

· #9 · Jan 21, 2005

Chris... You can cut all the leaves off the Anubias if needed, they will grow back.

chrisl

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jan 21, 2005

Thanks Trenac. I hoped that was the answer as I did the tank yesterday. Wow, alot of work getting all the equipment out of the tank/bleached and cleansed. And they were badly affected by the algae. Cut off all affected leaves.

Should I restart full strength nutes or leave it at 1/2 strength till algae completely gone?

Thanks again for all the help. I feel I'm finally making a dent lol

Chris

trenac

· #11 · Jan 23, 2005

I would wait about two weeks before dosing Ferts again, except for KNO3.

It is a job cleaning off algae but it will be well worth the effort when you see the results.

chrisl

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jan 24, 2005

Thanks Trenac, I'll stop them.

Boy, I've had algae before, but nothing like this beast. Even scrubbing all the equip. and rhyzomes with a brush in diluted bleach as suggested, there's still some present! Wow! Hope once I get over this, I'll never see this junk again.

Thanks for all the help again!
Chris

trenac

· #13 · Jan 24, 2005

Some algaes are very difficult to remove, what is left after the bleaching should die off. Good luck!

chrisl

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jan 27, 2005

Trenac, you were correct! The last remnants have/are dying off! Yeah!! Man, what a curse that algae was! lol

I guess I'm going to keep the 8hr lights on and NO3 at 1/2dose till it's completely gone. Then incr. the NP back to my ratio of 9:1 and resume flourish...I guess I should start out at a lower dose than before the aquascape change as the plant load is lower.

The sad news is I lost nearly all my didiplis and E. Stellata

Thanks to all who helped me thru this! Much appreciation!

Chris

trenac

· #15 · Jan 29, 2005

It's my pleasure to help... Sorry about the plants, delicate plants have a greater chance of not making through.

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