Algae stuff

T

thecarl

Member
I got a couple of good photos of the algae I've been fighting for a couple years. I managed to eliminate it from one of my aquariums by tossing all the plants and letting it dry out for a month, and starting new. Haven't had problems since. I don't really want to do that to all my other tanks though. Any ideas what it is, how to treat it?

Tanks are CO2 injected. Moderate/High Light 8 hours a day, PH 6.8-7.2, amonia, nitrates, nitrites are all zero. GH ~100ppm, KH 80ppm. Temperature in the tanks runs right at 78F.

Here's the 20 gallon:
IMG_1611-X3.jpg


And here's a closeup of the stuff in the 20 gallon:
IMG_1613-X3.jpg


I want to point out I cleaned the tank out of this stuff manually Friday, photo taken two days later (Sunday.) It's already taken over the entire tank again to give an idea of how fast it's growing.

Any pointers are much appreciated, thank you!
 
Ali

Ali

Active Member
Holy hair algae Batman!

What, if any ferts do you use?

First I'd back off lighting (2 3hr periods with a mini break in between maybe?) and co2. Even a total dark-out for a few days. Manual removal and hair algae loving critters can do a lot in a short period of time.
 
FishBeast

FishBeast

Well-Known Member
1. Shorten your lighting periods like Ali suggests. Complete dark day and also back off on CO2.
2. Change the water daily or every other day for a week.
3. Ghost and/or Amano shrimp might help. Also Otocinclus.
Good luck!
 
VickiK

VickiK

Member with a lot to say
T

thecarl

Member
So far no real improvements, been doing more frequent water changes, cut back on the ferts completely. Now the plants just seem to be suffering as the algae continues to grow. It's rate of growth has decreased but it still takes over the entire tank in about a week's time. I have a lot of blue-green algae growth now on top of all of this so I'm treating the tank with E.M. tonight to get that stuff killed off.
 
T

thecarl

Member
Here's an update, after much much reading and much asking around I came to a conclusion. Algae was growing like crazy, the plants, well some were growing, other's kind of didn't do anything but weren't melting off either. One thing I had noticed about the tank is it never has any nitrates, ever. I decided to try the reducing the light approach, so now half the led light is disabled. At this time it is 18 watts, instead of 36 watts. That combined with higher co2, combined with daily liquid ferts.

Still growing algae like a weed, and plants still were not doing anything exciting. Did a water test, still, no nitrates. Since the conventional seachem flourish wasn't working, even flourish nitrogen after 4 times the dosage didn't keep nitrates anything above 5ppm for more than a day. So, I went the ADA route to see what would happen. Ended up starting with a mix of Green Brightly step 3, and Brighty K, daily. Plants started pearling a little, but still not much of a change even over a month.

More reading on ADA ferts, decided that since my tank is a "very high" light tank maybe I need to try adding Brighty Lights version of ADA ferts to the mix. One month of that, and the photo below is the result. I've been doing 4 pumps (1 pump for 5 gallons) of each of the three ADA bottles mentioned above and it seems to actually keep up. Light is still at 18 watts too. I'm afraid if I put it back up to full power I'll bloom hair algae again. Sometimes planted tanks are a lot of trial and error for me, but what a difference from the first photos I posted in this thread. Chain sword is going crazy.
IMG_1850-X4.jpg
 
Loren

Loren

Well-Known Member
Congrats on figuring out the right mix. I am still working all of the kinks out for my tanks but you have given me hope.
 
T

thecarl

Member
Yeah, it just really surprised me that the problem was just not enough fertilizer. I kept thinking if the Algae was thriving it must be because there's too much food in there.
 
sir_keith

sir_keith

Legendary Member
Contributing Member Level III
I've got a 45L that grows this stuff like crazy even though there is nothing in the tank but gravel and water- no plants, no fishes. I was planning on breaking it down and letting everything dry out to try to get rid of this stuff, but is there an easier way? Thanks!

IMGP5457.JPG
 
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