Algae bloom in low light setup

gsparsan

gsparsan

AC Members
Dec 2, 2007
397
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I added API Root tab last week and within a week, I've got all sorts of algae growing rapidly. Can the API root tabs be the cause or is it something else?

I added 3 or 4 root tabs to my goldfish tank last week and since then I have noticed a rapid increase of Black Bear Alagae on drift wood, a green mould covering most of the driftwood, stag horn algae on all plant leaves, green beard alagae on rocks and brown algae on glass. It is spreading at an alarming rate.

Water conditions are NO2 0, NH3 0, NO3 0
80 W of light
water temperature around 25 °c
No CO2
 
Couple of other things...

1. Light is on for 4 hours, off for 3 and on for 5 hours.
2. I don't have (and can't get) Flourish Excel
3. I do 50% water change every week
4. This week I have done 2 50% water changes as I don't know what else to do.
5. I have distrubed the substrate a bit couple of weeks ago.
 
Long answer: Algae occurs when balance is lost. The plants in your tank consume the available nutrients and utilize the available light for photosynthesis.. Think of light as the fuel your plants use to "burn" the nutrients.. Is there enough light to fuel all that burning? Are there enough furnaces (plants) to burn all those nutrients? Conversely, are there enough nutrients go feed all those hungry plants? In a perfect environment, you have just enough nutrients to feed all your plants and enough light to keep the burning sustained.. When that balance is lost, the extra nutrients just sit there, waiting for something else to eat them. That's where algae comes in.

Short answer: Too many root tabs..

btw, I've NEVER seen an established tank that was tested properly show up with a zero reading on N03 unless it was a saltwater tank with a DSB.. Redo that test, and have someone at your LFS confirm it if it stills comes up at zero..
 
Corax said:
btw, I've NEVER seen an established tank that was tested properly show up with a zero reading on N03 unless it was a saltwater tank with a DSB.. Redo that test, and have someone at your LFS confirm it if it stills comes up at zero..
Click to expand...

Oops. Type error. The Nitrate was 10 before I changed water today. I haven't tested after that.

Now that the root tabs are in, what can I do to remediate the situation? Longer Photo period? Should I dump a large amount of elodea in the tank to consume the extra nutrients? Keep changing water every couple of days?
 
That's what I'd do.. I like anacharis because it doesn't fall apart on you, so you can pull it all completely out when you want it gone. Hornwort is good too, but that crap takes forever to clean out of a tank..
 
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