Algae Problem

ljse

ljse

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Oct 12, 2005
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I have had a huge algae problem in my planted 29 gallon for the past few months. I have spot algae on the glass, green algae that covers the substrate and glass in sheets that can be peeled off, fuzzy black algae on the plants and fuzzy green algae that also covers the glass.
My nitrate, nitrite and ammonia are zero and I do not dose any fertilizers. The light is a 55 watt CF. I do a water change every week, sometimes every 2 weeks. I tried overdosing flourish excel for a few weeks and it only helped a little. I also dosed nitrogen which did not do anything. I have been picking the algae off but I would like some suggestions for permanently getting rid of most of it.
 
That must be quite discouraging. I think you are making the light mistake. Since you don’t do ferts or co2 you have too much light. You have to be careful when you add a lot of light to make sure you have the nutrition to keep the plants going. Right now they are not getting any. Your tests are reading 0 because the algae are sucking all the problems out of the tank and the plants are not getting any food at all.

What to do? You could try a black out. You could also try doing a lot of supplemental feeding. Speaking for my self when I find myself in your position right now I start over. Meaning I take everything out of the tank, salvage what I can. Throw the rest away usually that includes the substrate. Clean the tank and filter completely. In the mean time I put the fish in another tank or in buckets and keep the filter running.

After that I put the tank back together. Get the water to the proper temperature. Put the filter back on the tank and return the fish to the tank.

One thing I learned along the way. This would be a great time to buy another tank. You can use it right now to store the fish in and keep the filter running. After you are done run it as a plant only tank, or if you must put just a few fish in it. If you don’t want to do ferts and co2 you don’t have to. Just learn about the plants that don’t need them. They are all low light plants. You can use that tank to learn all about them.
 
ljse said:
I have had a huge algae problem in my planted 29 gallon for the past few months. I have spot algae on the glass, green algae that covers the substrate and glass in sheets that can be peeled off, fuzzy black algae on the plants and fuzzy green algae that also covers the glass.
My nitrate, nitrite and ammonia are zero and I do not dose any fertilizers. The light is a 55 watt CF. I do a water change every week, sometimes every 2 weeks. I tried overdosing flourish excel for a few weeks and it only helped a little. I also dosed nitrogen which did not do anything. I have been picking the algae off but I would like some suggestions for permanently getting rid of most of it.
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You have quite a nice problem going on in the tank!

The sheet algae is cyanobacteria (BGA or blue-green algae), this would have been caused by not having nitrate available for the plants. It's best to keep your nitrate in the 10-20 ppm range for planted tanks. Once BGA is established, simply adding nitrate won't help get rid of it. You could try a 3-4 day blackout or look up how to treat it with erythromycin. Once it's gone, you need to keep the nitrate from bottoming out again or it will return.

The fuzzy black algae would be black brush algae (BBA), this is typically the result of unstable CO2 levels. BBA is sensitive to Excel, and an overdose of 2x the recommended after water change dose over several days should weaken and kill it. I'd suggest cutting off severely effected leaves to speed the process.

Of course by adding the nitrate and Excel your plants will be wanting phosphate and potassium, as well as micro nutrients. You'll want to figure out some sort of dosing regime to keep the algae at bay. The other algae is more minor and will clear up with proper plant fertilization that allows the plants to outcompete the algae for nutrients.
 
Thanks, I will try the ferts because I don't have room for another tank and I can't relocate my fish since I turned the 20 gallon brackish. I have removed the plants and cleaned them a few times but each time everything returns and within a week the algae is everywhere again. I'll do the blackout over the next few days. I thought 55 watts over a 29 would be low enough not to require ferts.

I have one more thing to add. I removed a big piece of driftwood from my tank and put it in a bucket. In the morning the ammonia in the bucket was 1ppm. I replaced it with a new piece. Could the wood have been part of my problem?
 
I think what you are seeing is the bacteria and algae dying. They are reflecting the hidden problem you have. . I don’t think it is the wood. I have a 29g with 36w and that is still what I consider high(er) light.

More likely you have too many fish for the filter, or you are over feeding the fish, or you are just not doing enough maintenance. All these things are related.

Before you start throwing chemicals at the tank clean as best you can and do a 50% water change every day for two weeks. Clean it every day as best you can.
 
too much light...no ferts...not enough carbon source.
Either get a DIY CO2 set up and start dosing macros and micros, OR make it a low tech tank and turn down the lights.....then prune prune prune...clean...and spot treat with excel for now. I suggest doing a 3 day blackout then go from there.
You have to reset your tank. You were never balanced.
 
I just covered the tank for the blackout and I am running a powerhead directed at the surface to keep the tank oxygenated.
 
don't forget to clean all visible algae that you see as well, and after your black out, more water changes.
 
I held back my water changes to every two weeks when I saw that my nitrate was 0, but I will start doing them every week again. I cleaned most of the cyano on the gravel and on the glass, but I left the hair algae on my dwarf sag because it was too hard to get off.
 
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