Algae ID?

[djlen]

Nice hood. The tank is set up very nicely. Georgeous piece of wood.
IMO, light plant mass. I would not increase lighting. I would decrease the nutrients and start up at least two 2-ltr. bottles of CO2 to get the plants growing, and add more if you can.
From the picture, this appears to be the typical soft green glass algae. Pruning off leaves/stems is not the answer. Clean up the plants and glass of the algae and work at growing and dividing them. Add some more stems if you can.
CO2 will help a lot, IMO. It will push the plants to use the other nutrients. I think you'd be surprised at the difference in growth as well.
Is that Pennywort floating? If so, see if you can plant some into the substrate so that it doesn't shade any plants below.
I don't know what your dosages are giving you, but I would shoot for N=1.0, P=10. No K+ is needed in this tank, IMO. Dose the N and P needed at water change and see how your levels are at mid-week. Dose 3mls. of traces daily, skipping water change day only.
Keep at the algae, and grow the plants and it will decline.
Otos would also help a little. And/or one of the pygmy Plecos.
This is not a major issue. When I screw up in one way or another, I get the same scenario. I recently pruned out too much plant mass in my little 5 gal. and am now working hard at growing and dividing to gain back my balance.

Len

 

[Blinky]

Blinky, I have a box type hood that I DIY'ed and I don't think I could squeeze in any more lights, that's the problem

If you've got the budget for it, you might consider retrofitting to compact fluorescent - it's not a necessity by any means, but it would allow the plants to grow faster and healthier. I'm guessing the reason your Myriophyllum isn't doing well is simply lack of adequate light; it's a high light plant. I see www.ahsupply.com recommended a lot for reasonably priced retrofit kits.
[edit] Len has more experience than I do; I defer to his advice - maybe the lighting doesn't need to be changed to fix the problem [/edit]

 

[djlen]

I don't see any beard algae on any of the close-ups you post. If there is some it does need to be pruned out. I don't think you have any however.
To be sure, check the stickies on algae and compare the pictures there with what you've got.

Len

 

[Darkblade48]

I don't know what your dosages are giving you, but I would shoot for N=1.0, P=10. No K+ is needed in this tank, IMO. Dose the N and P needed at water change and see how your levels are at mid-week. Dose 3mls. of traces daily, skipping water change day only.

Len

Did you mean N = 10 and P = 1? I think it would be bad otherwise You said to dose 3 mls of traces daily, is this dry dosing or mixing it into a solution (what volume?)?

Thanks for the help

 

[Darkblade48]

I don't see any beard algae on any of the close-ups you post. If there is some it does need to be pruned out. I don't think you have any however. To be sure, check the stickies on algae and compare the pictures there with what you've got.

Len

Actually on the large (and personally, I think it's quite ugly) piece of driftwood, it's just extremely difficult for me to get a picture of it.

I'll try to make up a batch of DIY CO2 tomorrow afternoon (I do get off class at 1 pm )

 

[djlen]

Yes, just one more in my series of brain locks. N=10, P=1.
I don't know what you use for traces. I use Plantex and mix 2 tbsp. in 500mls and store it in the refrigerator. I have a small container that I keep out for dosing and refill as necessary from the refrigerated supply.
Having 2 or 3 bottles going at the same time allows you to change off one bottle per week and keep the batches fresh and the CO2 ppm relatively level.

Len

 

[Darkblade48]

My trace mix that I'm using is as follows

Chelate Trace element (Fe 7%, B 1.3%, Mn 2%, Zn 0.4%, Cu 0.1%, Mo 0.06%)

I believe this is similar in composition to the Plantex, but there might be a few differences.

Also, does using some H2O2 on Beard algae have any effect?

 

[djlen]

In my experience there are three things that work against BBA.
Pruning/scrubbing, bleaching and SAEs(after you've scrubbed and cleaned up the tank).
Tom Barr says that raising the CO2 level in the water table will help as well. I have not had consistent success with high levels of CO2 in fighting this type of algae. My tank's levels are always in the 30 - 38ppm range and if I'm stupid enough (which has been know to happen) to put newly bought plants into one of them without taking precautions I can introduce spores.

Len