Mean green machine, why do you plague me?

PPMN

PPMN

Who could resist this face??
Apr 17, 2007
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Eagan, Minnesota
www.patricias-palette.com
So what causes algae to grow? I'm confused. Too much light, too little light? Too many nutrients, not enough? It's now growing on my plants, the bright green stuff, brown stuff, and hair algae too. WHY AM I PLAGUED??? My algae flourishes while my plants suffer. Why can't I just have a STABLE tank I ask you???!!!! I want to throw in the towel!
 
Light kind of sets the foundation for the balance. So the first thing to consider is your light. What kinda lighting do you have (over what size tank) and how long is it on? After lighting comes ferts & co2. What is your schedule like with these? Typically in a heavily planted tank its too much light for too little ferts (but its not always that).
 
I have two lights over the tank, one is a 13 W light that came with the Eclipse 12. The other is a "full spectrum" spiral compact 26 W bulb seen here (first one): http://www.herpshop.com.au/Lighting.html It claims plants thrive which is why I bought it. I keep the lights on about 12 hrs a day. I recently found out I was overdosing on liquid ferts so for the last few days I haven't dosed at all and I did a 40% water change. Temp stays around 80-82 F. I have the Hagen system for the Co2.
 
I agree with Rich.

I came across the EI method of fertilizing and I just dose my own conconction of liquid ferts from the garden center three to four times a day and then a 50% water change on Fridays or Saturdays. I feed lightly, and keep my lights on timer. On fours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening after I get home from work.

Before my tank stabilized I had a stag, bba and probably some other stuff. I blamed it on using to much ADA powersand 'special' at intitial setup. After the specialness wore off it was fine. I did a 3 day black out that helped the plants get a headstart and its been fine since.

I also use a spray called "Root and Branch" when I see bba on the leaves of my slower growing plants. Siamese algea eaters, Yamato-numa Ebi, and Ottocin, keep the rest in check.

Don't give up. All plant keepers fight algae in their setups. Having it is inevitable and you'll have to learn to live with a bit. Even the Nature Aquarium galleries have algae.
 
I had a similar problem a while ago. I did 2 things and it fixed everything. I used more yeast in my hagen CO2 canister to get more CO2 in. It still lasts about 2 weeks. Make sure you never let the CO2 bubbles slow down too much. The second thing I did was decrease my fert dosing. I use the entire line of seachem liquids. I used to dose twice a week. Now I dose once a week during water changes. My tank has stabilized and is doing great. I used to get crazy hair algae blooms.

Also, when algae starts to grow I put a half-dose of seachem excel in during a water change. I also do this when changing my hagen CO2.

I don't know if this will help you, but it helped me.
 
Excel is an alternate source of carbon to CO2. It works fairly well, but be warned, it will melt anacharis.
 
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