I posted awhile ago as a complete newbie to FW planted with some algae problems and have been really enjoying learning how to maintain a healthy tank. Thanks everyone who helped out with the thread algae problem. It's all but gone. But of course, there are still some growing pains.
First I think a full tank picture is in order to show some progress. Sorry for the reflection. Bow fronts and daylight photography don't seem to mix.
But I do still have some algae problems and I'm hoping you much more experienced folks can help identify it and recommend a solution. I believe it's some type of black (red?) hair algae. It loves to grow on my plants, which is very disconcerting especially since I'd hoped that by adding C02 it would fade away and leave me alone. One really weird/cool thing I noticed was that once the lights had been off for an hour or so, it turns sort of flourescent orange/red. Here's what it looks like when it's in it's evening "glowing" stage.
Its attacking the stems of my lovely banana plant (stocks grow SO fast on that thing).
Yep, it likes driftwood too.
And finally my poor lace java fern. Was so lush and green before the algae attack. I also think I squished it a bit when trying to remove some of the algae by pinching off leaves.
My water conditions are relatively stable at the following:
25 gallon tank with 20% weekly water change.
Nitrate: 10-20ppm
Nitrite: 0-.5 ppm
Alkalinity: 80
Ammonia: 0-.5 ppm (moves between the two)
PH: 6.6 (just after lights out)
KH: 71.6
GH: 89.5
CO2: 16-20 ppm (red sea C02 system using 20 oz paintball style tank)
Lighting:
I've got 48 watts of T5 light. One 10k and one 6500k, so hovering right under 2 wpg. My photo period is about 11 hours a day.
Ferts:
For awhile I was dosing Excel daily followed by daily (small) doses of Iron, Nitrogen and Potassium. Then I would dose regular flourish once a week during my water change.
There are only a few things I can think of to help solve this. I've stopped all ferts, but it's only been a week so it's hard to tell if it helps. There might have been too many ferts in the water column, allowing the algae to eat them up. I've got flourite substrate so hopefully the plants will now get all they need from that, plus what the fish provide. I also considered my photo period. I reduced it from 12 hours to 11 a week ago, and maybe I should go lower?
Really looking forward to aquascaping a little better and getting some more plants, but I would like to make sure I know how to control this stuff before making that leap. Thanks everyone. Really enjoying this forum.
- Angelo
First I think a full tank picture is in order to show some progress. Sorry for the reflection. Bow fronts and daylight photography don't seem to mix.
But I do still have some algae problems and I'm hoping you much more experienced folks can help identify it and recommend a solution. I believe it's some type of black (red?) hair algae. It loves to grow on my plants, which is very disconcerting especially since I'd hoped that by adding C02 it would fade away and leave me alone. One really weird/cool thing I noticed was that once the lights had been off for an hour or so, it turns sort of flourescent orange/red. Here's what it looks like when it's in it's evening "glowing" stage.
Its attacking the stems of my lovely banana plant (stocks grow SO fast on that thing).
Yep, it likes driftwood too.
And finally my poor lace java fern. Was so lush and green before the algae attack. I also think I squished it a bit when trying to remove some of the algae by pinching off leaves.
My water conditions are relatively stable at the following:
25 gallon tank with 20% weekly water change.
Nitrate: 10-20ppm
Nitrite: 0-.5 ppm
Alkalinity: 80
Ammonia: 0-.5 ppm (moves between the two)
PH: 6.6 (just after lights out)
KH: 71.6
GH: 89.5
CO2: 16-20 ppm (red sea C02 system using 20 oz paintball style tank)
Lighting:
I've got 48 watts of T5 light. One 10k and one 6500k, so hovering right under 2 wpg. My photo period is about 11 hours a day.
Ferts:
For awhile I was dosing Excel daily followed by daily (small) doses of Iron, Nitrogen and Potassium. Then I would dose regular flourish once a week during my water change.
There are only a few things I can think of to help solve this. I've stopped all ferts, but it's only been a week so it's hard to tell if it helps. There might have been too many ferts in the water column, allowing the algae to eat them up. I've got flourite substrate so hopefully the plants will now get all they need from that, plus what the fish provide. I also considered my photo period. I reduced it from 12 hours to 11 a week ago, and maybe I should go lower?
Really looking forward to aquascaping a little better and getting some more plants, but I would like to make sure I know how to control this stuff before making that leap. Thanks everyone. Really enjoying this forum.
- Angelo
