Progress being made. But still some Algae Problems. Help ID this Algae?

The battle continues! I thought I would post an update. Since I last posted I've taken some of your suggestions and added some more stem plants. I also grabbed some nice christmas moss and anubis nana. I also have something resembling brazilian pennywort (somehow got it from a Petsmart) in the back of the tank that is growing like nuts, but is hidden behind other plants. Also raised the Co2 to 25ppm, and reduced photo period to 10 hours.

So far, identified algae in the tank has turned out to be:
Black beard/brush (BBA)
Green thread (small amount)
Green spot (small amount)

Anyway, some further testing revealed several results.

1) the red color you see on the algae in the pictures at the beginning of this post is actually DYING algea. Apparently, as it dies, mine turns red as a final gasp.

2) the Phosphate levels in my tank were pretty high in relation to the Nitrate levels. I had >10ppm (higher than I could test) phosphate compared to 10ppm nitrate. Everything I've read indicates you should have a ratio of about 1:10 for NO3/PO4. Something I know how to fix!

At the moment, the only parameter that looks out of control is PO4. Next step will be to get those phosphates to a more appropriate level and evaluate again.

Here's a pic to show the progress. Looks better at 4 feet, you can't see the algae! :)

fishtank-123008-01.jpg
 
I love those moments where you finally get to say, "A ha!" I had one last night. Turns out that when I would do a water change, I would add a Seachem product called Neutral Regulator. It's supposed to set the PH at 7.0, but if you read the label *more carefully* you also see that it acts as a phosphate buffer!

Duh!

I've been adding phosphates every water change! So anyway, now that I know the problem I can finally fix it. I'll post some more results when I see some. I'm assuming that, combined with an excel dosing schedule for a few weeks, should fix me up.
 
Follow-up

It's been a few weeks now and I can confirm that excess phosphates was almost the entire problem. Using 2 different test kits, I confirmed that I had them up in the 15-20ppm area. :eek3:

After about 8,000 water changes and some phosphate absorbing media, I'm back down to near zero. Algae growth has all but stopped. What algae was left I blasted with "excel injections." What I would do is turn off all filters and other water movers during a water change. Then I would take an eye dropper with 5ml marked on it and put excel into the water right on top of the algae infected areas. 5 minutes later I'd add the WC water and turn the pumps back. The excel blasted the targeted areas and then remained in the tank to help kill off any new spores. Worked like a charm.

I'll have to post a pic here soon but man the plants have really taken off now that there's not algae all over the place.

To top it all off, my RCS just had babie shrimp and my plants have been pearling. Success!

Thanks for all the help everyone.
 
outlawboss said:
It's been a few weeks now and I can confirm that excess phosphates was almost the entire problem. Using 2 different test kits, I confirmed that I had them up in the 15-20ppm area. :eek3:

After about 8,000 water changes and some phosphate absorbing media, I'm back down to near zero. Algae growth has all but stopped. What algae was left I blasted with "excel injections." What I would do is turn off all filters and other water movers during a water change. Then I would take an eye dropper with 5ml marked on it and put excel into the water right on top of the algae infected areas. 5 minutes later I'd add the WC water and turn the pumps back. The excel blasted the targeted areas and then remained in the tank to help kill off any new spores. Worked like a charm.

I'll have to post a pic here soon but man the plants have really taken off now that there's not algae all over the place.

To top it all off, my RCS just had babie shrimp and my plants have been pearling. Success!

Thanks for all the help everyone.
Click to expand...

Yeah thats amazingly high phosphates, did you ever find the source? My tap comes in at .5ppm phosphates, but its actually useful, since I only need half the mono potassium phosphate during the weekly EI dosing.
 
I did find the source of the phosphates. It was a Seachem product called Neutral Regulator. While trying to get rid of algae, I was doing water changes and adding that product every time in order to keep my PH in the right zone. Unfortunately I didn't realize it does that by buffering phosphates. By the time I realized what it was, the phosphates were out of control. Stopped using that product, and phosphates immediately fell off after each progressive water change.
 
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