Rampant Algae

[Belltrain]

In my 36 gallon bowfront I have wisteria and anacharis. Everything seemed to be going okay, and I didn't have any problems with the tank a couple months in but now I'm being hit with a couple problems. My cory cats are having barbel problems but that's another thread. The other main problem is I'm getting string algae/ brown/green algae all over my anacharis and some on my wisteria. All the old growth on the wisteria is covered with brown/green algae while the new growth is green and has little algae. The anacharis has started to get covered even the new growth. I cut down my lighting, what else can I do besides use some kind of product? I'm afraid to add any fish or inverts to help until I get my cory situation figured out.

 

[Belltrain]

I'm combating my cory problem, but now I have to also shift to trying to remedy this algae problem. I've been cutting down my lighting, doing regular water changes and trying to pull off all the hair algae. Since my water quality is good I'm thinking about adding some Otos, I hear they are little algae eating machines.

 

[myswtsins]

Algae...ugh. Could be so many things but something is out of balance. Do you dose ferts? use CO2? What light? How long? You don't really have to answer those questions because in general algae appears on older growth first/heaviest because the leaves are the "weakest" (first to die when the plant is compromised) and as they break down they release nutrients, becoming a target for the algae. Usually that is an indication that you are missing one or several nutrients causing the plants to become weak/start dying. This is the technically answer, in reality...who knows. lol

Otos like soft green algaes they won't do much if anything with hair type algaes. Amanos are good for that though. But you really wanna figure out the cause before you add a life form to cover up the symptoms. Although I think an algae crew is essential to every planted tank.

 

[Belltrain]

So my tank is lowtech. No co2. I dose excel and that's all I dose. As for lighting I have the finnex planted plus and some panorama light I just threw on there. I was in the begenning doing 10+ hours of light to get the plants going. But since the algae I've only been doing 8. The plants seem to be growing okay they are just being stunted by the algae. I need to fix this problem grrrrrr...:/

 

[myswtsins]

• That is more light than you need for your species of plants. The planted+ alone should put you close if not IN high light, I've seen results from about 40 to 60 at 20". You have 2 low light plants, why a second light?
• High light+no ferts=algae That's the short version, I can explain if you want me to. lol
• You only have 2 plants/species. When starting a tank you should be packing it with plant to fight algae from the start and variety helps cause different plants use different things at different rates and some may work and some may not.
• When you first plant a tank you want to start out with a shorter photo period until the plants have finished going through their shock period because they are not using that much light at that time. Then slowly increase the light.

You've created a great environment for algae, not so much for plants. These are all classic beginner mistakes, I've made them all, you're not alone! Healthy plants are your best defense against algae. Your plants have limited nutrients right now but quite a bit of light. Excess light when nutrients are lacking always makes happy algae cause they don't need nearly as much nutrients as plants and they love the light. Light pretty much drives the uptake of everything else, so high light need high nutrients, low light doesn't.

So my suggestion would be to lower the amount of light, a lot if you only want to keep those 2 easy low light plants and especially while fighting the algae. You can remove the extra light for starters and then raise up your fixture some how or add some window screening to block some light etc. Also decrease the photo period, down to 6 hrs at least, for now. Since you obviously have a light loving algae and your plants are not in bad shape, you may even greatly benefit from a 3 day blackout followed by the reduced lighting period. This won't hurt your complex plants but will destroy the simple algae.

There is the other option of start dosing ferts to match your lighting and get a ton more plants but that doesn't seem to be your goal? You'd want to get the algae under control before doing that anyways.

Sorry for the long post, trying to explain my reasoning without just saying "too much light" and you not understanding why....like I did till someone explained it to me and I did TONS of research to figure it out.

 

[Belltrain]

Hmmm okay I thought the finnex put me at low-medium light. I've been wondering about a blackout and how effective it would be. As for the second light I just threw it on there for color, it's mostly blues. But your right I'll take it off. When you say ferts what are you talking about? Which ones exactly? So I think my plan of action is a blackout and less light.

 

[FreshyFresh]

I'm thinking that 10hrs/day light cycle was your issue. I'd cut that back to 6-8hrs/day and clip the algae covered parts of your plants.

 

[myswtsins]

Hmmm okay I thought the finnex put me at low-medium light. I've been wondering about a blackout and how effective it would be. As for the second light I just threw it on there for color, it's mostly blues. But your right I'll take it off. When you say ferts what are you talking about? Which ones exactly? So I think my plan of action is a blackout and less light.

I was saying ferts in a general term but as in some form of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and micro nutrients. Dry ferts, like potassium nitrate, are the common choice these days over watered down liquid ferts. Then you can dose the dry ferts directly or make up liquid mixtures (like PPMD etc.).

 

[Belltrain]

Okay that's the ones I thought. I honestly just havnt bought any. Is there any all in 1 ferts or are they all sold seperatly? I'm assuming only seperatly. But as of right now The tank is blacked out. Going to for 3 days. I don't really want to clip the plants I'm hoping the blackout will reduce algae.

 

[myswtsins]

If the plants have suffered it would be best to trim any damaged parts. Damaged plants do not repair themselves and are just a drain on the entire plant. After the blackout, do a trim and a big water change removing as much of the dead algae and plant material as possible.

There are no all in one ferts that I know of. There is different methods for fertilizing though, like EI dosing, PMDD, PPS pro etc. I've been out of the loop for a bit now so I am not sure what is recommended these days. Maybe someone else could better advise you on that.