Algae takeover

[magpie]

I don't know enough about lighting to know the deal with that light... maybe it's too much for that light period.

I've put mesh over my lights before to dim them a little. Or you could put it on the lids if your light is really hot. Or more floating plants?

Agree that it's diatom algae. Happens a lot in newer tanks. Rub it off, maybe drop the lighting period or dim like I mentioned, use flourish, keep at it. It should improve.

Maybe the sun blaster is a telling name hahaha.... you might need a new light if you cant keep the algae down after a while and can't keep it on 8 hours. My lights are on for 12. LEDs are great as you can dim them, ( at least you can with mine) so still have light but less if you want.

 

[tiger15]

Yes, I see mostly brown diatom algae covering the egg grate and the leaves, but I also see some hairy BBA here and there and on the leaf edges. I also see brown patches on the leaves that is sign of potassium and/or iron deficiencies. A few bristle nose plecos will do a good job to clean the brown algae, but don't get the regular pleco that will eat plants. BBA is tough to control without chemicals or CO2 injection. Fish poop is rich in nitrogen and phosphoris, but may not provide sufficient potassium, iron and micros. So you have to dose to make the plants happy or else algae will win. Assuming you have sufficient light intensity, 8 hour photo is sufficient as plants stop photosynthesize after about 8 hours.

 

[magpie]

Yeah, I should clarify my comment above - it's more because I like my tank lit for more than 8 hours than that it's necessary for the plants.

 

[clm08k]

Thank you everybody for responding.

I did a deep scrub of everything. I'm also going to reduce the light period down to 5-6 hours.

Tank looks more normal than it has in a while.( did a two hours scrub, took the swords out of the tank to scrub and also trimmed quite a bit. :/) .

I plan on buying excel and the flourish root tabs.
Wondering if I all ready have anything that would help with the plants....have several bottles of aquavitro plant chemicals (by seachem). Not sure if any of them would be helpful though. My plant knowledge is very limited.

This is what I have: would any of this be helpful or comparable to excel? tiger15 you mentioned raising the potassium? I use the envy and synthesis once a week currently.

 

[clm08k]

Yes, I see mostly brown diatom algae covering the egg grate and the leaves, but I also see some hairy BBA here and there and on the leaf edges. I also see brown patches on the leaves that is sign of potassium and/or iron deficiencies. A few bristle nose plecos will do a good job to clean the brown algae, but don't get the regular pleco that will eat plants. BBA is tough to control without chemicals or CO2 injection. Fish poop is rich in nitrogen and phosphoris, but may not provide sufficient potassium, iron and micros. So you have to dose to make the plants happy or else algae will win. Assuming you have sufficient light intensity, 8 hour photo is sufficient as plants stop photosynthesize after about 8 hours.

Mind blown. Had no idea about the iron or potassium lacking in fish poop. Or that plants only needed 8 hours of light. Had no idea that my tank was defiecent in potassium or iron. That's amazing that you can see that just from the types of algae and characteristics of the plants. This is why I come to you guys to learn!

 

[tiger15]

I learned from my mistakes and by reading heavily starting my cichlid planted tank not too long ago. Here is a link on plant nutrients need and deficiencies.

http://www.segrestfarms.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=learningcenter.Fertilization

When I kept fish only tanks, my golden rule is never mess around with water chemistry. But it won't work with plants which requires constant manipulation of water chemistry, light and CO2 or else the plants will just melt away or algae take over.

Plants need balanced diet and relying on fish poop alone is unbalanced. Iron is abundant in substrate, rock, fish food and poop, but it is not in a form plants can absorb. So lush planted tanks need supplement of iron in chelated form so plants can absorb.

SeaChem Flourish root tabs and comprehensive provide iron, micros and some potassium, and API Leaf zone provide potassium and iron. If you have moderat fish load, you may not need N and P supplement at all.

 

[eddiegunks]

Thx tiger15 that was helpful. I will continue researching. Any ither links or tips?

My leaves have brown patches.

I rub off the alge and run a cheap ebay UV filter and it really helped.

 

[tiger15]

Keeping planted tank requires knowing your water chemistry initially. Get yourself a nitrate, phosphate and GH test kit to see if you need to dose N, P or raise GH. Your fish load may be too light to furnish enough N and P. There is no test kit under $200 for potassium, and iron test kit doesn't work well and you will almost certainly need iron dosing.

Here is a link to algae ID and recommendation of dosing.

http://gwapa.org/wordpress/articles/algae-in-the-planted-aquarium/

 

[clm08k]

You have black beard algae infestation. You can spot spray BBA with 3% H2O2 during water change when the plants are emerged. Any spill over to the water will quickly vaporize as O2 and won't harm fish. The BBA will turn red the next few days and be eaten by algae eater or removed by your hand. Next, you need to dose Flourish Excel at 2x recommended dosage daily to the tank water as an algaecide to systemically eliminate BBA. Excel also provide a carbon source to help your plants grow faster.

You were right about the BBA.....Going to try the H2O2 this weekend for the black beard algae. It has increased to small hairs on all the plants and there’s some on the driftwood now.
Been trying the rubbing the diatoms and BBA algae off for over a month now, but doesn’t seem to be helping too much....at least with the BBA, which is what I most want gone.

Can I take the plants out to spray and clean them? What about driftwood? How long does the spray need to stay on the plant before it goes back in the water?

Excel should arrive this weekend.

 

[Aqua Nut]

Its just Diatoms man no biggie soft tooth brush and it will come off. It does look like your plants are struggling. What are you using for fertrs. You dont need to add excel to your tank like suggested. I see zero BBA, Excel is glutaraldehyde based so you dont want to use that if you can help it.. tI may have a source of carbon but 1/100 of the amount of direct co2.. total waste of money unless using it on BBA or something serious.. I would look into getting some decent fertilizer