Anyone ever seen this before? Green Dust Algae?

[fishman76092]

In my 30+ years of the hobby, I've never had or seen this before. See pic below. Its basically a green film that looks like a typical protein film....except that its green. I wipe the acrylic that gets exposed when I do weekly water changes and it kinda goes away for a couple of days then comes back. It looks like little round balls of green when it accumulates in the corners. I've tried a 3 day blackout and it came back a few days later. From the other places I've read, GDA sticks to the glass, but its only on the surface in my tank. Any help would be appreciated.

Here are the stats that I'm sure I'll get asked for:

100g 60" x 18" x 21"H Acrylic
2x XP3 , one with spray bar, one with cone- both pointed at surface
320W 6500K T5 8 hours daily on timer
Aquariumplants.com substrate
Plants-
2x Amazon sword
Lots of Jungle Val
4x Red Lotus
Fish:
Barilius canarensis
Chuco microphthalmus
HRP
Thor. maculipinnis
Clown loaches
BNP x 4
Dosing:
Excel 2x week
Flourish 1x week
Root tabs
Parameters:
6.8 pH
0 on ammonia, nitrite, nitrate
No clue on hardness, although Chicago water is typically soft

 

[lp85253]

I hope this doesn't offend .... but that is SO COOL ... you should try to keep it,IMO looks like something right out of the GLADES

 

[MonsterMinis]

Only time i've seen algae like that was in stagnant areas.. and tbh never in an aquarium. but algae.. is algae.. is algae ime. maybe try increasing your surface aggitation or getting an overflow attachment for one of your filters? I know you can get them for HOB's.. so you should be able to find or rig something up that would do the equivilant? I always found trying to "kill" algae far more painful then "controling it" may also cut back on ferts until you get it controlled.

 

[hamster]

That looks gross I have never seen green on the top like that. You can take it out with a glass or try to get the surface moving. Also what's that tall plant called the one that reaches the top? I have loads of it in my tank but don't know what it's called.

 

[fishman76092]

Only time i've seen algae like that was in stagnant areas.. and tbh never in an aquarium. but algae.. is algae.. is algae ime. maybe try increasing your surface aggitation or getting an overflow attachment for one of your filters? I know you can get them for HOB's.. so you should be able to find or rig something up that would do the equivilant? I always found trying to "kill" algae far more painful then "controling it" may also cut back on ferts until you get it controlled.

I thought the same thing- it looks like pond scum! I've got both exhausts pointed up to the surface- one with an 8" spraybar. Maybe I'll lower the water level and have the returns be above the water level for awhile and see what happens.

BTW- I thought it was cool at first....until it took over and is actually blocking a lot of light. Now its not that cool!

 

[Gill Blue]

yup, I've had it. I looked for the video I made of it, because it was pretty cool and if lp85253 likes the pics he'd love the vid. but no luck so far, which means I'd have to find my PATA to SATA adapter...
mine went away on it's own, once the java moss really started to take off, at least that's what I thought at the time. recently I've noticed one of my otocinclus likes to eat upside down at the water surface, so that might have had something to do with it.

hampster - vallisneria

 

[fishman76092]

yup, I've had it. I looked for the video I made of it, because it was pretty cool and if lp85253 likes the pics he'd love the vid. but no luck so far, which means I'd have to find my PATA to SATA adapter...
mine went away on it's own, once the java moss really started to take off, at least that's what I thought at the time. recently I've noticed one of my otocinclus likes to eat upside down at the water surface, so that might have had something to do with it.

hampster - vallisneria

I'm thinking about just letting it go. The val and swords are hogs and should be able to pull all of the nutrients away from it. I've read that Green Dust Algae has spores that explode and these seem to do that when I screw with them....making it worse. They say it lives about 20 days and then it will just go away..

 

[hamster]

Thanks Gill blue

 

[Miguel]

How can your nitrates be zero?

One other thing, try and measure phosphates..

 

[MonsterMinis]

If your just gonna let it run it's course might try adding some stem plants, ime they tend to help discourage algae growth in general as they suck up any extra nutrients way more effectively then what you have listed... tbh with your list I wouldn't even be adding anything but fert tabs. And Miguel it's not uncommon at all for heavily planted tanks to have 0ppm of nitrates well at least "show" them, ime a planted tank should test all zeros. if your showing traces then you need to start ferting, or plant heavier. imo OP you may be over ferting. You may also need to look at your water changes, one thing that hasn't been touched on yet.

<~ The tank as my Avatar consistantly tests 0's even without it's weekly water changes ( I have found algae will blow-up if I let it go too long between water changes however, 2-3 weeks usually.)