Help with algae please?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
C

Crazed Demasoni

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 19, 2010
188
0
0
Massachusetts
I'm having a major algae problem for the first time with my planted tank, and can't seem to get it settled. I've reduced my lighting from way too much to 7 hours, but I think this is going to come down to me removing a decent amount of my micro chain sword, getting as much algae off as I can, and setting it up temporarily in a separate tank so it doesn't die, then leaving my lights off indefinitely while trying to nip the algae problem. Any suggestions? My parameters are as follows (and stats etc):

29g tank
48w AquaticLife T5HO fixture (10k and 67k) on a timer
EcoComplete substrate
9 Cardinal Tetras
1 Oto
1 ABN pleco
AC110 filter
Heater that keeps the tank at a constant 80*F
PH 6.4
Nitrates <20ppm, usually around 10ppm (done with the API Test Kit)
I feed NLS flakes
I'm dosing Flourish Excel every other day, and Fourish twice/wk


I'm going to try to completely rehab the tank over the next week or two. Does this sound like a decent procedure:

Remove plants, put aside in smaller tank with some eco complete substrate/light etc
Rinse substrate (in tankwater) pretty thoroughly then put back in tank. While it's out, I'll scrub the sides as much as possible with my magnetic cleaner, just to get it off.

Do you recommend I move the fish into a temporary 10g for a few days, and get the 29g tank spotless? Would this kill remaining algae? I'm also thinking of adding a second ABN to my tank. I'm not going to add more fish after that, unless it's a couple of cardinals.
 
I currently have a gladware floating with some Ecocomplete and the liveliest MCS. It has about 1.5 inches of water, and I overdosed it a bit with flourish excel in the hopes of killing some of the algae. I'm keeping lights off for the most part, and will be looking into hornwort or java moss to suck up the nutrients in the water asap.
 
Your lighting is pretty intense for a tank that small. You should look into a co2 unit, or run only a single t5 on that tank.
 
I had read that before too from someone with a similar setup. I'm trying to avoid CO2, and would prefer to continue with flourish excel if possible, but I may experiment with a DIY CO2 the the next few weeks. I'm also waiting for a male ABN to be in stock at my LFS to help out. I think a major contributing factor to my algae growth was that I ordered my plants in late spring, and they all experienced a large amount of die-off (due to shock from shipping, water was freezing). With something like MCS, it's hard to get the dead pieces out.
 
I think WyldFya is right... If you don't want co2 I would just reduce the lighting to one bulb.

OH, and what kind of algae are we talking here? Did I miss that?
 
It started as spot algae, but then definitely got hit most recently by hair algae on plants and the substrate. I've tried duckweed in the past, but the flow from the AC110 ends up pushing it down below the surface and it looks bad, not to mention most of it gets sucked up by the filter then.

I didn't have any issues with it until the tank was set up for over a month, but during that time I did have some plants die that were shocked from transit. I'm thinking the dead plant matter could be a part of the issue
 
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