Worried about algae outbreak and something else......

[Electric45]

So Recently since ive been DIY CO2 dosing for about 3 weeks now I have noticed an incredible amount of algae being produced. To combat this i picked up some nerite snails yesterday and they have done an incredible amount of work on the algae on the glass, however they havent touched the algae on the eco complete substrate. I am not sure what type of algae this even is. Ontop of this there are two unknown things in my tank right now, the first is some white dots that have showed up randomly (No clue what they are). Other than that there are these little flowery type wisp things on the inner walls of my glass, you can try to make them out in the last picture. I have no clue what either of these can be. Any input?
Sorry for the poor quality pics, did the best i could.

 

[JDub7771]

The diatoms are because it's a new;y set up tank. Perfectly normal. Ussually with planted tanks you would have some sort of algae cleanup/maintenance crew. Like otto cats, amano and cherry shrimp and nerite snails are good also. The diatoms will go away, but with something munching on them it will go bye bye even quicker.

I find different algae takes over planted tank in stages. Usually in my tanks it's chronologically:
1 Diatoms
2 Staghorn
3 BBA
4 GDA
5 BALANCE .....

The tank will eventually even out, providing there is ENOUGH plants to battle the algae. And the plants are healthy enough to do battle. Get some fertilizer

Also what are your tank specs? Size, lighting etc... Keep the lighting period fairly low in the beginning, like 6-8hrs. I just set up a new 20 gallon tank and i got the diatom outbreak, but not as bad as you have. I think you either have too much light going on, whether intensity or photo period.

If you are serious about your planted tank, keep the c02 going, and get some dry ferts(NPK and CSM+b) and use the EI(estimative index) method. Good luck.

 

[Electric45]

itcant be diatoms because this is not a newly setup tank, its a year old. I dose with excel flourish so im not sure. I have a Coral life T5 setup with 2 18W, a 7600k and Full Spectrum bulb. Plants on for 10 hours a day. Cant get shrimps and possibly not ottos because i have a leopard ctenopoma that will eat anything smaller than a zebra danio. Any other algae eaters other than rubber plecostomus (they **** all day long, i used to have one).

 

[Outlander]

Hi, the white dots on your glass are snail eggs! I don't know what the wispy things are, but I've seen them before.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

The first pics shows hair algae and severe mulm build up IMO.

I would increase the filtration alot. Try to aim for a 10x+ turn over rate. And don't go by whats printed in the box the filter came in.

Hair algae is hard to get rid of. I use bleach dips on the plants when my tanks have had it in the past. IMO excel and peroxide does nothing. Other algae's can be killed by using a algae killer additive. Then you have to figure out what caused the algae and fix it or it will return.

 

[Electric45]

they are nerite snails, how could they be eggs when these snails only breed in brackish water? My filter is a 40 gallon rated on a 20 gallon tank, it does the job so i dont think its mulm build up, my tank is also very understocked IMO....What about some siamese algae eaters?

 

[fish junkie]

looks like your filter ist working or theres not enough circulation do you have a small power head that you can use near the bottom a korallia would be great i also see hair algae ill post you a link that can help also how heavily is the tank planted it looks to me like if you added some healthy stems and some circulation it will take care of its self

 

[fish junkie]

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

 

[Electric45]

Well good news and bad news. Bad news = There is more of the small white spots...... They dont move from what ive noticed but there is more. Good news = The snails seriously cleaned my tank like crazy, I have zero algae, pretty much whatever it was (mulm or algae) on my plants in those pictures is all gone. I'm thinking I will start having to supplement with algae wafers since there is nothing left. I cant believe they cleaned the tank that fast. Tank isnt too heavily planted. Just some java moss, a cryptocorne, a few patches of dwarf hair grass (wish it would grow in a little faster), a piece of driftwood with quite a bit of narror leaf java fern on it i believe, and a little bit of vallisneria in the corner.

 

[JDub7771]

Good to hear. Nerite snails are great. They will produce eggs but won't hatch in freshwater, kind of like Amano Shrimp.

When i first read your post it was late at night. I just noticed that you meantioned:

Other than that there are these little flowery type wisp things on the inner walls of my glass, you can try to make them out in the last picture. I have no clue what either of these can be. Any input?

Those look like Hydras, can't really be too sure, but I think so. So when hybridtheoryd16 mentioned mulm...heh Hydras eat leftover food and floatie things. I get those on new tanks and tanks that get overfed. I kill them when I find them, and cut back on feeding, and increase flow.