Algae troubles

[fishingjedi]

Hey all, Im having trouble with algae in my tank. I completely cleaned it out of the tank about 2 weeks ago, washed all driftwood & plants, cleaned everything, only to see it start spreading again 3-4 days later. Ive got a UV sterilizer hooked up to my cannister but it still spreads & it's really starting to annoy me. Any tips on how to get rid of it would be greatly appreciated. I just cleaned my tank 4 hrs ago & I can already see clumps of it forming on the gravel, soon it will be covering all of my plants & driftwood. Ive included a couple of pics I took this morning before I cleaned it. Sorry about the quality but I took them with my phone. Cheers.

[paulsa67]

U may need a better filter...and more water changers....

[DR.V]

Hi , it seems that you have problems with your water parameter

Can you tell us your water parameter ?

Do you have any algae eaters in the tank ? Like bristlenose ?

How often do you change the water ? Is the tank getting direct hit by sunlight ?

[pitchblack]

wow your tank is really out of balance what are your nitrates and phosphate levels???? Have you been doing reg gravel vacs and water changes!!!!

[fishingjedi]

25% water changes very 5 days. Ph stable on 6.4. Phosphates & nitrates I'll get back to you on. No bristlenoses or Algae eaters, just a couple of clown loaches.

[duck]

Looks like BGA your nitrate's bottomed out.
Need to do a 3 day blackout completely turn CO2 off,light make sure you get no light going in do a 50%+WC add NO3 after 3 days WC50%+Add NO3 turn everthing back on and keep up with the fert's or it will come back again.
Make sure you clean as much of it as you can,Filter's ect

[fishingjedi]

NO3?

[duck]

NO3?
Sorry NO3=nitrate ,FOr dosing people use KNO3= potassium Nitrate

[Dave76]

I had the same problem when I removed my discus from my planted display tank - my NO3 was constantly 0.

Have a look at this site

http://www.xs4all.nl/~buddendo/aquarium/redfield_eng.htm

Helps you calculate how much NO3 or PO4 to dose to get rid of your BGA

I've nearly wiped mine out completely over 4 weeks.

You will need NO3 & PO4 test kits to use effectively.

Cheers

Dave

[fishingjedi]

I bought a Phosphate sponge & Phosphate & nitrate elimanator that you put in your filter, so I'll give that a whirl. Thanks for the advice, I'll keep u posted.

[oscar]

Just be careful. Duck is the man for this one but IMO you need to have SOME Nitrates.

Again, Duck will explain why/what for. But in the mean time you may find it advantageous to go through "The Amazon Garden" section.

[duck]

I bought a Phosphate sponge & Phosphate & nitrate elimanator that you put in your filter, so I'll give that a whirl. Thanks for the advice, I'll keep u posted.

That won't help you just cause you more grief, Nitrate,Phosphate are what plants need to grow.
You need to feed your plants so they grow and outcompete algae.
You need to get the Nitrate's up 10ppm-20ppm.
Good chance you need to do a blackout to get rid of what you have.
Or rip the plants out and substrate and go BB.

[rytis]

i consider myself somewhat an expert in planted tanks (has a lot to do w algae) and i say the algae in your tank (looks like easily removable type) is caused by too much light in contrast w little co2. if you use bright lights to better grow plants, i suggest a CO2 system.... also sun light causes that. but if you have c02 and lots of plants like me, u will never have algae problems after a while if tank is not in direct sunlight. somethings with the sunlight that makes algae impossible to get rid of...

[anti-generic]

i agree with Duck.
what you have there is blue green algea (cynobacteria)
your tank's nitrates are too low.


do a large water change and add fertilizers 2 days later

to prevent it coming back
increase co2 if you can
and increase light if you can
and try and achieve a balance of fertilizers

cheers,
Eric

[Foz in Oz]

Hi fishingjedi,

Sorry to but in but I am like you in the fact that I am having algea problems in my 4ft Discus tank. I have tried everything I can think off. Now mine is not as bad as yours as I am only getting green algae on glass and on my plants, but it seems to be killing my plants. I have replaced all the plants twice now and scrubbed out the tank but to no avail. I did have an issue with my phosphates being too high, this was caused by using the powder form of PH Down (always use liquid if you are not, powders contain high phosphate, the more water changes you do to get rid of it the more you are putting in...) I also had high nitrates but managed to get that down to 10-20ppm with the help of a nitrate remover in the filter and plenty of prime to detoxify it, just til it reached the desired rate.

My other perameters are:
PH 7.0-7.4 depending on when I add KH up and do WCs
KH = 2-4 (another problem i have is I can't seem to keep it at a constant 4 even with my Co2)
GH = 5
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 10-20ppm
Phosphate = 0-1mg/l

My tank hold about 165 litres of water with all the plants rocks and driftwood etc, I have 4 discus about 70mm dia each, 6 neon tetras, 6 rummy nose tetras, 1 bristle nose, 1 blue ram and 2 clown loach. I feed them once daily with 2 cubes of frozen food. (not over stocked and not over feeding) I do 25% WC every week religeously, the tank is not in direct sunlight, I have 3 new bright white tubes which are on timers for 8 hrs a day and I also have a uv steriliser.

Every water change I add:

5mm Seachem Flourish
" " " Iron
" " " Potassium
" " " Excel
" of Kent Discus Mineral
and KH up acordingly to get it too 4KH
and I also have flourish tablets in the substrate.

I know how you feel, its frustrating. We spend all this time and money on the things and this is what happens!! There is a product called Algone under www.algone.com that may help you but I think its designed to detox your tank and get your perameters stable again. In my case my perameters are normal. My Question to anyone is, is there any other test I need to check for regarding perameters for algae control?

PS I also put 3 drops of brush magic in a day and have done for 4 weeks.
Thanks Foz

[fishingjedi]

Alright, thanks for the advice everyone. So I did a 3 day blackout & all the algae completely died. I put the phosphate sponge in the filter & everything seems to be going fine ( Duck I'll take your advice & remove the sponge 2day). I haven't been adding chelated iron to fertilize my plants (slap on the wrist) I ran out about 3 weeks ago & completely forgot about it. I have been using powder form PH down chemicals so I will 2day go out & buy some new fertilizer (a nice big container that will last me ages) & some liquid ph down. Again, thanks for the advice peoples. :D

On another note, 2 of my snakeskins laid eggs for the first time the other night, they ate them within 24hrs, but hey, its still cool.

Laters.