Need help - don't know what to do anymore..

Hi,

i do really have a algea problem, had it for a long time now.
started when i moved my tank to my new appartment.
And i cannot seem to get rid of it.

Getting worse now.
Tried several algea removers, tablets and in liquid form, does not help to be honest..

attaced several pics.

came home today, saw this in the top of my tank:
http://stigatle.net/temp/1.jpg

Plants look like crap.. even used fertilizer tablets 1 week ago, cant say it helps..
http://stigatle.net/temp/2.jpg

and also, (sorry for bad pic), but green slime on some plants:

http://stigatle.net/temp/3.jpg


sometimes i really feel like giving up..
Had this problem like i said earlier for a while now.
Every damn time it looks as if it's going better it just turns and gets worse.. Frustrating.

And just for the record: I do not overfeed. temp is at 30c.
light is on approx 10-12 hrs a day.
not in direct sunlight at all..

Someone gave me the advice to turn the light off in between the 10 hour period when the lights are on, i.e have the lights on for 4 hours, turn them off for liek an hour or two, turn em on again for another 4. that worked great for me. Also, is your light maybe too strong? dont know what bulbs you have, but if you have buf if you have twin flouros maybe get a pink tube and a normal white tube.
also if you use liquid fertilizer maybe you add too much, dont add any at all for a while and see what happens.
it takes a lot of work to get your planted tank setup and a lot of patience. i'm still working on mine. If some of your plants are too infested with algae cut all the algae infested leaves off.
Not sure about slime algae, how is your filtration? if you can afford it get a UV light that will kill of any algae in your water. the ones on the plants are harder to get rid of. maybe get a siamese algae eater and some brislenose for eating algae off glass and plants even though cleaning the glass yourself is the best option.
hth

Dont give up, to be honest the fastest way to fix this is to up your co2 not sure what fish you have in there but if they can handle it 40-60ppm for a week will remove all your algae.

if this isn't an option double dose florish excell daily for a week then use a 1.5x dose for another 2 weeks then a normal dose, your algae should be gone

get that scum off the surface and try an 8 hour photoperiod for a couple of weeks. Stop adding fertz. As the algae goes away and you start to see deficiencies start agging ferts again at a half dose and gradually build up to a full dose.

that green slime is blue-green algea!
up your water movement
and suck up as much of it as you can when you change water.
worst comes to worst you might have to do a complete blackout

what level of light do you have crudely in wpg's wil do
do you use carbon dioxide addition, and at what level do you keep it
what fertilisers are / have you been using and at what levels
how often do you cahnge water

algae will thrive when carbon levles are low as illusn has mentioned and also when they fluctuate badly, which is more likely with DIY enrichment

lack of macronutrients could also be the reason, and if nitrate is aways low then nitrogen deficency could be holding the plants back, most aquarium fertilisers dont add nitrogen

andrew

Hi, thank you all for these answers.
I'll answer you all as best as i can.

zar: I'll set up my timer to do so, and i'll see if it helps.

Illusn: I have one of these "natural" co2 canisters, where you fill with powder from 3 packets and add water..
to me it seems as if it's not enough.. And it's the only such thing the store has here..


Antu-generic: Water movement should be ok, i try to make it move as much water in the tank as possible, as in not just straight up, but a bit down to move water across the plants etc..

I've had blackout on my aquarium before, 3 days, did not help.. algea was still there. (at that time i had Black hair algea that took all my plants..).

Fishgeek: i dont use carbon dioxide addition.
fertiliser is "sera - florenette A, iron and mineral fertilizer for plants (tablets)".

the liquid one is just named Credo, one green for fert, and brown for iron.

cut all the ferts out, if all you can get is bio co2 then get another one and run both on your tank, if you want to save some money, use a 2L soft drink bottle and some airline (use yeast and sugar).

if all else fails, erethamyacin will kill off blue green algae but is VERY rough on your filter, I wouldn't recomend it.

where are you located? if your in syd i may have some stuff that will help you.

Turning your lights off for a short period during the 'daylight period' is an old wives tale and people in the know don't recommend you do it, and I don't recommend you do it either.

Personally I believe you are overdosing with fertilisers which is why the algae is thriving and your plants are suffering - especially in the absence of any additional CO2. Basically you need more light, less ferts and more CO2 and this will then create an environment where the plants will win the war over the algae.

ILLUSN's suggestions are spot on (as he's very good and helpful with this sort of stuff) so keep us posted and I'm sure he'll help you all the way to a beautiful planted tank, because if I can do it anyone can!

Regards,

Greggy

Hi Whats Your Phosphate (PO3)4 Level ? And How Much Iron (Fe) Is In Your Water ? Nitrate (NO3)?

You Could Put 20 Or 30 Caridina serratirostris (Ninja Shrimp) Or Caridina longistrostris Shrimp In The Tank, They Will Get Rid Of Your Problem Not Sure About The Slime Though! .

Cheers tommo

I quick fix for the stuff on the surface is to get some clean, plain paper towel and lay it on the surface of the water. It should stick to the paper and then take it out and chuck it.

thank you all for these tips.
I wrapped my tank in 2 days ago.
I'll remove it tomorrow and have a peek.
if this did not help a bit, then i'll start by getting new bulbs, and then continue on the tips that you've all posted.

Seriously big thanks for the tips, i hope that the tank will get back to what it used to be :)

Robdog: i did that, it was a easy fix.


I had my tank wrapped up since friday.
and today i unwrapped it, no traces of Algea.

I'll try and keep it like this. buy new bulbs, and a second c02 canister thing.


Thank you all for the help, if something unusual happens again, i'll post up, but for now it looks good.
Hope the plants will grow a bit etc.