Algae Causes

[Akasha72]

They are tropical yes, I didn't know whether your loaches were cold water or tropical but I thought I'd suggest it anyway.

Is there not another fish that will eat the algae and live in cold water? It would be good if you could find something that would eat it instead of trying to find another solution

 

[Vendetta]

I'll have a search and see what I can come up with

 

[eaglesaquarium]

There's no problem with circulation. As you can see from the pics, it's not too bad at the moment but if I don't get a grip of it soon it will get much worse. I really hate the stuff!
The link you gave me was the same one I originally looked at that said it was due to low nutrient levels. I'm so confused about all of this. Is it too many nutrients or not enough? Which was my original question.
Also I purchased one of those cans of CO2 but am not sure how or when to use it..

The issue is about balance. What is your light situation. I think you said 3 hours a day. But, what is the wattage? T5 or T8 or LED?


The key is that you need to match the nutrient level to the amount of light the tank is getting. Personally, I have very low light and a 7 hour photoperiod works very well for me. I don't have to add anything else to the tank and my plants grow nicely (slow, but nice) and I have no algae issues.

 

[Vendetta]

The light is a T8 25 watts. I don't like it really, it seems too bright.

 

[Vendetta]

My other three tanks, 2x30litre and one 40litre, never get algae problems and the plants grow really well. The two 30's have 5 watt bulbs and the 40 has an 8 watt tube so I need to get a lower wattage tube then? What do you suggest?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I missed it, or it hasn't been mentioned yet... what size is this tank?


If this tank is a similar size to the others, then you probably are dealing with HIGH light. And with high light, you probably do have insufficient nutrients for the plants, so the excess light becomes food for the algae. If you have high light and sufficient nutrients, the plants can make more use of the light and grow faster.


The 1 Watt per gallon guideline is a pretty nice starting place (although there are so many other variables that need to be dealt with). So, in your case, a 5W bulb for the 30 liters is a low light setup as it is less than 1 Wpg, as is the 8W for the 40L. If this is a 25W isn't on at least 100 Liters, then your lighting is probably high and nutrients would be necessary to balance things out. The easiest option would probably be to find a light that is more in line with your current lighting on the other tanks ~ 0.6-0.75 Wpg. This bulb sounds like you are in the 2.4 Wpg range (assuming a 40L tank).

 

[Vendetta]

It's a 110 litre, so a 20 watt then?

Thanks for all the excellent advice on lighting

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I don't think that it would make that much difference dropping it to 20 watts versus 25 watts. 25W on that tank is about 0.86Wpg. Like I said, there are a lot of variables as well. Out of curiosity, why do you only use the light for 3 hours a day? How long are the other lights on the other tanks? Are you using different plants in this larger tank compared to the other tanks?


I think more information is going to be required for this one....

 

[Vendetta]

I only put the lights on for 3hrs a day to try and keep the algae at bay. I did a 3day total blackout and that got rid of the free floating algae (Green water) but within a few days the hair algae started again. I have also cut the loachs feed to one per day. I'v already completely shut the tank down once, drained it, scrubbed all the bogwood, changed the substrate to sand and changed the plants, and that was before I'd even put any fish in there, but nothing seems to help

The other tanks get about 12hrs light each day. Yes they do have different plants, mostly because of the loach's digging them up all the time, and the temperature preferences.

 

[stu40]

if i could add something without meaning to muddy the waters.If you're going to use plants to outcompete the algae is 3 hours long enough?

I know that more light could mean more algae in the short term, but long term do we not want to get the plants growing better to overcome the algae?

It looks like there's some E.Densa in there, which i've found good for starving algae of nutrients when it gets up and going.

But with only 3 hours of low light, will the plants growth not be inhibited as well as the algae?

With such low light, i don't think there's any need to add extra ferts because the plants are going to be requiring them.Leaving the algae to take them up.

High light + co2 = more ferts.
Low light , no Co2 = less ferts

What i do know is that my parents had an algae issue in their tank, and were advised to cut down the light.The plants didn't grow & got worse/died and the algae adapted and remained the same.
Putting the lights back on for say 6 hours daily (in their case) and manually removing algae whenever possible, slowly regained the balance.Couple of months later and all is well.

 

[Vendetta]

Thanks Stu, I had thought the same thing, how can my plants survive with so little light? I really am so confused as to what to do for the best.
Perhaps I'll try a lower wattage tube but leave the lights on longer, say 6hrs like you said, and see what happens.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That's actually where I was heading...


I know very little about lots of aquatic plants, but I know TONS about land plants, specifically vegetables. My veggies require a MINIMUM of 6 hours DIRECT sunlight. if they get that, then they can outcompete the weeds in the garden. However, if there is less light than that, the weeds who require less light, less nutrients, etc. can get a stronger foothold and outcompete my plants.


I would add some cheap stem plants for a little while (like Elodea) and let it outcompete the algae for the nutrients. As suggested, continue to manually remove the algae until the plants have adapted to the light and you notice the plants putting out new growth. Once the plants start to show new growth, you should be on your way. And as mentioned before, I don't believe the light is the issue, directly. It may be the choice of plants require more light than they are getting, or less light than they are getting. What plants do you have in there?


My plants (with very low light) are the plants that require the least effort... Amazon swords, java fern, anubias, elodea/anacharis and some cryptocorynes. These just grow slowly under my light. I've had just a little algae growth, but it has been very minor since I increased the circulation on the tank. Now my BN pleco more than takes care of the algae. In fact, ironically I just bumped up my photoperiod in an effort to get some algae growth for him to eat. I figure fresh is a little better than the algae wafers I feed him.

 

[Vendetta]

Ok thanks Eaglesaquarium, I think I'v got my head around it now... I think!
Can't remember all the plants names off hand but will check and get back to you. Did you have a look at the photos I put the link to? You'd probably be able to identify most of them from those

 

[Akasha72]

I read somewhere that you can confuse algae by putting the lights on for a couple of hours in a morning then leaving lights off until evening then lights back on for around 4 hours. It's the method I've been using and I don't have that much of a problem ... although that might be down to the Oto's keeping themselves busy.

Don't know if that helps any but thought I'd mention it

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Plants benefit from a single photoperiod.

Vendetta,
I saw a waterweed plant, like elodea, in the tank - the long things. I also saw the dwarf grass, but am unsure of the variety. I also saw a large leafed plant in the forefront to the right. It appears to be a fern, but I could be wrong.