Algae Issues

[fishykisses]

So I'm running 4WPG, recent CO2 and am having major algae issues (black beard algae, and something else) . I have no idea how to get rid of this stuff. My hands are constantly in the tank ripping the stuff off the plants. My dwarf hairgrass has it real good too but i have no idea how to even pick it off that because it's so fragile. It hasn't even begun filling in.
The other question is about algae in flourabase substrate. I'll post the pics and you can see it's travelling down the glass attached to the substrate and on top - fuzzy algae. I tried vaccuuming the subrate just above but it didn't work. The vaccuumed sucked up the clean substrate and because the algae covered ones were heavier, it got left it behind.
I really need help! I'm getting to the point where i'm ready to pull all the grass out and start fresh. I really don't want to do that cause it so expensive but i don't know what else to do.
I know the partial cause of the algae is running the light too long and i'm weaning myself off of it but it's difficult! I want to watch my tank all the time! I was running about 12 hours a day and i'm down to 10 and working on lessening more...working out the kinks of timing.
Thanks in advance and sorry about the long post
Connie

 

[zig]

Hiya Connie

I dont see any black beard algae in the tank i guess thats as good as the news gets, although it may be on the substrate i cant quite make that picture out, maybe you could try and get a better picture of this and post it, what i can see for definate is staghorn algae and bga or blue green algae, the most serious is the bga........i would switch the lights off immeaditaly or your tank is going to be real mess very soon.

Could you please post your tank stats and your water parameters anything to give us a better idea also post how you fertilise this tank.

With 4 WPG this tank most probably definatly requires co2 at a constant stable rate of 30ppm throughout the photoperiod, the lack of co2 in some part has led to the algae although i would suspect improper plant nuitrition also from lack of fertiliser.

Tanks that would run this amount of light require co2 and proper plant nuitrition, 4 wpg is a lot of light, tanks with this amount of light are very demanding in their needs, i think the best thing to do is to switch the lights off for the moment until you get the situation under control because the algae issues in this tank are potientially quite bad..............and try and post another pic of the substrate as well.........sorry for the bad news.