Can Anyone Identify This Algae ?

[Glod]

Ok, so I have a low tech 10 gallon tank.

18 Watts of lighting.

PH 6.5, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 5-10 Nitrate.

The plants in the tank are Cryptocoryne Willisii, Hygrophila Corymbosa "Siamensis", Echinodarus Bleheri, Java fern, Rotala Rotundifolia, Samolus Valerandi (which isn't doing anyhing except get eaten by snails, lol. Think my light is too low for it) and some Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis and 2 stalks of some random red tinged plant that I bough in a bunch some months ago, hehe.

In general the plants are doing ok, growing steadily if not super quick, or at least not dying off. The substrate is sand over a layer of tetraplant substrate. For fertilisers I've been adding a weekly dose of nutrafin "plant" which came in the aquarium kit a few months back, heh.

So, apart from some brown diatoms in the beginning I've not really had any bother with algae until this last week. It's only apparent on my crypts and is black and hairy, tho sparse.



Any advice on what I should do to combat this ? I only have the one tropica crypt, tho it kind of split into two when I removed the rock wool to plant it so it's planted in 2 areas of the tank. Both parts are exhibiting the same algae.

Thanks,
Glod.

 

[lljdma06]

It looks like a type of thread algae to me. The best way to cure algae issues is to find the cause of the algae and then work from there. It seems that your tank is predominantly filled with slower growers or perhaps your light isn't bright enough for fast enough plant growth to outcompete algae. If I were you, I would plant more "weeds", and possibly consider reducing your ferts. Or even consider a few floating plants. See where that gets you. It may be that your plants do not need such regular dosing with such little light. I have a low-tech 8g with a laterite gravel substrate that's been running for over 3 months. I had more algae when I was dosing regularly. The algae virtually stopped when I reduced the ferts to only adding when needed. But, again, I have a pretty good bioload in this little tank and I'm very good about maintenance. I may be an exception to the rule.

I would also consider removing any plants that are having problems. When a plant is not doing well and begins to decompose, it releases ammonia into the water, which can be absorbed by other plants, but also by algae. Dead leaves should be removed from an aquarium anyways.

I don't want you to have to resort to chemicals or blackouts, though they can be effective. They really don't get to the "root" of the problem.

llj

 

[Themuleous]

Looks like staghorn to me.

Sam

 

[Glod]

Hmm... I can steal some cabomba stuff out of the community tank next time I need to prune it. Of the plants I have probably 75% are (according to tropica) medium to fast growers. The ones labelled as slow are the crypt and the java fern and the samolus thing.
the rotala is certainly fast growing as is the Hygrophila, I've had to prune the hygro and replant the shoots already and the rotala has gone from an inch high to nearly 6 inches in the space of a couple of weeks. Looking at the tank I'm not sure where to add more plants , lol. If the crypt has to go, I'll take it out.
The bio load is pretty low - 1 fighter and 2 Otos. There's no spare food left over so it's not overfeeding. The nitrates hit about 8 over the period of a week between water changes of about 33%. Could it be a lack of something ? I'll try not dosing any ferts at all and see how it goes, the nutrafin bottle was only a sample and I used the last of it at the last water change. I've been removing any dead leaves on sight and trying not to let thing break down in the tank, the substrate gets vacced during the water change too.
Any suggestions of a floating plant that will do quite well in my tank ? Will it cause problems shading the other plants ?
I think there is some Hygro Polysperma in the community tank, I'll steal a couple of cuttings of that also. I suppose as long as the fish can get from one side of the tank to the other it'll be ok
Looking up staghorn the links suggest it could be ammonia or low CO2. I don't add CO2 at the moment, and am a bit reluctant since my water is pretty soft (i think, don't have the tests) and normally sits around ph 6.8. Would it be worth considering one of the CO2 kits (non pressurised) ? Or would that be too risky ?