Green hair AND Blue Green algae in planted tank - please help!

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Flinkbag

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Hello all,

I started this 30l long planted tank about 2 months ago. I have one male Betta and 3 Neons (yes i know you're supposed to have more, they will be moved soon) living in the tank. I left my tanks in the care of my mother over the weekend and unfortunately I think she left the lights on for too long because when I returned there was an explosion of GHA. It looks absolutely horrible and is covering EVERYTHING (except strangely enough my Indonesian Java Fern, which is right at the top of the tank). Its mainly growing on my driftwood and glass, but its also covering my java moss and my poor Pygmy chain swords. I know healthy plants naturally produce an algae deterrent, so the fact that its growing on my chain swords isn't a great sign. I dose with Flourish and they were planted with a root tab, so not sure what I'm missing out on here.

It gets worse though, as I've noticed that my bright yellow sand seems to be slowly growing some BGA too! I know new tanks are very prone to this kind of thing, but Ive never experienced green hair algae before, and its proving to be a nightmare to remove! I've tried spraying the GHA with a 3% solution of Hydrogen Peroxide with no luck, and I've tried upping my dose of Flourish excel and lowering my photoperiod. I'm planning on getting some Darwin Algae Shrimp to help clean it up a bit, but I know thats more of a bandaid solution.

Lighting is 1x 15w LED light and 1x 6w LED light that came with the tank (Aqua One Panoramic). Both are on for about 8 hours a day.
The tank is filtered and heated, 30% water changes done weekly
Water parameters are:
PH - 7.2
GH - 120ppm
Nitrate - <20ppm
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0

If anyone knows any way of helping to get rid of GHA and the beginnings of BGA, I'd very much appreciate it!

The first two images are the GHA on the chain swords and java moss. The third is the tank when it was initially setup. The final image is for comparison's sake of the same batch of chain swords which are THRIVING in my 25l nano cube tank, which has higher light and no CO2 added. The only difference is substrate and lighting between the two tanks. I would've thought the cube would be more of an issue, but just look at the growth!
yuck 1.jpg
yuck 2.jpg
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nice 2.jpg
yuck 1.jpg
yuck 2.jpg
nice 1.jpg
nice 2.jpg
yuck 1.jpg
yuck 2.jpg
nice 1.jpg
nice 2.jpg
 
Not sure why it posted duplicate images, sorry about that!
 
Hello all,

I started this 30l long planted tank about 2 months ago. I have one male Betta and 3 Neons (yes i know you're supposed to have more, they will be moved soon) living in the tank. I left my tanks in the care of my mother over the weekend and unfortunately I think she left the lights on for too long because when I returned there was an explosion of GHA. It looks absolutely horrible and is covering EVERYTHING (except strangely enough my Indonesian Java Fern, which is right at the top of the tank). Its mainly growing on my driftwood and glass, but its also covering my java moss and my poor Pygmy chain swords. I know healthy plants naturally produce an algae deterrent, so the fact that its growing on my chain swords isn't a great sign. I dose with Flourish and they were planted with a root tab, so not sure what I'm missing out on here.

It gets worse though, as I've noticed that my bright yellow sand seems to be slowly growing some BGA too! I know new tanks are very prone to this kind of thing, but Ive never experienced green hair algae before, and its proving to be a nightmare to remove! I've tried spraying the GHA with a 3% solution of Hydrogen Peroxide with no luck, and I've tried upping my dose of Flourish excel and lowering my photoperiod. I'm planning on getting some Darwin Algae Shrimp to help clean it up a bit, but I know thats more of a bandaid solution.

Lighting is 1x 15w LED light and 1x 6w LED light that came with the tank (Aqua One Panoramic). Both are on for about 8 hours a day.
The tank is filtered and heated, 30% water changes done weekly
Water parameters are:
PH - 7.2
GH - 120ppm
Nitrate - <20ppm
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0

If anyone knows any way of helping to get rid of GHA and the beginnings of BGA, I'd very much appreciate it!

The first two images are the GHA on the chain swords and java moss. The third is the tank when it was initially setup. The final image is for comparison's sake of the same batch of chain swords which are THRIVING in my 25l nano cube tank, which has higher light and no CO2 added. The only difference is substrate and lighting between the two tanks. I would've thought the cube would be more of an issue, but just look at the growth!
View attachment 85595View attachment 85596View attachment 85597View attachment 85598View attachment 85595 View attachment 85596View attachment 85597View attachment 85598View attachment 85595 View attachment 85596View attachment 85597 View attachment 85598
I had a similar problem, a partial water change then a black out of the tank with a large black rubbish sack for 4 days and the algea was gone. Another water change and all appears ok now.
 
How much are you feeding and how long do you have the light on for. This two elements are usually the cause of an algae infestation. When you overfeed some food is leftover. Algae only needs one thing, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. In an aquarium, these nutrients come from fish waste, uneaten food, the decay of plants, and even dead algae. In your case, a big part of it may be the phosphorus content in your water because most tap water has high amounts of this.

Aquarium lights should not be kept on for more than 10 hours a day. 6 hours should be maximum. Placing a tank next to the window can also cause blooms of algae due to the different light waves that aquarium lights dont offer.

I would also suggest getting some Amano shrimp.
 

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