Help! Help! Algae

[tropicaltone]

Hi Everyone,

I have just in the last couple of weeks setup my new 220ltr 4ft Planted tank. However I have a problem I didn't encounter with my standard Jewel Rekord 96 which was in the same place. I have designed it to be a high tech tank with roughly 110-125watts of lighting (T5 with reflectors) 2.6 watts per gallon and Co2 injection and the lights are on 10-11hrs a day. It has 3mm Gravel Subsrate with Tropica Planted Substrate underneath and is fairly well stocked with Plants and relatively lightly stocked with fish.

The problem is im starting to get lots of very fine hair like Algae floating in the water all over the tank making the water look a little green and the hair like Algae is on the glass/plants and decor. Why is ths happening??

 

[JamesC]

Are you adding any fertilisers? What are your CO2 levels. Do you know what plants you have?

http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk for more info.



James

 

[jspence1]

It sounds like beard algae. Here are some pics to help identify it http/www.floridadriftwood.com/algae_identification.html

It's usually caused by high phosphate levels, or low co2. I'd check your phosphate level.

I went through a similar problem with my tank my phosphate level wasn't high @ 0.5 mg/l but my nitrate level was low 0 mg/l the plants were using it all. I stopped the algae by adding potassium nitrate to raise my nitrate level to 10 mg/l.

Good luck I pulled out my hair for a month before I found my solution

John

 

[danski]

thats alot of light...whats fairly well stocked with plants? any pics...and exactly how many hours are you running your lights?..

 

[tropicaltone]

thats alot of light...whats fairly well stocked with plants? any pics...and exactly how many hours are you running your lights?..

I would say its medium to heavily stocked with plants has about 18 bunches in it. My Nitrites are 0ppm and my nitrate is 0ppm (was 10ppm but has dropped now).
I run two sets of lights 2x 55w T5s with reflectors for 10 hrs and 1x 15w Moonlight Actinic for and hour in the morning and an hour at night overlaping the main lights by 30mins both ends of the day. So theres light for 11hrs. I use two DIY Nutrafin Co2 Natural Fermintation

Heres some pics these are before the algae bloom.

http/i61.photobucket.com/albums/h64/Trop...ne/DSCF0592.jpg
http/i61.photobucket.com/albums/h64/Trop...ne/DSCF0600.jpg

 

[danski]

from the looks of it you need way more plants,particularly fast growers to help fight off algae..many people here think they have enough plants to keep things going good when in fact they dont..you might wanna look into EI and make sure your co2 is stable..but i would get lots of plants..cover a very big chunk of the substrate feed your plants well and maybe run a little less light for a while till things settle down..hth....dan
have a look at how many plants i have and still get ocasional small outbreaks when things get out of wack..dan
http/www.fishforums.net/Latest-Tank-Picture-t195074.html

 

[JamesC]

You need more plants, a lot more. Tpically fast growing stem plants. Take a look at the picture of my tank in my signature for some idea. Also with a high light tank you will need to add fertilisers or your plants won't grow, but algae will. The Estimative Index article is a good place to start - http/www.fishforums.net/Jamescand39s-Est...le-t104737.html. In a fish only tank zero nitrate is very good but in a planted tank you need to have some - I like to have about 20-30ppm.

More info on algae at http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk

James

 

[nry]

Yep, in my opinion that is actually a lightly planted tank! Heavily plants would be something between 75 and 100% of the substrate planted, yours looks more like 20% or less.

You have a lot of light but probably not enough CO2 or enough fertiliser going in. 2 Nutrafin cannisters for that tank is unlikely to be enough, I struggled with two cannisters on my 15-gallon to keep a stable 30ppm of CO2 in the water.