Maybe algae

[Byron]

It's 60cm x 40cm x 30, 70 litres and an LED light (Novolux 60 white).

My LED experience is next to none, so let's hope another member familiar with this light can offer advice. But from the photos, I do not think you need more light. The majority of plants seem to be responding well, don't rock the boat.

 

[Lamie]

Yes. Th light spectrum (6500K) is good. The Flourish Comprehensive is OK. Light is now six hours daily which is about as minimal as most suggest. The only thing now is intensity, and I have never bothered with lumens, but the Life-Glo 24-inch T8 tubes I use are 1470 lumen and I have two over the tank. This is moderate light. Some of the plants in the photos are fine. It is the stem plants that are the issue, and it may well be the light intensisty is too weak for these. I have had similar issues with hygrophyla in the past so I tossed it out and stay with plants that do well in the light I provide them.

What happens if I leave the plants with the algae in there? What will happen then to the algae? Or is it better to take those plants out? I would have less plant load then. Are plants that like low light not stem plants? The Hygrophila which has the algae is growing up and filling in the top half of the tank. I could cut them back if it would help. The java fern looks like it might have the same algae. I now have a floating wisteria to help.

 

[Byron]

What happens if I leave the plants with the algae in there? What will happen then to the algae? Or is it better to take those plants out? I would have less plant load then. Are plants that like low light not stem plants? The Hygrophila which has the algae is growing up and filling in the top half of the tank. I could cut them back if it would help. The java fern looks like it might have the same algae. I now have a floating wisteria to help.

Once you have the balance (light/nutrients) worked out, the algae will not increase. That is the goal. What is already there will remain which is not a problem provided it does not increase. It may or may not die. I tend to remove algae-encrusted leaves at some point, depending upon the extent of the algae. I have had dead black brush algae on wood that was actually quite attractive, very natural. Problem algae will not spr4ead unless conditions are suitable, i.e., the light/nutrient imbalance.

Combining low light requirement plants and high light requirement plants rarely works out because of the different requirements. Anubias, Java Fern, and Java Moss tend to prefer lower lighting, and floating plants over them can achieve this. But the higher light plants may not get sufficient light, depending upon the nutrients and lighting.

 

[Stan510]

At the very least,prune off the bba you have to see if changes are working. Its a hard fight with that one. I found that that they hate a warmer light..the purple grolux spectrum is best I can explain it..and they thrive in cooler lights even if no other changes are made.

 

[Lamie]

At the very least,prune off the bba you have to see if changes are working. Its a hard fight with that one. I found that that they hate a warmer light..the purple grolux spectrum is best I can explain it..and they thrive in cooler lights even if no other changes are made.

Thanks I wonder then if my light is cooler

 

[Lamie]

I'm a bit lost on the lights specs. And I'm at a loss as to what to do about the algae

 

[Byron]

Thanks I wonder then if my light is cooler

I'm a bit lost on the lights specs. And I'm at a loss as to what to do about the algae

We have covered all this already in this thread. The spectrum is the best it could be (6500K). The duration is fine. The only question was intensity.

You need to give the system time to readjust when you make any changes (light, nutrients). If the black brush algae does not increase beyond what is already there, over the next couple of weeks, you will know you have things under control.

I mentioned that combining high-light requiring with low-light requiring plants is tricky. If the hygrophyla is the only plant not doing well, forget it; leave it to die off, or take it out. Stay with what works with the light you have.

 

[Lamie]

Yes. Th light spectrum (6500K) is good. The Flourish Comprehensive is OK. Light is now six hours daily which is about as minimal as most suggest. The only thing now is intensity, and I have never bothered with lumens, but the Life-Glo 24-inch T8 tubes I use are 1470 lumen and I have two over the tank. This is moderate light. Some of the plants in the photos are fine. It is the stem plants that are the issue, and it may well be the light intensisty is too weak for these. I have had similar issues with hygrophyla in the past so I tossed it out and stay with plants that do well in the light I provide them.

Ok. I know about the java fern, java moss and Anubis. Are there other plants that you could recommend. My tank light does seem to be quite a low light from what I can tell.

 

[Lamie]

Oh sad I like that plant

We have covered all this already in this thread. The spectrum is the best it could be (6500K). The duration is fine. The only question was intensity.

You need to give the system time to readjust when you make any changes (light, nutrients). If the black brush algae does not increase beyond what is already there, over the next couple of weeks, you will know you have things under control.

I mentioned that combining high-light requiring with low-light requiring plants is tricky. If the hygrophyla is the only plant not doing well, forget it; leave it to die off, or take it out. Stay with what works with the light you have.

Oh sad I like that plant

 

[raylove]

I have experienced similar symptoms from time to time and the issue hasn't always been what you might think!
I use a fert that doesn't contain nitrate as my tap water is already high nitrate at 35ppm. Although nitrate is an essential macro fertilizer, I have found that some plants grow poorly if levels reach about 30ppm, so check your levels.
Thanks to my plants and the use of Matrix in my filter, levels in my tank were 10-15ppm for a long time then, about 9 months ago I started to get modest algae problems again. Due to high nitrate in my tap water I keep water changes to 15% per week and I started to wonder whether phosphate levels were creeping up as I had never tested for that. Well, I got a kit and was surprised to find that phosphate was zero - so phosphate was the issue, but a deficiency of it rather than an excess! Phosphate is another essential macronutrient so the plants will need some.
I now dose with a home made phosphate fert and aim to keep levels at 1.5ppm.
Well, that cured the problem and the plants shifted up another gear. It became clear that nitrates had stabilised at 10-15 only because phosphate had run out because once I started adding phosphate, nitrates fell again to 5ppm. They remained there for several months, but now I have a trace of algae coming back again. The reason seems to be because I have now run out of nitrate as levels of that are now zero!
As a result, plants have slowed a bit and I am not having to add as much phosphate as previously to maintain the desired level.
So, it's all about balance. Nitrate and phosphate are usually considered to be badies, but if your plants eliminate either of these completely they will stop growing well, and if you still have any of the other in the water you may get algae.
It's really hard to get this balance right and every tank will be different. However, I have learned that you may need to think counter intuitively - I can now see why adding phosphate resulted in a fall in nitrate, but who would have thought it?
My thoughts now are that I won't try to make up the apparent nitrate deficiency, but instead I will cut phosphates and aim for 1ppm and try to get the plants growing at a rate whereby neither runs out totally.

 

[Lamie]

I have experienced similar symptoms from time to time and the issue hasn't always been what you might think!
I use a fert that doesn't contain nitrate as my tap water is already high nitrate at 35ppm. Although nitrate is an essential macro fertilizer, I have found that some plants grow poorly if levels reach about 30ppm, so check your levels.
Thanks to my plants and the use of Matrix in my filter, levels in my tank were 10-15ppm for a long time then, about 9 months ago I started to get modest algae problems again. Due to high nitrate in my tap water I keep water changes to 15% per week and I started to wonder whether phosphate levels were creeping up as I had never tested for that. Well, I got a kit and was surprised to find that phosphate was zero - so phosphate was the issue, but a deficiency of it rather than an excess! Phosphate is another essential macronutrient so the plants will need some.
I now dose with a home made phosphate fert and aim to keep levels at 1.5ppm.
Well, that cured the problem and the plants shifted up another gear. It became clear that nitrates had stabilised at 10-15 only because phosphate had run out because once I started adding phosphate, nitrates fell again to 5ppm. They remained there for several months, but now I have a trace of algae coming back again. The reason seems to be because I have now run out of nitrate as levels of that are now zero!
As a result, plants have slowed a bit and I am not having to add as much phosphate as previously to maintain the desired level.
So, it's all about balance. Nitrate and phosphate are usually considered to be badies, but if your plants eliminate either of these completely they will stop growing well, and if you still have any of the other in the water you may get algae.
It's really hard to get this balance right and every tank will be different. However, I have learned that you may need to think counter intuitively - I can now see why adding phosphate resulted in a fall in nitrate, but who would have thought it?
My thoughts now are that I won't try to make up the apparent nitrate deficiency, but instead I will cut phosphates and aim for 1ppm and try to get the plants growing at a rate whereby neither runs out totally.

GH 2 (0-4)

 

[Lamie]

Yes I was told to read up on how plants change the parameters in the tank. Does this sound like like it?

 

[raylove]

The water where I live is quite hard, so I avoid soft water species and I also avoid using any substrate or decor that would increase it. It's too much hassle to try to change it, so I accept what I have and as such I haven't tested the hardness of my water for a long time.
Yours sounds like it is very soft.
Plants do use calcium so I guess they could soften the water, but by how much I wouldn't like to offer an opinion as I haven't measured it. Anecdotally though, I used to get calcium deposits around the water line but since I got my plants growing well (it took me years!) I no longer see this, which suggest my water might be softer.
This has got me thinking now - perhaps I'll get a test kit!

 

[Lamie]

Wil the algae stop growing if there are more suitable plants and will the light coming into the lounge the afternoon sun be a big problem and so I will have to move the entire fish tank or just live with it?

Yes. Th light spectrum (6500K) is good. The Flourish Comprehensive is OK. Light is now six hours daily which is about as minimal as most suggest. The only thing now is intensity, and I have never bothered with lumens, but the Life-Glo 24-inch T8 tubes I use are 1470 lumen and I have two over the tank. This is moderate light. Some of the plants in the photos are fine. It is the stem plants that are the issue, and it may well be the light intensisty is too weak for these. I have had similar issues with hygrophyla in the past so I tossed it out and stay with plants that do well in the light I provide them.

 

[Byron]

Wil the algae stop growing if there are more suitable plants and will the light coming into the lounge the afternoon sun be a big problem and so I will have to move the entire fish tank or just live with it?

Algae, by which here we mean "problem" algae, will always take advantage because it is far less specific than higher plants when it comes to light. We aim to establish the balance between the light intensity and the available nutrients so plants use them and algae is disadvantaged.

Ambient room light, such as daylight entering via the windows, does factor in to his balance. Several years ago, I had my tank lighting worked out to 8 hours daily (on timers). All was good, until summer. The increased light duration and brightness in summer, even through closed blinds, was enough to throw off the balance, and black brush algae increased. It took me two summers to figure out the reason for this, and thereafter the windows were completely blocked. Problem solved. This is easy to do in a dedicated fish room, where one can use aluminum foil to cover the windows or whatever, but obviously more of an issue in rooms where people live. Reducing the tank lighting duration can sometimes work as it reduces the tank light so the additional daylight has less impact. Regardless, never let direct sun shine on an aquarium.