Time To Sort It Once And For All!

[StiX]

Ok, time to kick some alge butt!

I have alge growing like crazy, from what i can tell I have green spot alge and green slime alge. Its basically on everything! I can wipe it off the glass, and the next day it will allready be forming again!

Rite, what i'm gunna do is, scrape all the alge off glass, rocks, and what I can off the plants, then do a 50% water change/gravel vac, clean out filter, and get rid of all the small dying/dead alge over-run plants (theres quite alot!)

Now some Q's, should I still add the fertiliser (API Leaf Zone)? should I have the filter on high/low? Shoudl i leave the DIY Co2 on the tank ? its nearly run out, should i make up another?

Some info on the tank :

NitAte 30
NitrIte 0
Ammonia 0
GH 14
KH 6
pH 7.6 <---last weeks results, i will test all parameters again tomorrow.
Lights where on 12hour cycle, now cut down to 7 1/2 hour! 7am - 9am then 5pm - 10:30pm
The lights are 1 20w Interpet Triton and 1 20w AquGlo
16 Gallon tank (30x12x15)

Anything u dont agree with or any other things u think I should do?

 

[Rose]

First off I'm going to have you read algae control. Next I'm going to give you a long list of questions I need answers to. This will help me get a idea of what your tank is like and what not.

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
KH:
Temperature:
Tank size/how long in operation:
Filtration: Aeration( air stones or bubble wands things like that):
Water change amount/frequency:
Water additives/conditioners/pH adjustors:
What, how much and how often do you feed your fish?
Tank inhabitants (specify number, size and type of fish):

 

[StiX]

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
pH: 7.4
KH: 6
GH: 12
Temperature: 78-79
Tank size/how long in operation: 16 gallon (30x12x15) running for just over 1 year.
Filtration: Aeration( air stones or bubble wands things like that): Filter is a INterpet IPF Dou 3 with the outlet pointed at surface, it can have bubbles coming out of it aswell but i dont have them on, should i?
Water change amount/frequency: 3gallon once a week
Water additives/conditioners/pH adjustors: Only thing i add is dechlorinator, and for the last 2 weeks API leaf zone (alge was present long be adding this)
What, how much and how often do you feed your fish? once or twice aday on flake and freeze dried tubifex
Tank inhabitants (specify number, size and type of fish):
1 3" Oapline gourami
1 1.5" female platy
1 2" swordtail platy
2 1.5" Neon Tetras
1 1.5" Cardinal tetra
2 1.5" otto's
20ish 1cm Guppy fry (about half will be moved when abit bigger)


Thanks for the help Rose

 

[Macquatic]

CLICK HERE for some info. Mac.

 

[wetwetwet]

lol mac - thats the same link as Rose

 

[William]

Must be a good article then B) Thats fighting talk of you stickle good luck with it!

 

[StiX]

Rite, i've done most of the work now! ...3hr job! gosh i'm nackered! lol

Anyway, i basically stripped the tank down to bare gravel, gave that a super hoover, took alge of every suface i could get to, cleaned filter, scrubbed rocks, removed dead plants/leaves, 50% water change!

Back to my original Q's :

Now some Q's, should I still add the fertiliser (API Leaf Zone)? should I have the filter on high/low? Shoudl i leave the DIY Co2 on the tank ? its nearly run out, should i make up another?

and what should i have the lights on for ? i know supposed to be 10-12 hours, but at 12 hours = super alge! so its on 7 1/2 now good/bad?

 

[Rose]

Sorry I haven't been on to answer the Q's. My internet has been down all weekend. Today is my anniversary so I won't be on again till tomorrow. I will try and catch up then. Sorry again guys. Rose

 

[Rose]

That's one way to do it...lol. As for the fertilizer that's what the algae is eating and growing rampant on. I wouldn't use any till you get the algae under control and then you want to start out very very slowly with it.

What you do with the CO2 is up to you and how you want your tank to look. With CO2 the plants will grow larger and grow faster. That means you get to trim your plants more than if you didn't use CO2. CO2 is a matter of preference.

If you use CO2 leave the filter at low so the CO2 bubbles will stay in the water longer and thus giving the plants more CO2 use. If you take the CO2 off it doesn't matter what you use the filter at. High or low makes very little to no difference.

Read that article I linked to for you and go from there. It's very helpfull in getting the algae under control. Rose

 

[StiX]

The thing with the fertiliser is i've only been adding it for the lasst 2 weeks, but the alge problem has been there for afew months ...but i wont add it anyway.

I'll make up anew Co2 this week-end.

I really need to get the plants growing to beat the alge...not very asy tho in my tank!

Oh and ! ! !HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ! ! !

 

[Rose]

Thank You!!!

One thing you can do to help beat the algae is to get some fast growing plants in your tank. Things like water wisteria, water sprite, and most stem plants (the ones not in pots). They will soak up the excess quickly and should out compeat the algae. Rose

 

[StiX]

I have quite abit of water sprite, thats the only plant thats growing, but the trouble with that is it grew a massive shoot like 15" tall to the surface in about a week, then it just stopped and grew anew shoot, but the old 1 just sort of died and grew loads of alge on it, so i cut the dead ones off

Oh and 1 of the plants slt sent me is doin ok, its a fine leaved stem plants (carnt remember the name )

 

[StiX]

I've read that link aswell thx, not really helped much tho

 

[StiX]

It's startin to come bak! not alot, but still some *bangs head against wall*

I want to get a bristlenose but i dont have the room, i have 2 ottos allready

 

[Rose]

there's something in your tank feeding the algae. You just need to figure out what it is so you can keep it from taking over again. Check your water peramiters again nitrates, ammonia, phosphates, iron. Feed less and less often, cut light times down, bigger water changes. The thing you need to do is figure out what feeding the algae. Once you do that you'll do just fine.