# Thread algae problem



## PapaLoc (Mar 5, 2006)

Hi all.

I have 50 L planted tank, with 50 watts of lighting.

The substrate is garden soil topped with 2-4cm of 1-2mm gravel.

My parameters are:

pH = 7-7,5
Nitrates = 0
KH = 10
GH = 15-21 (my local tap water is 21, pretty hard)

I have valisneria, Ludwigia(two kinds, repens and another), Rotala rotundifolia, Java moss(bla bla dubyana), Riccia fluitans, Limnophila sp. and some kind of frogbite, and some Lilaeopsis brasiliensis that is NOT thriving at the moment.

I have between 3-10 cherryshrimp, 2 adults and a dubious amount of smaller ones i bought recently(at least one died). 6 cardinal tetras and 7 SAE's, and 2 Ancistrus. The reason for the large amount of SAE's is that I started buying 5 of which only 2 survived, I wanted at least 4, so i bought another batch of 5, of which all is surviving and looking well(which is good, in an inconvenient way as I now have more than I need).

Things are growing well. I make weekly 20% waterchanged and I fertilize with something called tropica mastergrow(also weekly).

I have DIY CO2 injection, which is the reason my pH is not 8,2.

I had alot of hair algae but the SAE's really took care of that, and at the same time I got the CO2 running properly(stuck the outlet in a powerhead which makes for an awesome reactor .

Now the threadalgae is poking its green long singlecelled-in-a-row'ish head out from the bush.

Its mingled with the Riccia, Limnophila and one of the Ludwigia species. I try to remove as much as I can but I can't get rid of it. The SAE's and the shrimp won't touch it at all, which is kinda dissapointing :/

So how do I get rid of it?

I have the light on 12 hours a day.

Any suggestions?


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

I'd say that with your lighting and CO2, your plants are starving for macros (especially N and P). You need to start fertilizing some NO3 and PO4 (Tropica Master Grow only provides Fe and traces). So remove as much of the thread algae as you can manually and start dosing NO3 and PO4 (I like to keep NO3 at between 20 and 30mg/l and PO4 between 2 and 3mg/l). I'd also lower your light period to 10 hours to see if that helps as well.

I also have a doubt that you're getting enough CO2 into your tank. You say your pH is at 7-7.5. This is a large range. At a pH of 7 you theoretically have a CO2 level of around 30mg/l, which is what you want. At a pH of 7.5 you have 9mg/l of CO2, which is nowhere near enough...

With a good plant mass, all of which are healthy and growing well, algae problems are minimized.

And welcome to APC!


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

That is a lot of light for that tank, and with garden soil under the gravel you have lots of chances for ammonia to leak out into the water. That usually means algae, including green water can soon follow. The best thing you can do is to cut the lights on time to no more than 10 hours, but 8 hours is probably a better goal. (I now keep my lights on for about 8 hours a day and I haven't seen any reduction in plant growth rate, so I don't think you need any more light than that.) Then, as Laith recommended, start fertilizing and try to maintain a steady ppm of CO2 somewhere above 20 ppm all the time. That means measuring pH accurately - at least within +/- 0.2, but +/- 0.1 is much better.


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## PapaLoc (Mar 5, 2006)

The reason my pH is so inaccurate is that my test kit has a colour code that I need to compare the test water with. Its pretty hard for me to say if its light green, light bluish or something in between :/

I was hoping that my heavy fish/shrimp load would provide enough ammonia for the plants to get their N needs covered, but its problably not. Are N and P fertilizers readily available at fishstores and the like?

This is my second tank setup. In the first i used a clay-peat iron enhanced homemade substrate, but algae killed that setup. I then bought Diana Walstads book and thought i'd try a garden soil tank. My concern was like you point out Hoppycalif, that the rich soil would into the water and make a pea soup of algae. I've tried to get around the problem by using the gravel layer, but maybe its not thick enough.

My DIY CO2 consists of two 1,5l bottles. I started using 1 1,5l bottle, but as you also suggested I had a feeling it wasn't enough. I then started using the 2 bottle setup, but it had no noticeable effect on the pH. I was using an airstone at the time as a diffuser, but it wasn't working properly. I then stuck the CO2 outlet in the powerhead and it works pretty well. It punches the bubbles to extremely small bubbles(less then 0,5 mm) and they are then circulated all the way through the tank by the current. PH dropped from 8,2 to the 7'ish it is now.

I'll remove as much algae as I can manually, drop lighttime to 10 hours and try to find some N and P fertilizer, lets hope it works, else i'll be back


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

You can use stump remover, Greenlight Stump Remover is one, for nitrates - it is just potassium nitrate, KNO3. And, you can use Fleet Enema, the water based one, for phosphate - check the label carefully to be sure it is the phosphate type enema with no mineral oil in it.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

If you want to use Diana's method, you need much much lower lighting levels and no CO2 (at least as far as I understand her method).

Otherwise you're in high-light area which requires consistent CO2 and good ferts... and water changes...


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

and no fert dosing. and very infrequent partial water changes.


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## PapaLoc (Mar 5, 2006)

Im not trying to make an 'el natural' tank'. In Denmark ecocomplete and such substrates are not readily available, so I decided to try using garden soil, like Diana Walstad does, but without the 'low-maintenance' aspect of her tanks.


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