# What's in common?



## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Hey so even as a so-called "senior member", I have yet to toast the algae problem. :-/

At the moment, my latest confusion is that I have everything but the kitchen sink going on with my tank. But the plants grow great!

I have green dust, brown diatoms, some green spot, and every now and then a bit of green fuzz algae. I can't tell what these have in common but I'm thinking some kind of imbalance. None of them is really making me crazy (and all but the diatoms only grows on the glass or driftwood)- but combined it's enough that I spend 30 minutes scrubbing the glass and brushing the plants every week.

I do weekly 50% water changes (65 gal. tank) and light it for about 10 hours a day under 156w (the tank is 2" deep). I have CO2 injection on a timer with the lights. The pH sits around 6.1 during the day, a little higher at night when the CO2 is off.

I dose dry ferts using the EI method. More precisely, I dose 3/4 tsp. KNO3, 1/4 tsp. KH2PO4 and 1/4 tsp. Plantex CSM+B - 3 times a week. On top of which, I throw in 3 cap-fulls of Excel after the water change each week.

I have the tank fairly loaded with plants and fish- so probably a good bio-load overall.

So I'm left thinking something is just off enough to make lots of different algae happy.

Thoughts?


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## The Trigger (Apr 23, 2012)

How old is the tank? Diatoms only usually appear in the first couple months after setup.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Pretty old- I took it completely apart about a year ago. That's the most recently everything has been reset.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

Algae Cause & Treatment Type of algae Cause Solution 
Black Beard Algae (BBA): Low CO2, low nitrate, excess iron> Add CO2, N, trim, spot treat with Excel 
Blue Green Algae (BGA): Low nitrate> Blackout + add nitrate 
Cladophora: Low nitrate + Low CO2> Add nitrate, add CO2 
Diatoms: Excess silicates, Low light> Wait, add catfish, use RO water/sponge 
Green Dust Algae (GDA): Spores> Wait out life cycle, remove + WC 
Green Spot Algae (GSA): Low phosphate + Low CO2?> Add phosphate, possibly add more CO2 
Green Water (GW): Ammonia + high light> Reduce light, Wait, Small WC, UV filter 
Hair Algae: Excess nutrients, silicates> WC, Excel, feed less, is something limited? 
Milky Water: Bacteria bloom> Wait out, protect filter, add fish slowly 
Staghorn: Ammonia + low CO2> Remove, WC, protect filter, Excel 
String Algae: Excess nutrients> WC + get biofilter working


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## The Trigger (Apr 23, 2012)

Have you changed ANYTHING else recently? This usually won't happen unless you change lighting, add bioload, add more ferts than normal, lower co2 etc. Anything at all you can remember? And you say this happened out of nowhere?


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

It started when I redid the tank a year ago... and never really left. But I didn't really change my routine then.

The only thing I can think of is that I started doing water changes from the faucet directly with a hose- but I treat with Prime before adding tap water.


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## The Trigger (Apr 23, 2012)

have you tested your nutrient levels with a kit? something could be way high and you would never know....


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

No, I haven't- I have a hard time finding kits that test for things like that though. Have any suggestions?


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## The Trigger (Apr 23, 2012)

I have an API master test kit. Pretty decent for what it is. There's better ones but the API's are pretty common and give u a pretty close ballpark idea of where ur levels are. The two main ones you will need is a test for Nitrate and Phosphate. The phosphate doesn't come with the master kit so you will have to buy it seperately. But those are the two things I would test for just to get an idea of where you're at.


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## The Trigger (Apr 23, 2012)

Any LFS or pet store that stocks aquarium supplies will sell these test kits.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Oh, yeah I have that master test kit. I used to have a phosphate one too but it expired. Yeah, I probably should start there. It's been a while since I've tested those things- once the tank was cycled, I kind of stopped caring. Thanks for the reminder. ;-)


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

What I meant regarding the ease of finding these kits is that most LFS in my area either cater almost entirely to salt water or gold fish/beta folk. So finding anything other than a basic kit can be tough. I guess there's always the internet too, though.


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## The Trigger (Apr 23, 2012)

Yeah I don't test my water often because I dont have any serious algae problems. But those two tests are a good place to start. If the levels are in the normal range than at least u can rule them out. But the internet is your best bet to find them.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Yeah, and this is more annoying than serious. I have a 4 gal. nano in NY as well with the same problems. No CO2, though, and different lighting and different source water. So nutrients would be a good bet- I dose them both with the same ferts and excel.


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## The Trigger (Apr 23, 2012)

Yeah its probably excess nutrients. Most say many algae cases can be easilt taken care of by raising co2 and reducing lighting. Have you tried spot treating the algae with Excel? Works ammazingly well. I annihilated bba in my dwarf hairgrass and it got rid of all of it.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Yeah, I actually tried not adding ferts for a week- so much worse- so it's probably an imbalance or a light thing.

I have tried spot treating- even more satisfying are the results from using hydrogen peroxide, IMO. Since my problem is on almost everything, spot treating would be a lot less like spot treating. ;-)


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## The Trigger (Apr 23, 2012)

Woah. Well.....Ive never tried it....but a blackout might be necesarry. You turn off your light for 2-3 days, cover the tank in trash bags or a dark sheet so light wont get in, turn off any co2 and run an airstone for the blackout. This is like a last resort though, bit may be what u need. You will still have to find the root of the problem after all the algae is gone and correct it or else it will just come right back.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

I'm familiar with black-outs. My point is more that there's a varitey of algae types modestly covering a large area. I'm not at the point where a black-out is necessary but I was hopeful that one could judge what the problem might be based on the group of algae colonizing the tank. 

Anyway, I'm going to have to try a few things this weekend.


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## The Trigger (Apr 23, 2012)

Cut the lighting period down to 8 hrs. Green spot is usually low phosphate and too much light. Green dust is too much light and green hair is usually too much light and too much nitrate I believe. Cut down ur photoperiod than. Seems to be a light issue mostly


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