# what types of algae are these? Help please.



## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

the first one is on the coffe leaf abubias










second one is on the glass. Both back and right side.










What do i need to do to clear these up?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

It appears you have Diatom Algae on the tank glass and possibly on the Anubias. If you wipe your hand across the glass does it come off easily? Though it is hard for me to tell from the pic, you may also have BBA on the Anubias leaves. BBA is very hard to remove from leaves by hand and usually requires trimming off the affected leaves. 

The Diatom algae is common in new tank setups and should go away in a week or two depending on light levels, fertilization and CO2 usage. If you can provide more info on these three things, you may get some more responses 

If you do have BBA on your Anubias leaves, I would say your CO2 levels are too low. Again, more info on your tank setup and fertilization routine (including CO2 usage) are needed.


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

*Hi*

OK here

KH 6d

pH6.8

GH 10d

Nitrate 10ppm

Nitirte 0

Co2 28.5ppm ( 2x2 liters)

83watts = 2.8 wpg ( 10 hours a day)

29 gallon tank

Nitrate 1/4tsp 3xweek
Phosphate 1/16tsp 3xweek
Potassium 1/16tsp 3xweek
Trace 1/16tsp 3xweek


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Your dosing looks to be fine but I would definately increase your CO2 level. Even though you are close to 30ppm, I would be the actual CO2 levels are much less given the inaccuracy of pH and KH test kits out there along with the buildup of any other acids that may be in your tank water. 

To determine CO2 levels, leave a cup of tank water out overnight and test the pH. Then, shoot for a pH drop of about 1 in your tank water to get close to this. You can tweak it more if needed. 

Does the stuff on your glass wipe off easily and is it brown or green in color?


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

*Hi*

ok i did test my tap water after i left it out over night last week. so here are the stats.

Tap water left out over night.

pH 7.6
KH 7d
GH 8d
Co2 5.275 ppm which would mean that 28.5-5.275 = 23.22 ppm or close to it. Right?

Yes the algae does wipe off the side of the glass eays.


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## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

I bet its a combination of Brown Algae (Diatoms), and Green Dust Algae. 

Ottos love to eat the Brown Algae, it will also stop reproducing eventually as it seems to be a phase most new tanks seem to go through. You still have to remove the old stuff as it will not go away on its own. 

As far as the Green Dust Algae, if thats really what it is can be difficult to get rid of. Tom Barr thinks the best way to get rid of it is to not remove it for at least 2 weeks and let it complete its lifecycle then remove all of it from the tank while doing a waterchange. During the 2 weeks you cant even touch it or scrape it in any way because this will start a whole new life cycle again. Some people say ottos eat the stuff to but I've never seen that personally. I have also heard of great success using Nerite Snails for this algae.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Your pH went up .8 when you "degassed" a water sample. That means the PPM of CO2 in the tank is 3 * 10 exp[0.8] = 18 ppm, but only if the degassed water ends up with 3 ppm of CO2 in it. But, that's a good rough estimate. So, you could be pretty low on CO2 for 2.8 watts per gallon of light.


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

*Hi*



hoppycalif said:


> Your pH went up .8 when you "degassed" a water sample. That means the PPM of CO2 in the tank is 3 * 10 exp[0.8] = 18 ppm, but only if the degassed water ends up with 3 ppm of CO2 in it. But, that's a good rough estimate. So, you could be pretty low on CO2 for 2.8 watts per gallon of light.


ok sorry but i barely understood that Could you break that down for a dummy.

Ok if this help i have a 10 gallon tank aslo.

Here are it's stats.

pH 6.4 
GH 10dGH
KH 7dKH 
Co2 83.603 ppm
45watts at 4.5 wpg ( 10 hours a day)

1 2liter coke bottle

How in the heck is it possible that with one coke bottle i can have 83.6ppm of Co2 on a 10 gallon and 2 coke bottles only give me 28.5ppm of Co2 on a 29gallon?


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

will5 said:


> ok sorry but i barely understood that Could you break that down for a dummy.
> 
> Ok if this help i have a 10 gallon tank aslo.
> 
> ...


The equation for calculating ppm of CO2, knowing the KH and pH is:
CO2 (in PPM) = 3 * KH * 10exp( 7-pH ) 
If you assume the KH is the same for a degassed sample as for the water in the tank, that equation reduces to:
CO2(in PPM) = CO2 in degassed sample * 10exp( degassed pH - tank pH)
So, unless you know how much CO2 is in the degassed sample, which we tend to assume is about 3 ppm, you can't accurately use even this equation to determine how much CO2 you have, but it does give a crude estimate.
Also, notice that the first equation includes ten raised to the power of 7 minus the measured pH, which is always near 7. So, a small error in measuring pH makes a huge difference in how much CO2 the equation says you have. So, when you say you have 83.603 ppm of CO2, that is only in your imagination! There isn't the slightest chance of measuring CO2 using any method we can use that will be accurate to any better than +/- 30%. Your 83.603 ppm could be as low as 10 ppm in reality.

That's why using the failure of black brush algae to restart when you have removed it is the best method for knowing you have enough CO2, and using the appearance of discomfort by the fish is the best method for knowing you have too much CO2. Ideally you want to be between those two values, whatever the KH/pH tables say you have.

I probably just confused you even more! Sorry, if I did.


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

*Hi*

OK i have another question.

Can a KH test kit go bad after time. The reason i ask is that i bought my KH test kit used so i don't know how old it is.


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

*Ok*

All this time I have been reading my pH wrong. Those dange color cards are so hard.

My real pH is 6.9 with a KH of 7 makes my Co2 26.4ppm. Now i know that i have to add another diy Co2 coke bottle so I think I would have to buffer up my pH. I already have some crushed coral with agroite.

Just need to know how much to add so my pH does not crash when i add the second bottle?

Any one know?


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

You won't be able to crash the pH with a KH of 7 using DIY CO2. Just add the CO2 and watch the fish to be sure they aren't getting uncomfortable with the higher ppm.


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

*Hi*



hoppycalif said:


> You won't be able to crash the pH with a KH of 7 using DIY CO2. Just add the CO2 and watch the fish to be sure they aren't getting uncomfortable with the higher ppm.


Could you explaine why not in simple terms?


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

A KH of 7 means that the pH would only drop to around 6.4 when you have enough ppm of CO2 in the water to really bother the fish. That is virtually a neutral pH. The ppm of CO2 needed to "crash" the pH at KH 7 is almost certainly higher than DIY CO2 can supply unless you have a perfect reactor and no losses of CO2 from water movement. So, you will begin killing fish long before you could crash the ph. By contrast, with a pressurized system, you can crank up the bubble rate really high, and possibly get the pH to quickly drop much lower before the fish finally die. So, it is realistic to worry about having too much CO2 and having it cause problems for the fish, whether you use DIY or pressurized, but a pH crash is highly unlikely unless you use pressurized CO2.

And, it appears from recent posts here, that even with pressurized CO2, the pH won't drop below 5.0 which isn't too low for fish. So, pH crash may be overrated as a problem.


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## will5 (Oct 26, 2005)

*hi*



hoppycalif said:


> A KH of 7 means that the pH would only drop to around 6.4 when you have enough ppm of CO2 in the water to really bother the fish. That is virtually a neutral pH. The ppm of CO2 needed to "crash" the pH at KH 7 is almost certainly higher than DIY CO2 can supply unless you have a perfect reactor and no losses of CO2 from water movement. So, you will begin killing fish long before you could crash the ph. By contrast, with a pressurized system, you can crank up the bubble rate really high, and possibly get the pH to quickly drop much lower before the fish finally die. So, it is realistic to worry about having too much CO2 and having it cause problems for the fish, whether you use DIY or pressurized, but a pH crash is highly unlikely unless you use pressurized CO2.
> 
> And, it appears from recent posts here, that even with pressurized CO2, the pH won't drop below 5.0 which isn't too low for fish. So, pH crash may be overrated as a problem.


Cool thank you very much. You all have been so much help.


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