# Algae? I'm new and need help!



## LilBetta (May 30, 2017)

So i started my tank on may 5. Its an aqueon 36 gallon bowfront tank with a 17 watt T8 Full Spectrum Florescent Lamp.

Its cycled and my parameters are ammonia 0, nitrites 0, Nitrates 20.
I keep my water at 78

I have anubias and java fern both on driftwood and water wisteria and dwarf hair grass in the substrate. My plants recently started to look like they are melting. My wisteria has lost a lot of leaves on the bottom, my grass is going brown and anubias abd java fern look like they are getting black colored algae.

I don't use co2 and i am using tropica fertilizer. I have had some people on another forum tell me i am putting too much and some say not enough. I put 3 pumps weekly as recomended by the store. I've been told i should be putting 5 and others have said 10. Some people tell me i'm doing too much. So, i came to this firum hoping for less confusing help and maybe why i should put the number of pumps. I'm not really sure if the ferts are the reason for my plants all dying. Thing is the bottle is in litres and not gallons. Could someone help me figure out what i should be putting and also how to deal with this algae.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

A single T8 bulb at about 20-22 inches from the substrate should be giving you around 25-30 PAR, which is low light, enough for the plants you have, but not nearly high enough to cause a lot of algae problems. I doubt that you are short on fertilizing, especially because unless the plants are growing you still have all of the fertilizers you have added since you set up the tank. Do you have a full tank photo to show us?

Did you use a dechlorinator, like Seachem Prime, when you first set up the tank, and with every big water change since then? Chlorine in the water is not good. How did you cycle the tank?

One thing that is likely to help a lot is Seachem Excel, dosed at 2 ml per gallon of water, once a day. That will make life more difficult for algae, and provide some more available carbon for the plants. Another thing that will definitely help a lot is to set up a DIY CO2 system. CO2, even at just a few ppm, will greatly increase the growth rate, and health of the plants. Using both DIY CO2 and Excel works very well for preventing Algae growth. Your algae looks like it might be BBA, which CO2 and Excel both are very effective against.


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## LilBetta (May 30, 2017)

Yes i use prime. I put 2.5 mL with every water change. I did buy some Excel. I added 15mL yesterday just to see if that might help. Theres been no change yet but i am not expecting to see anything right away. I can take a picture to send as well. My tank isn't too exciting yet. I want to add more plants still.i did forget to mention that i bought some frogbit its been exactally a week and that's all dead as well. I gotta pull that out. I'm not sure what it is i'm doing wrong.


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## LilBetta (May 30, 2017)

Oh you were asking about my cycle too. I didn't use ammonia in my fishless cycle. Nobody ever told me to till after it was cycled. Everyday i added nutrafin cycle to my water at 15mL for my 36g tank. I added 2.5 mL of prime every day as well because i was told it would only work for 24 hours and i did water changes every 3 days. It took 20 days to get my tank to 0 ammonia, 0 nirites and 40 nitrates then i did a 50% water change. I do an api master kit test before every water change and now i do a 20% water change everytime my water goes to 20 nitrates. So thats my story. I was told i could add fish but i haven't wanted to till i got my plants under control. Should i add them? Maybe they need the fish to control my cycle better?


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Prime only needs to be dosed once, when you add water that has chlorine/chloramine in it, and only when you are adding more than about 10% new water. 

The nearest thing we have to a "miracle drug" is CO2. You can make a DIY CO2 system for a pretty small cost, and try that. (First, read up on the subject so you know what you are doing.) That will usually get the plants to grow at a much faster rate. 

It looks like your substrate is ADA Aquasoil. Is it?


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## LilBetta (May 30, 2017)

My soil is Tropica Aquarium Soil

I only put prime in every day during my cycle. Now that its cycled i only add it when i do a water change


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I think Tropica Aquarium Soil is a nutrient rich soil. If it is, you probably have enough nutrients for the plants, other than carbon (CO2). I think I would try Seachem Excel, or equivalent, and see how that works.


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## LilBetta (May 30, 2017)

I just started it about 4 days ago. I already got some new sprouts comng in on all my plants. I'm hoping thats all it needed


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## carlsbl (Jun 26, 2017)

LilBetta said:


> I just started it about 4 days ago. I already got some new sprouts comng in on all my plants. I'm hoping thats all it needed


I just got done reading this thread and my tanks is about a month behind your. How is your tank going? Any pics? My tank is a 10 gallon but has a similar looking plant load.


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## LilBetta (May 30, 2017)

carlsbl said:


> I just got done reading this thread and my tanks is about a month behind your. How is your tank going? Any pics? My tank is a 10 gallon but has a similar looking plant load.


I still have it but i have foubd out it is Diatoms. Its gonna happen in a new set up. Just keep wiping it off. It will go away on it own once all the silicates are used up. Thats what i have heen doing. You can also consider more plants and maybe moss balls. Moss balls help with phosphates i was told. I am cycling a quarentine tank right now to get some Otocinclus Catfish. They are very peaceful fish that eat all kinds of algae and one of the few algae eaters that will eat Diatoms. They are super easy to care for just sensative during the transition to a new tank. I've been reccomended to feed them veggies like cucumbers as well. The big killer of these fish is people rely on the algae as food and forget they need a balanced diet like other fish as well. I'm also looking at Nerite Snails. They love diatoms too. Only thing with them is they multiply quickly. You gotta watch for eggs. I was told they lay them in dry areas of the tank so keep the water up to the top to control it if you don't wanna breed snails

I'll post a picture of how my plants are looking right now so you can compare. If your tank is 4 months or less its probabally diatoms. This is a picture of what it looks like before whiping. sorry they are sideways. I can't figure out hiw to rotate them on my tablet lol


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## Khaoticworld (Apr 14, 2017)

LilBetta said:


> I still have it but i have foubd out it is Diatoms. Its gonna happen in a new set up. Just keep wiping it off. It will go away on it own once all the silicates are used up. Thats what i have heen doing. You can also consider more plants and maybe moss balls. Moss balls help with phosphates i was told. I am cycling a quarentine tank right now to get some Otocinclus Catfish. They are very peaceful fish that eat all kinds of algae and one of the few algae eaters that will eat Diatoms. They are super easy to care for just sensative during the transition to a new tank. I've been reccomended to feed them veggies like cucumbers as well. The big killer of these fish is people rely on the algae as food and forget they need a balanced diet like other fish as well. I'm also looking at Nerite Snails. They love diatoms too. Only thing with them is they multiply quickly. You gotta watch for eggs. I was told they lay them in dry areas of the tank so keep the water up to the top to control it if you don't wanna breed snails
> 
> I'll post a picture of how my plants are looking right now so you can compare. If your tank is 4 months or less its probabally diatoms. This is a picture of what it looks like before whiping. sorry they are sideways. I can't figure out hiw to rotate them on my tablet lol


Nerite snails only breed in brackish/saltwater. Mystery/apple snails are the ones I believe your thinking of the breed fairly quickly and lay eggs out of water

Sent from my LGMP260 using Tapatalk


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## LilBetta (May 30, 2017)

Khaoticworld said:


> Nerite snails only breed in brackish/saltwater. Mystery/apple snails are the ones I believe your thinking of the breed fairly quickly and lay eggs out of water
> 
> Sent from my LGMP260 using Tapatalk


Well thats just what someone told me and they said nothing about the water. I told them it was a freshwater tank. I guess i got bad advice


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## Khaoticworld (Apr 14, 2017)

LilBetta said:


> Well thats just what someone told me and they said nothing about the water. I told them it was a freshwater tank. I guess i got bad advice


Nerites are good for algae. As far as I know that's all they eat. And the can live in freshwater just not breed

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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

Rather than purchasing more and more fish or snails that eat the algae while it still grows, why not fix the problem. (algae growth)


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## LilBetta (May 30, 2017)

DutchMuch said:


> Rather than purchasing more and more fish or snails that eat the algae while it still grows, why not fix the problem. (algae growth)


This is what the thread was made for but i'm not getting much help on how to fix it. Maybe instead of just being rude you coukd explain. Also i don't buy kore and more fush. All i have is rasboras in my tank. My tank has only been up since May so i was told on a different thread that this is normal in a new tank and will go away. But algae fish and snails are okay to help with cleanup so i'm not constantly scraping algae and stressing out my fish. I realise its not a "fix"


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## jrIL (Apr 23, 2005)

LilBetta said:


> DutchMuch said:
> 
> 
> > Rather than purchasing more and more fish or snails that eat the algae while it still grows, why not fix the problem. (algae growth)
> ...


Looks to me like hoppy gave you some pretty good advice towards fixing your problem.


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