# What's my Algae? What should I do?



## awohld (Dec 11, 2005)

I have four different kinds of algae that I can see, green algae on glass, brown on old plants, green tufts on my grasses/rock/gravel, and hair algae.

The picture shows the various algae on dwarf hair grass.

I have a 55 gallon tank, 2-55W AH Supply light kit @ 10 hours/day, and I do the Poor Mans Dosing Method. 1/2 tsp KNO3 and 1/8 tsp KH2PO4 every other day. I add Flourish "Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium" 1 cap full every other day in between the firts. Every weekend I do a 50% water change.

There are 25 fathead minnows in there that eat the algae, and I might feed them flakes once every two weeks. 3 Ottos, 2 ghost shrimp, and 1 amano shrimp. There are also about 8 pond snails.

I don't CO2. From what I read, CO2 might control my algae. Is this true?

I'm thinking of putting a blanket over the tank for 4 days.

What kinds of algae are these?


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

What's the plant density like? I can't see any plants behind your hairgrass, so I'm assuming it's not very dense at all. I see that you're using the EI method according to the tank volume as suggested in the Science of Fertilizing forum. However, that guideline is meant for plants that have high light and are well planted. At 2 watts per gallon and a lightly planted aquarium (from what I can see anyway), I think you may be introducing way too much of an excess of fertilizers. The theory that plants outcompete algae for nutrients and keeps the algae at bay still does not logically make sense to me, but it seems to work, so either think about adding more plants, especially faster growing stems, or cutting down on your fertilizing. I won't suggest a change for your lighting because that would entail a change in categories such as ferts, plant density, and co2, but CAN suggest that you work with your photoperiod perhaps. I leave my lights on for 10 hours. When I had another hour on it, I frequently had algae problems. Maybe try decreasing your photoperiod?

CO2, or I should say, a supplementary carbon source, is not absolutely necessary, especially with the lighting you have right now. You can use Seachem's Excel if you want to though. Essentially all you'll be doing is adding a source of carbon for the plants to utilize. It definitely helps for plant growth, and Excel even will battle algae for you because it contains a biocide that adversely affects some algaes. However, as I vaguely mentioned earlier, your plants will only grow as fast as the limiting factor, and it seems that higher order plants have a lower limiting factor than lower order algaes. By that, I mean once the plants reach the limiting factor and slow in growth, algae may still be able to go strong. So having an abundant carbon source will help in keeping those plants going and the algae less opportunity to work with th excess nutrients (like I said, it doesn't SEEM logical lol)

The blackout is a good idea. Afterwards, when most of the algae will have died, cut down on your fertilizers by around 1/2 to 3/4th of what it is right now. Adding the CO2 or Excel will help with plant growth, and should also aid in keeping algae at bay. And finally, try playing with your photoperiod. The key is to balance your tank once the algae has died, otherwise it will come back.

Sorry I can't identify your algae; I'm not very good at IDing. It does look like you have a green version of BBA (black brush algae) though, lol, and some staghorn?

Anyway, hope that was all correct and helpful


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

What kind of algae? I suspect the algae on the glass and the small green tufts on the plants are both green dust algae. The other looks like it could be hair algae. The brown, I can't see.

You have enough light that CO2 should be helpful in preventing these algae from restarting once you get rid of them. The green dust algae can be defeated by leaving it all alone to live out its life cycle for 2-3 weeks, then scraping it away. The hair has to be physically removed - a toothbrush helps and some plants may have to be sacrificed. Another option is to use overdosed Excel to try to kill off the hair algae. I don't think a black out will kill these algae.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

I agree with Hoppy on the blackout. In my experience, a blackout is only good at ridding the tank of Green Dust Algae, Green Water and BGA. Other alga will survive a blackout just as well as the plants and maybe better.

You are definately on the verge of needing a carbon source on the tank. CO2 would do wonders in eliminating the algae but some Excel may work well for you also. Without some sort of carbon source, I would say you are defintely over fertilizing the tank. You should probably be adding about 1/2 tsp of KNO3 and 1/8th teaspoon of KH2PO4 *weekly *versus every other day. Take a look at Non-CO2 methods to get you started on dosing your tank since you are not using CO2.

As mentioned, it does look like Green Dust Algae on the glass. The bronw on the plants is probably diatom algae and is common in newer setups. I have also had battles with Diatom Algae in tanks I have run around 2wpg without CO2. I now prefer to keep my non-CO2 tanks no more than 1.5 wpg to control Green Dust and Diatoms.

On the other types of algae (the whitish stuff in your pics may be Staghorn) manual removal is the way to go. Use a toothbrush as Hoppy mentioned and get in there and prune and toss effected plants. I have found iteasiest to just remove algae plagued Hair Grass versus trying to clean it. It is just too time consuming to get the algae out of Hairgrass and most Hairgrass will pull up with the algae and at a minimum need replanting.

We can't see the plant density in your tank but planting with too low of a plant mass can also contribute to algae formation. To help you identify if you tank is low, moderately or heavily planted, Bert H. has a great thread called New Tank Setup - parts 1 and 2 It has plenty of links to setting up a new tank and also has some pics in the second post that is a great help in figuring out if you have enough plant mass in your tank.


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## awohld (Dec 11, 2005)

I think I'll start out by ferilizing 1/2 tsp KNO3 and 1/8 tsp KH2PO4 once a week. I'll still do 50% water changes 1 once per week.

I'll try to add CO2.

How much Excell should I add to kill the algae in a 55 gallon tank?

Here are the picture of my tank. I think I'm lightly planted:

Left:









Center:









Right:


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

You are definately lightly planted and maybe even sparsely planted. I'd skip the weekly water changes until you get CO2 going on your tank. The addition of tap water may actually worsen your algae issue due to fluctuating CO2 levels with the water changes. 

Overdosing Excel probably won't work on your algae types. Overdosing Excel to kill algae is mainly successful against Black Beard Algae (BBA). Use Excel as a carbon source and follow the directions on the bottle (about 2.5ml daily) for your tank.

Was your hairgrass purchased from a store on online vendor? If so and you really like the hairgrass, see if you can get some healthy hairgrass from someone in the For Sale or Trade forum. Post a want to buy. It almost looks as if it was emmersed grown but it is hard to tell with the algae.

Here are the steps I would take if this was my tank:

1. Get more plants! Anything will work for the next month or two you don't have to particularly like the plant. Pack the tank as full of plants as you can get it and sell or trade the new growth as it comes in. I have some various types of Cryptocorynes I would be willing to send you for the price of shipping along with a few other stem plants 

2. Add Excel as a carbon source for the plants you have in the tank.

3. While waiting on the plants, remove all hardware and hardscape and thoroughly clean it. You can bleach the filter inlet and outlet tubes and the faux driftwood. Clean the filter, but not with bleach.

4. Remove the badly affected plants like hairgrass and toss them. 

5. Clean the glass and do a major water change 50%-75%

6. Reduce your lighting period to around 8 hours until your plants come in.

Definately get more plants in the tank.


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## awohld (Dec 11, 2005)

MatPat said:


> Was your hairgrass purchased from a store on online vendor?


I got it from a store, and the only algae it had was a small speck of hair algae in the base, but now it's grown.

How can I maintain this plant load without adding plants? Should I avoid ferts. Should I just CO2 and light 8 hours a day?

My idea is to get the floor covered with dwarf hair grass and amazon microsword. Then in each back corner have 20 of the straight stemmed plants I currently have in my tank ( I don't know what they are ).


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

awohld said:


> I got it from a store, and the only algae it had was a small speck of hair algae in the base, but now it's grown.


 It's not the fact that there may have been algae on the plant but the fact tht it was initially grown emmersed (out of the water) This is common with plants from LFS. The plant then has to grow new submersed leaves while some of the older emmersed growth dies off and collects algae.



awohld said:


> How can I maintain this plant load without adding plants? Should I avoid ferts. Should I just CO2 and light 8 hours a day?


I would never avoid ferts in an attempt to control algae. It is usually a lack of ferts that contributes to slower plant growth and an increase in algae. If you add CO2, you will need to increase the amount of ferts you are adding.

If you want to do a "hairgrass lawn" like you have described, you need to start with more hairgrass (healthier hairgrass too) and spread it around the tank. Instead of planting a big mass of it in a few spots, plant 3-4 blades in many position around the tank. The more you spread it out, the faster it will grow in. I have planted single blades of hairgras in my tanks in the past and it fills in quickly that way.



awohld said:


> My idea is to get the floor covered with dwarf hair grass and amazon microsword. Then in each back corner have 20 of the straight stemmed plants I currently have in my tank ( I don't know what they are ).


Sounds like a good plan. The stem plant you have appears to be a Bacopa species. That should be a good grower but once you add a carbon source (Excel or CO2) you may get tired of pruning it  It is a fast grower in my experience.


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## awohld (Dec 11, 2005)

What I managed to do so far is:

1. Scraped algae off glass.
2. Got loose fish waste off of top of gravel.
3. 90% water change.
4. Removed all hair algae I could.
5. Added 1 cap Flourish "Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium".
6. Changed photo period to three 2.5 hour ON periods per day - 7.5 hours total. That is 10 hours off - 2.5 hours on - 3.5 hours off - 2.5 hours on - 3 hours off - 2.5 hours on.
7. Took two offshoots of Bacopa plants and planted to grow two new stemmed plants.
8. I'm not going to water change for 3 weeks. 
9. I'm not going to add ferts.
10. I'm going to sparsly feed my fish once I notice they're not getting full on eating algae.

How does this sound so far? Should I keep on adding my Flourish "Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium"?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

It sounded good to me up until step 6, changing the photo period. I think you will be much better off running a straight 7.5 -8 hour photo period on your tank. I'm not a fan of the breaking up the lighting schedule at all. About the time time your plants get going and using up nutrients, you turn the lights off. Then they slow down again, then the light come on and they start to wake up again. I don't think this is a very good idea but by all means, do what you think is right. 

As far as #7, you really need to add more than 2 shoots from an established plant. Adding ten times that many would be a start. I understand where you are trying to go with the tank but it is very easy to get it started with a lot of plants and slowly remove the unwanted plants as the tank matures. 

Not changing the water is probably a good idea at least until you get some CO2 on the tank. I would probably still add some ferts since you removed 90% of what was alread in the water with the water change. I would add the Flourish Comprehensive and some nitrate and phosphate once a week or so when it is conveneint for you. I would also try and add some Flourish Excel to the tank to help with plant growth. You should only need 5ml per day ( or every other day) for your tank so a small bottle will last a while.

Make sure you keep us updated on the tank!


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