# Algae is taking over..Help!



## CSM84 (Sep 1, 2006)

ok guys i need some advice. my 75 is slowly being taken over by algae. it has been running for months but only planted for 3 weeks. i have 170 watts of light, flourite susbstrate, i dose flourish excel and flourish 3x a weeks and KNO3 along with KH2PO4, and FE (10% chelate) x2 a week (1\8 teaspoon each). My lights are on for roughly 10 hours a day, and no sunlight reaches the tank. I have 5 oto's and 2 flying fox's accompanied by 6 rummynose tetras, 5 black neon tetras, and 4 cory cats. here is the best pic i can get of the algae. if you need more pics just let me know and i'll keep trying. please help me identify it and get rid of it as it is starting to show up on all my plants leaves and i fear its going to take over!


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

With that much light and that size tank Excel isn't going to be sufficient to provide the carbon that the plants need. The first thing you need to do is either reduce your lighting or get some CO2 into the tank.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

The least you need to do is dose more fertilizers. You should be dosing about 3/4 tsp of KNO3 and 1/4 tsp KH2PO4 three times a week. You could cut back on the iron dosing. This might be sufficient, since your light is just over what is usually considered the limit for non-CO2 tanks.


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## CSM84 (Sep 1, 2006)

aren't those amounts your listing off the dosing requirements for a high light CO2 injected tank?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

CSM84 said:


> aren't those amounts your listing off the dosing requirements for a high light CO2 injected tank?


Hoppy's recommendations are for a CO2 injected tank and wold be good advice if you decide to add CO2. You are probably on the verge of needing CO2 for your tank. As Laith stated, you need to add a source of carbon other than Excel for your light level or decrease the amount of light you have over your tank.

With your tank not having CO2, you could get by adding 1/2 tsp of KNO3 and 1/8 tsp of KH2PO4 once a week or once every other week. Dose weekly with the Flourish Comprehensive and your Iron also. Once weekly will probably be more than enough if you decrease your lights.

Now, if you reduce your lighting and start to dose Flourish Excel every day in the recommended amounts for your tank the algae will more than likely start to grow. You need to manually remove as much as possible by pulling, trimming, or removing infected plants. Remember, algae use the same ferts as plants and seem to grow fater. However, algae usually only grow when plant growth stalls (like when there is not enough carbon in a tank for the light level) or not enough fertilizers were added.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I agree with Matt on the dosing amounts. I slipped up and assumed a CO2 injected tank. Personally I would either reduce the light down to less than 150 watts, or get a pressurized CO2 system. Or, you could try a three bottle DIY CO2 setup, staggering the times when you renew the bottle ingredients. Then, my dosing would be about right.


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## CSM84 (Sep 1, 2006)

Freshwater Planted Aquarium Plant Care: Drs. Foster & Smith Semi-Automatic CO2 System are you saying this will solve all my problems? I turned off one light so i'm down to 130 watts. i'm going to see if this helps...hopefully my plants don't suffer too bad from the lack of light.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

CO2 will not solve your problems and in my opinon, the system in the link is pretty expensive. CO2 would be a big help at your previous light levels (260w) but lowering the lighting to 130w should be a big help also. Either with or without CO2, you will need to manually remove the algae by trimming affected leaves or discarding affected plants.

Your plants *may* show an initial "shock" from the lesser light levels but will recover. I grew some very nice plants with 136w of normal flourescent light over my 75g tank when I first started out. Your compact flourescents are more intense than the normal output tubes I was using.


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## CSM84 (Sep 1, 2006)

so, manually remove all all signs of this ....... algae, and just keep the lights how they are and see what happens? ok. if that system is too expensive where do i find a cheaper one? i'm going to check what i can get @ purity a welding supply company on monday. we do lots of buisness with them at work and i'll see if i cant get a deal on a few parts.


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## CSM84 (Sep 1, 2006)

Could someone identify the algae in the picture above? i'm not sure what kind it is. There is more but its more of a black color elsewhere in the tank.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

If you can get a better pic of the algae it will help folks in identifying it. It looks like it may be fuzz algae to me. The Algae Finder may help you in identifying the other algea also but from your description (it looks black), I would guess you have BBA.


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## CSM84 (Sep 1, 2006)

i'll try and get a better picture this weekend.


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