# Algae & Fert: can I save my plants?



## Haeun (Oct 19, 2006)

I haven't had the money to order fertilizers until ... today (hope the order comes soon) so my tanks have been running on purely light, DIY CO2 and Flourish for a while.

And needless to say, all three of my tanks have been hit with algae pretty hard. I wasn't sure how to dose Flourish, so I did it just twice a week. One of my tanks actually had a DIY CO2 disaster where my bottle tipped over and my diffusor filled up with beer water and needless to say, no CO2 in the tank for a while. 
The "beered" tank (tank 1) has primarily ... I think hair algae? (Not sure; can someone ID this algae for me?)








It's also generally cloudy; it became like that after I did a water change yesterday (which I did because I was alarmed that some of my DIY CO2 beer water got into the tank).









Tank 2 (my 10 gallon) is filled with GSA, BBA, thread algae, hair algae, and who knows what else; but I see some hope cause my plants show new green growth (that's _not_ yet tainted with algae).















This just has two 20 watt energy saver bulbs in the ballast, which are pretty inefficient, so I'm pretty sure less than 40 watts actually get into the tank.

Tank 3 (29 gallon) has a little of GSA and BBA but not much else ... yet. It's because I don't have a bottle for DIY CO2 yet so I haven't turned the light on much. I do have a 2 x 65 watt light on legs on this tank, but for now, I took out one light so it's only 65 watts. I only have it on for maybe... 5 hrs?This tank is definitely the least hit of the algae train, and I say I can easily restore the tank with two DIY CO2 bottles and ferts.

Yea, talk about disaster on a stick. Never again am I going to wait on ferts. And as a newb, I definitely need to do more learning.

Anyways, my questions boil down to: 
Do you think I can still save my plants? How can I best save my tanks from the algae plague?


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## LSD25 (Apr 15, 2007)

Im sure, here are more experienced guys than me. 

I would say, you should combine three things:
- keep your DIY CO2
- add fertiliser with Iron
- use Floruish Excel every day or every second day

You can take the plants you have, but to keep the algea under control, you should consider buying a few more, which are actually using the fertilisers. 

I would also start to not over- or underuse any of the fertilisers.

Cheers!


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

You definitely need more plant mass in the tank.


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## Haeun (Oct 19, 2006)

Well, the 5 gallon hex was torn down a few hours ago because it turns out that the DIY CO2 water had actually somehow gotten INTO the tank. It killed two of my CRS. :-| :-| :-|   
I'm going to start it over in a 3 gallon nano. Hopefully, I'm going to get things RIGHT this time.
I will try to start out with more plant mass this time.

My 10 gallon is actually starting to work out. The BBA is still there, but I'm starting the Excel treatment. All the other plants have sprouted *VERY* healthy and excellent growth, so I may just trim the algae-ed parts off soon. Overall, the algae is starting to recede, simply from the Flourish and the Excel I've been putting in. Hopefully the ferts will really take care of that.








(Please ignore the cup with leftover plants and the leaf piece at the right.  "Work in Progress.")

My 29 gallon, I've been too scared to turn on the light for more than 2-4 hrs a day, but I think I will start to once I get my ferts tomorrow (well, I hope they come tomorrow anyways). But for now, it doesn't look bad. Hope the glosso starts growing in soon.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

Lovely wood you have in that 29 gallon! I like your nano too! Both show a lot of promise!


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## Haeun (Oct 19, 2006)

Thanks. The first one is actually a 10 gallon, not a nano. 
My nano will be put together over the next week or two, as I get some substrate from other SCAPE members. I also need to decide what filter to get.

Anyways, back to the topic, the algae in the 10 gallon... It's on the "old" parts of the plants... Should I let the algae die off on its own, or should I just cut those parts off (PITA)? Or I could also dip them in 1:19 - bleach:water solution. Recommendations?


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## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

Diana,
Depending on where it is on the plant, trimming might be the right idea. Otherwise, you can try spot treatment of H2O2.

If I come over tomorrow or Thursday, we can talk with the tank in front of us


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## Haeun (Oct 19, 2006)

WOOHOO, live expert consultation! Heheh. I feel lucky.

I've been trying ODing Excel, and I'm not sure if it's working. I tried to clean up some of the algae by just cutting off the REALLY BADLY algaed portions. The new growth looks nice, but the old algae looks ... YUCK.


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