# longstanding algae problem



## ir0n_ma1den (Apr 27, 2007)

So,

I have had my 29g tank setup for more than a year and have always had GDA, hair algae, and some kind of red/brown cyano-like algae.

I used to have 65w of PC light over the tank and still have had the same amount of algae that I have now with 130w of PC light.










stats:

29g tank
130w PC light (1x 10k, 1x 6700k)
Pressurized CO2
Eheim 2115
Maxijet 400

dosing: 
alternate starting sunday

MACRO
KNO3 3/8 tsp
KH2PO4 1/16 tsp
K2SO4 3/16 tsp
MgSO4 1 tsp

MICRO
CSM+B 3/16 tsp

I scrape at every water change, but it comes back every week. I just started to dose excel (dosed 15mL today).


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Are you overfeeding your fish? And what is your photoperiod? That's a HUGE amount of light for a tank that size. 

Another thing I noticed is you have alot of room for many more plants (or thicker groupings of what you have). Dosing EI with dry ferts is based on HEAVILY planted tanks. Yours is moderate, and you don't really have many fast stems (fast nutrient users) so you may just be overfeeding ferts.

-Dave


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## ir0n_ma1den (Apr 27, 2007)

I have both bulbs on for 10 hours straight.

I do have the option of controlling each bulb separately.


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## demen45 (Mar 6, 2009)

ir0n_ma1den said:


> I have both bulbs on for 10 hours straight.
> 
> I do have the option of controlling each bulb separately.


cut down your lighting hours to about 7 hrs a day. you don't have too many plants that require a lot of lights


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Remove all hair algae you can see with tweezers, toothbrush, wahatever. Do a 3 day blackout. Entire darkness - don't peak. Your fish will be fine. Whatever plants you loose will be gone anyway due to the hair algae. Once you have completed the blackout run only one of your bulbs. Squirt hydrogen peroxide on any areas where you see remaining hair algae. Turn filter off while you are squirting peroxide and leave it off for about 30 min. Do this EVERY day. If the hair algae doesn't look like it's dying repeat the blackout followed by the peroxide treatment. In order for the peroxide to kill the hair algae you have to knock it back first with a 3 day total blackout. It will also kill the cyano.

Amano shrimp will also help, since, if kept hungry, they will eat the algae.


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## trong (Aug 8, 2006)

do you use city water or R/O? my city water causes a brownish slime type algea which i believe to be a diatom algea.


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## ir0n_ma1den (Apr 27, 2007)

I just completed the 3 day blackout and the first of the peroxide treatments.

algae doesn't looked to phased, but my plants are stretched and a little weak.

I've cut the total light period down to 7 hours. 4 hours of 130w and then 3 hours of 65w.


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## playthecello (May 14, 2009)

Your tank caught my eye for two reasons. First, it's eerily similar to mine. I also have a 29 gallon, with 65 w of pc light and a general scum over everything. Rather, I did until yesterday, when I spent about 4 hours scrubbing and vacuuming all the blue-green algae off of the plants and out of the gravel. I hadn't realized it had spread from the gravel to coating the plants until I started removing leaf-shaped sheets of algae and noticed how much greener my plants were. (It's amazing what can sneak up on you when it moves slowly.) I can't really offer any help, but I can empathize, and I'll be watching how you handle it closely. (Actually, why not try PPS-pro instead of EI? I used it for about 6 months with a similarly set-up tank with excellent results. [Until I moved, and the BGA moved in with me.] Plants don't grow explosively fast, but they grow healthy and steady.)

Secondly, what the heck is that thing on your power head? Is it half a soda bottle with some floss in the neck to catch drifting pieces of gunk? If so, that is BRILLIANT, and why haven't I seen it done before?


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## ir0n_ma1den (Apr 27, 2007)

So over Christmas I was away from the tank for 7 days. That's 7 days with a 6 hour light schedule, 65w of PC, CO2 for 6 hours, and no dosing. I came back to find decent growth and a cleaner looking tank (less algae). So I'm thinking now that maybe my tank for some reason does not want:

• KNO3 7/16 teaspoon
• KH2PO4 1/32 teaspoon
• K2SO4 1/32 teaspoon
• MgSO4 1/3 teaspoon

Alternate three days:
• CSM+B 1/3 teaspoon


I'm just having trouble finding a good place to start.


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## Dantra (May 15, 2007)

I personally think its a CO2 issue. Bump up your CO2 as far as you can go right before it starts affecting your fish then leave it there. If you add too much CO2 to the point where you see your fish affected by it then back off just a tad and wait but continue to monitor the fauna. 

I would only use one bank of your lights 8 hours a day.

Now ferts, why are you dosing MgSO4? If you have soft water then just add GH Booster to your tank once a week only at water change. I would continue to dose everything else as per EI if that's what you were using. It may have been too much lights, non-limiting ferts, low CO2 that caused your outbreak. Ferts don't cause algae.

Lower your lights to using one bank, raise CO2 as far as you can get it without affecting fauna, non-limiting ferts will get you to your goal.

Once you get your algae under control can you use the other bank with only an hour midday burst for about a week or two and gradually increase the length of the noon burst if needed but only after a week or two. You may get away with never using the other light bank again but that's up to you and your goal.


Hope this helps,
Dan


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## geeks_15 (Dec 9, 2006)

Couple suggestions:

Be patient. When you make a change you shouldn't expect the algae to go away in days (unless you are removing by hand) it is more like weeks. And an aquarium imbalance can last through water changes and manual removal of algae. Make your adjustments, remove the algae, and look for signs that the algae isn't coming back as fast and eventually it will start regressing.

Texgal's algae removal technique is good, but the algae will be back if you don't address the cause that allowed it to grow in the first place.

Get some fast growing nutrient using plants and get a bunch of them. A big bunch of hygrophila difformis or hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) could make a big difference. Those stems are cheap too. Cram them in there, as much as you can get.

The other advice is good too. Put it all together. Decrease light, optimize CO2, add fast growing plants. 65 watts of PC light is plenty of light to grow most plants, so like Dan says you may not need the other light.


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## ir0n_ma1den (Apr 27, 2007)

Alright, 

so for 8 hours I'll have 65w of light on.

I'm dosing this:

• KNO3 7/16 teaspoon
• KH2PO4 1/32 teaspoon
• K2SO4 1/32 teaspoon

Alternate three days:
• CSM+B 1/3 teaspoon


We'll see what happens.

thanks


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## Dantra (May 15, 2007)

Things will remain the same if you don't allow the maximum amount of CO2 in the tank. Lights, CO2, Ferts all work hand in hand with each other. If ferts are non-limiting and you cut back on the lights but limit CO2 then you will be back to square one. Algae will remain. Also, do a 50% water change weekly, although doing a water change two times a week wouldn't hurt anything either.
Don't forget to adjust the CO2.

For dosing this may be better:
20-40 Gallon Aquariums 
+/- ¼ tsp KN03 3x a week
+/- 1/16 tsp KH2P04 3x a week
+/- 1/2 tsp GH booster once a week(water change only)
+/- 1/16 tsp (5ml) Trace Elements 3x a week
50% weekly water change

Looking forward to seeing the results in about 3 weeks.

Dan


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I didn't see where anyone asked if your tank got any direct sunlight at any time of the day. That will also keep this stuff hanging around.


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## Bunnie1978 (Sep 29, 2009)

I have a 29 heavily planted, 130w PCF. I also use EI dosing, but I do it everyday. I mix the whole weeks recipe for EI together and just put about 1/8 tsp in everyday, along with a little Flourish iron. I have 5 baby albino BN plecos in there, and a very small amount of algae that they take care of. CO2 is 1 bps.

My lights are on the whole day, 8am till about midnight. 
As soon as you get your ferts/CO2 balanced with your plants needs, then you can have quite a bit more light. Here is a photo of this tank I'm talking about.


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## ir0n_ma1den (Apr 27, 2007)

Alright so I'll be following the dosing guide that Dantra posted.

My CO2 is fed through a ceramic diffuser at about 3-4 bps which is then fed through a power head creating a fine mist.

The tank is right next to a window, but the window has a curtain and blinds that are constantly closed, not to mention we have been getting very little sun here.

And Bunnie your tank seems like an anomaly.

thanks everyone I'll get a current picture up


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## ir0n_ma1den (Apr 27, 2007)




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## Dantra (May 15, 2007)

ir0n_ma1den, I posted the dosing regime that I got from this thread, Estimative Index. Its a good read.

You are off to a good start. 
Clean everything up especially the filter, don't forget to clean the filter as well as your hoses if possible.
Just to repeat what was said previously:
Cut lights back to using only one bank and use the one bank only 8 hrs daily.
Up the CO2 a bit until you added all you can without hurting your fauna.
Non-limiting ferts, Estimative Index.
And it's okay to do two water changes a week. It won't hurt anything. Also when you do a water change clean the inside of the glass in your tank. At first it will take a lot of effort to stay on top of things but once you get the upper hand you will be very pleased with the results _(if you put the time in)_
Your tank looks good, just don't give up. In about two to three weeks you will be able to see a huge difference









Dan


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## ir0n_ma1den (Apr 27, 2007)

Hey everyone and Dantra,


It's been about 13 days since I've followed the suggested dosing guides and other advice.

Everything seems to be doing very well except for the damn glosso that doesn't feel like growing horizontal.

Anyways, I'll post new pictures up tonight.


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## MoonFish (Feb 12, 2006)

Glosso is rough unless you're perfect and then it grows so fast that it's a pain in the arse to deal with. Just ditch it and get something else. Are you scrubbing? I'd get a snail or two but that's just me.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Glad to hear you've gotten things balanced out. Remember now, if you want to turn up the light you have to turn up everything else, ferts, CO2, keep things clean, etc... Otherwise you'll end up with the same issues as before....


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## Dantra (May 15, 2007)

It really is great to hear that things are working out for you and balancing out. Looking forward to the pics.


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## James He (Aug 24, 2009)

I believe the 130W light is way over kill for 29G tank.
I used to have 96W (4x24W) T5HO 6500K and I cut if back to 48W (2 x 24W T5HO ), still see decent plant growth.

Other comment is replace 10K bulb. change it to warmer bulb like 3K, algae prefer blue end light vs red end light.

Try Seachem purigen, it works great.

James


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