# slime algae problem



## ChrisP (Nov 29, 2005)

I had a really bad slime algae problem in my 180L so I totally stripped down the tank and started again. I binned all the substrate, washed the tank out and left the tank completly empty with the lights out for a few days.

I set the tank up again with fresh laterite and gravel, the only thing that is in there that was there before is the wood and this was scrubbed in hot water before it went back in until there were no traces of algae left.

So the tank has been set up for two weeks or so now and all the fish are back in as my external canister had been left running on another tank to keep it matured.

Within the firtst week I had a little diatoms which I was ok with as I exected that at first. Problem is that now the slime has started to return. Its not on the wood or on the glass its just starting to cover the gravel.

I am very lightly planted at the moment all thats in their is a few different crypts a bit of vallis and some moss.

My tap water contains no NO3 at all and I think this maybe what is causing the slime problem, when the slime set in before I stripped the tank down it was measuring 0mg/L. Now the tank has been setup again I am measuring 5mg/L.

I need your thoughts on this, is the low NO3 reading of 5mg/L what is causing the slime to return?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Chris... What is your wattage?... Do you inject C02?... What are your parameters on P04, KH & PH?... Do you dose ferts/which ones?

You have a inbalance in the tank causing the return of the slime algae. Once you get your tank balanced you will get rid of the algae. Answer the above questions so that we can help you better with finding the inbalance. 

One thing you can do is add more plants...You need to plant heavily in the beginning with a lot of fast growers, this will help soak up a lot of nutrients that the algae also feed on.

The nitrates at 5mg is a little low. It is recommended to keep N03 at 10ppm and P04 at 1ppm.

To rid your tank of it all at once all you need to use E-mycin or do a blackout, a complete tear down of the tank is not needed. But once you do this the tank needs to have a balance or the BGA will return. So work on getting the tank balanced first.


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## ChrisP (Nov 29, 2005)

trenac said:


> Chris... What is your wattage?... Do you inject C02?... What are your parameters on P04, KH & PH?... Do you dose ferts/which ones?
> 
> You have a inbalance in the tank causing the return of the slime algae. Once you get your tank balanced you will get rid of the algae. Answer the above questions so that we can help you better with finding the inbalance.
> 
> ...


To answer your questions:

*Lighting*: 60W (low I know)
*Tank Capacity*: 180L
*pH*: 7
*KH*: 2
*PO4*: No idea as I have no test kit, should I get one?
*Co2*: I have a pressurized system although I have it turned off at the moment as I did not see the point runnign it for the little plants I have left as I binned most of them when I restarted as most of them where covered with algae.
*Ferts*: I used to dose Tropica Mastergrow although since the algae set in I stopped dosing and have not dosed since I set the tank up again. However I do use API First layer Laterite in the substrate.

Which fast growers do you recommend that will do good in a low light environment? I understand some species of amazon sword do good?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I would float some Hornwort; it is a very fast grower and does great in low light. 

P04 test kits are very important test when keeping planted tanks. So I would suggest that you get one. 

You have around 1.3 wpg if you are using regular fluorescent bulbs. With this amount of light you do not need to inject C02. However I would add Seachem Excel for a carbon source. Also make sure you are keeping your lights on for only 10-12 hours daily.

When you stop ferts this can also cause algae, because the plants don't have the nutrients they need to grow to out compete the algae. I'm not sure what Mastergrow contains, but you need to dose a good micro & macro nutrient along with nitrates to get your N03 levels up.


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## ChrisP (Nov 29, 2005)

Yes I have my lights on for 10 hours a day and they are set on a timer to do this. I will try get hold of a PO4 test kit and get a reading.

I am in the process of upgrading my lighting, when I am done I should have around 3WPG with reflectors and yes they are standard T-8 flourecents. I hope this should help with plant growth and so on.

Thanks for the info and here is the contents of the tropica mastergrow that I have been using in the past.



> *Contents of Master Grow*
> 
> K 0.79%,
> Mg 0.39%,
> ...


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## Faruk Gençöz (Nov 4, 2005)

Chris,

Did this algea appear first when there was CO2 injection? 

I would suggest to open your CO2 up and monitor ph level that you can confirm you are injecting significant amount of CO2.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

CO2 is beneficial to plants even at lower light levels and I agree with fgencoz and I would turn it back on! This will help the plants grow faster and take up nutrients faster. I see lack of Macros as a problem since you only mention adding traces to your tank (TMG). There is no mention of adding nirates or phosphates, unless you have adequate amounts in your water supply. 

Even though you have relatively low light, the additon of CO2 will cause the plants to grow quite fast. How sure are you of your test kit results and have you calibrated your kit? I have read that some kits are not very accurate in their lower and higher ranges though I only have experience with Seachem and LaMotte kits.

I would manually remove as much of the "slime" as you can either by hand or by vaccuming the gravel. Turn off the filters while doing this so it does not get blown around the tank during removal. Do a large water change 50-75% and up your NO3 and PO4 levels. The usual recommendation is to keep NO3 in the 10-20 ppm range and PO4 in the 1-2ppm range. 

Can you provide us with a pic of your "Slime" algae? I think once your plants get growing well again , and you add some more of them, things will start to straighten out. 

Good plants to add would be the Hornwort that Trena mentioned, some Water Sprite, most, if not all Hygro species, and Anachris. Most of these type plants can be traded/sold back to the LFS once you get tired of them and decide to move on to other plants. Local fish clubs generally like them too since they are so easy to grow. 

Keep us updated and post a poic if you can.


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## ChrisP (Nov 29, 2005)

Right Ok, I will set the CO2 up again this weekend.

I'm pretty sure my test kit is fine, it seems to give me a wide range of readings anyway. When I had a bad problem with the algae it measured 0mg/L in the tank now it been setup again it has 5mg/L and one of my other tanks always has a steady reading from the kit of 10mg/L(this tank has very little maintnance and has been setup for years).

Yes I can grab a pic of the slime this weekend no problems, I will post it as soon as I get it. 

As always thats for the info and advice!


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## hir0 (Nov 11, 2005)

more kno3! 
i had some slime algae that a dead fish fixed practically overnight


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## ChrisP (Nov 29, 2005)

Ok guys finally got pictures of this sliem as they were requested. I should get my PO4 test kit in the post tomorrow so hopefully some readings for that very soon!

Pics:


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

That looks like BGA (Blue Green Algae) which is a cyanobacteria. Don't know if this is what you meant by slime algae...

Low levels of NO3 seem to encourage the growth of it. There are two ways to get rid of it:

- Erythromycin (antibiotic) treatment.
- 3 or 4 day *complete* blackout (tank covered, not just lights off).

Remember to make sure your Nitrate levels are above 0 mg/l (10-20 mg/l is best) or the BGA will just come back.


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## ChrisP (Nov 29, 2005)

Right, the 4 day blackout worked lovely all the algae was completly gone. Although a couple of week slater and I am seeing the BGA start to come back on the substrate.

I have a Nitrate reading of 5mg/L both from my water source and in the tank, I know this is low but I though as long as I had some Nitrates in there it would be fine and the algae would not return.

Does my Nitrate reading have to be over 10mg/L to keep the algae away? I purchased a PO4 test kit also and I have a reading of 0.5ppm in the tank, I believe a readin gof 0.5-1 is satisfactory. 

Apart from that I cant think of any other info I could supply. 

-Chris


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## fisherelli (Oct 22, 2005)

Hi, When My CO2 ran out before it took me 3 days to get a new one (will be ready next time!). After 2 days I could see the BGA coming back (used to have it before started ferts and CO2). Got the new CO2 running and the BGA was gone within 3 days.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

ChrisP said:


> ...
> 
> I have a Nitrate reading of 5mg/L both from my water source and in the tank, I know this is low but I though as long as I had some Nitrates in there it would be fine and the algae would not return.
> ...
> ...


No. The problem with trying to keep it at 5mg/l is twofold:

- Most hobby test kits have a +/- margin of error that is larger than 5mg/l. So you could be at 0mg/l and the test kit can show 5mg/l.

- 5mg/l is low enough that it is very easy to suddenly bottom out and have 0mg/l without being aware of it.

Both of these issue can be solved if you keep the NO3 above 10mg/l. I like to keep mine at between 20 and 30mg/l. Don't worry, these levels are not harmful to fish (or shrimp).

Get the Nitrates up as soon as you can... Otherwise you'll need to do another blackout.

Of course all of the above assumes that your lights and CO2 are well taken care of!


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## ChrisP (Nov 29, 2005)

Right thanks for that Laith, I shall order some Potassium Nitrate online now.


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