# green algae on top of substrate



## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

I have this algae that keeps getting worse as time goes on. Its green and covering part of the surface. I am not worried about the algae on the dwarf hairgrass, just on top of the sand.

Tanks specs are:

90g
xp3 filtration
260w PC lighting 6700K
macro ferts on mon, wed, fri
CSM+B tues, thurs, sat
50% WC on sunday

There is a small window to the side of it that has direct light from outside, could this be causing the algae problem?


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## crispo069 (Mar 13, 2007)

do you have any snails in the tank??? do you actually move the sand around??? I also have sand in my tank but it is NEVER that smooth on the surface. I have some MTS that keep it moving. Whenever you do your water changes you should also move the sand around to avoid gas pockets that can build up over time. I also have some algae patches but they are not bad.


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## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

I dont want any snails in the tank. 

Is there anything that I can do to eliminate this all together besides sifting the sand?


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## LindaC (Nov 7, 2005)

Have you changed anything on your tank lately, amount of light, ferts, how long has your tank been running? I'm asking because I have green algae, looks very similar to yours, covering the subtrate of my 10 gallon tank but I recently switched over to PPS-Pro after dosing EI for over a year. 

I believe the leaner ferts are contributing to the algea in my tank, hopefully time will tell. Are you doing anything different?


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## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

I am cutting back 1/2 of my fertilizers cause I do not have enough plants. Maybe this is not a good idea. SHould I go back to full strength?

Heres an updated pic... one week later


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## aloha (Jun 2, 2005)

You have plenty of light and low plant mass. You need more plant mass to cover the open spaces. Until then i'd cut back the lights to 40-50%. What is your lightning period? Also I think the green algae starts to transform to bga algae.


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## cassiusclay (Feb 19, 2007)

my shrimp keep mine clean have you tried those guys?


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Yes, that looks like the beginning of BGA...


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## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

I had a case of BGA, whats the best way to rid of it? I was treating the tank with EM tabs


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## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

Since I do have sunlight hitting the tank, do you think that could be the cause of it? SInce the sun has shifted in the past few weeks, now the sun hits it, before it didnt. I really hope its only direct sunlight.

I have now covered the window with drapes.... praying thats the solution.


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## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

So I just used the fertilator and found out that for the KH2PO4 I was using grams instead of teaspoons. Would a phosphate level of 5.74 be high enough to cause the algae I have?


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## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

Anyone have anything they want to share? Am I right? I just want to rule this out.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

I wouldn't think that the PO4 is the culprit... it's towards the high end but I've never found high levels of PO4 to be problematic, *unless* something else is out of balance.

For me the first thing to check and double check when BGA makes an appearance is that there is sufficient NO3...


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## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

well I have been cutting back on my KNO3... should I go back to full strength


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

BGA can indicate too little NO3 in the water, and it does like light, so if direct sunlight hits the tank you can expect to see BGA there sooner than any other area of the tank. Your tank photos look like you have way too few plants in the tank, but without seeing a whole tank photo and knowing more about your lighting and fertilizing I'm not sure. Excess phosphate will not cause algae unless you have a lot more wrong that that.

Why don't you tell us your fertilizing routine, your lighting amount and duration, and let us see the whole tank?


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## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

I dont have a full shot of the tank right now, I will get one soon enough.

My tank is 90g, 260W PC lighting 6700K 1st set of lights on at 11am, off at 10pm. 2nd set of lights on at 12pm, off at 11pm.
filter is xp3
Fertilizing routine:

Mon, Wed, Fri: Macros (1.75 tsp KNO3 & 0.125 tsp KH2PO4) 
Tues, THurs, Sat: Micros and Iron (0.25 tsp CSM+B)
Sun: 50% water change

I picked up some Chemi Clean... should I try that or wait?


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Your fertilizing looks like it is short of phosphate and traces. I dose, for a 45 gallon tank, about 1/2 tsp KNO3 and about 3/16-1/4 tsp KH2PO4 every other day, with about 3/16-1/4 tsp CSM+B+extra iron on the other days. A shortage of phosphate can cause green spot algae to grow, and that might possibly be GSA on the substrate, but I doubt it. Doubling the phosphate won't hurt anything and might help. I'm still not clear on how heavily planted the tank is. But, with that much light and that long a lights-on period, you do need a lot of fertilizing. If you cut down the lighting period to 8 hours total until you figure out the fertilizing better that might help too.

Don't add anything like "chemi clean", whatever that is. Just do fertilizing.


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## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

According to the fertilator my dosing should be this.... or can anyone disagree?


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## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

I did a 3 day blackout and its all gone.


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## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

My mistake.. it came back.... I am dosing the above schedule. My CO2 diffuser broke so a new one is on order. Could CO2 affect this algae?


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

You have almost 3 watts per gallon plus sunlight. Unless your fertilizing routine is perfect, your CO2 concentration is always adequate and the same every day, and the water circulation is very good, you will keep getting algae. All you really need to do is reduce the amount of light and keep the lights on for only about 8-10 hours a day, maximum. Then you have a good chance of defeating the algae and preventing it from returning.


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## Yeaulman (Jun 23, 2005)

I have now set the light schedule to 9.5 hours a day, and have now since blocked the light coming from the window with blinds.

I have also added a power head a few weeks ago, and thats when I noticed the huge spread in the algae.

I am going to try adding another filter to see if I can get the flow a little more.

Any other advise on the fertilizing? I am thinking of getting a digital scale for precise measuring.


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