# What is this and how can I rid of it once and for all??



## Aeropars (Apr 20, 2006)

Hi Guys,

Every since i've had a planted tank I've laways had this issue with old growth on plants. The growth doesnt have to be old and the plants only get a slight dusting but its enough to make it look horrible and not as clean as most of the other healthy tanks i've seen.

Can anyone tell me what it is and how to get rid? I thought i might have gone awa since i stripped down and started again but within days its back.

I'm about to start PPS dosing to try it out so for the week and a bit its been up and running i've not dosed anything. This will have happened anyway whether dosing or not going on past experience. Even with Co2 being well over 30ppm at the moment it still comes back which is really frustrating.

I use all tap water for changes and have a kh of about 9-10 and a gh of around 14-15.

Heres some pics:


















Please guys... help me before i go bauld


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

Hard to tell. I could be wrong, but it looks like green spot algae to me in the first pic, or diatoms in the second pic. How much light do you have, and how long do you run the lights every day?

I would think that you need to decrease the duration of the lighting and perhaps dose with phosphorus to get rid of the GSA; if it is brown algae (diatoms), a few ottos would help to clear that up.


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## Aeropars (Apr 20, 2006)

Its most definatly brown so i assume its diatoms. I do have a few otto's in there.. well, the previous setups yet it still persisted. I presume the only wat to stop diatoms would be to go down the RO water route?

I have 170 watts over 180 litres. I'm running for 9 hours at present and have no other algae issues but this one has persisted since i set up the tank.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

You have about 3.5 watts per gallon, which is high intensity. Unless you are doing everything just about perfectly algae will take over. You say you have 30 ppm of CO2. Is that from using a drop checker, with 4dKH distilled or DI water in the bulb? Do you fertilize so as to be sure you are never short of any nutrient? Do you keep the CO2 level the same every day, day after day? Do you maintain good water circulation in the tank? Do you try to keep the tank clean at all times? And, is the tank heavily planted with healthy, growing plants? If the answers are all yes, I am out of ideas!


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## Aeropars (Apr 20, 2006)

Yes the CO2 is measured with a drop checker with 4kh solution made from RO water. CO2 is maintained by a PH probe and computer. At this moment the CO2 is over 30ppm with no fert regeim for the first week until plants get settled. I've only been adding K in the same manner that ADA recommend with their 'step' series.

Previously I have been dosing EI but on this tank I'm going to try PPS pro. Water circulation is very good now as I have added an Eheim pro 2026 filter which really blasts the water around. Tank at the moment is spotless although it was pretty dirty before the stripdown.

The tank at present isnt heavily planted (you can see the tank in my journal) but previously it was although the problem still persisted.

I suspect it is down to silicates in my tap water but i dont have a test kit to be sure. Is there any way I can battle this without going down the RO route?


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Instead of using RO water in the drop checker, buy a gallon of distilled water from the grocery store and use that. RO water isn't necessarily free of all alkalinity causing ions. You need to be sure the water in the drop checker has nothing in it affecting alkalinity except carbonates. The best way to do this is to buy some certified 4 dKH water from:http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/sale-trade/42032-kh-standard-use-drop-checkers.html
Brown diatom algae will go away on its own if you give it enough time, so you can spend that time doing testing, experimenting, or just tolerate it for awhile.

ADA's fertilizing routine is something I have no experience with, so I have no comment on that.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Or, since you're in the UK, you can try http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk...


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