# Green fuzz algae



## galdadi (Mar 25, 2015)

Hi guys I have issues with green fuzz algae. I recently start dosing EI method and increase co2 injection. Plants are growing well but they all covered with green algae. Is the a nutrient problem or lightning? 
The tank is set up for 2 years already









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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

Too much light I think. Did you recently change the light too?
The easiest thing to do is cut off the affected leaves and let new leaves grow in.


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

i find its caused by low flow.


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## galdadi (Mar 25, 2015)

mistergreen said:


> Too much light I think. Did you recently change the light too?
> The easiest thing to do is cut off the affected leaves and let new leaves grow in.


Actually I had this problem once and it went away when I changed the lightning schedule to "siesta" schedule. No the lightning is stable for two months... I can't remove the leaves cause the algae is all over my tank. I checked my water parameters today, and the nitrate was 10 ppm ,phosphorus was above 1.8 ppm, kh was 5 and gh 7, pH 6.5.

Any thoughts?
What are the recommended ranges for kno3 and k2hpo4 in EI method?

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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

I guess the algae is taking advantage of extra nutrients the plants are not using.
The easiest way to kill back the algae is to do a week black out on the tank. Don't add CO2 or nutrients during this period of no lights and cover the tank from ambient light.

I think your nutrients are fine, just your lights are too strong. Raise the lights up a foot or 2 or have floating plants to block out some of the lights.


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## galdadi (Mar 25, 2015)

mistergreen said:


> I guess the algae is taking advantage of extra nutrients the plants are not using.
> The easiest way to kill back the algae is to do a week black out on the tank. Don't add CO2 or nutrients during this period of no lights and cover the tank from ambient light.
> 
> I think your nutrients are fine, just your lights are too strong. Raise the lights up a foot or 2 or have floating plants to block out some of the lights.


Thanks, I'll try to get some water lettuce to balance my tank. I have 300 litter (about 75 gal) tank and my lights are 4*54w t5 and one fugeray finnex planted plus 24", to add some light on the corner of the tank

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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

galdadi said:


> .......I have 300 litter (about 75 gal) tank and my lights are 4*54w t5 and one fugeray finnex planted plus 24", to add some light on the corner of the tank


You have a lot of light! I would expect that only 2 of the T5 lights would be enough to grow plants well, depending on how good the reflectors are and if your ballast is a good one. With that much light you have to do whatever is needed to keep all of your plants growing as fast and healthy as they can. Otherwise the unhealthy, slow growing plants just invite algae. Having a consistent level of CO2 in the water every photoperiod, with more than 30 ppm of CO2 is also critical. As is, avoiding any buildup of organic debris in the tank.


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## galdadi (Mar 25, 2015)

hoppycalif said:


> You have a lot of light! I would expect that only 2 of the T5 lights would be enough to grow plants well, depending on how good the reflectors are and if your ballast is a good one. With that much light you have to do whatever is needed to keep all of your plants growing as fast and healthy as they can. Otherwise the unhealthy, slow growing plants just invite algae. Having a consistent level of CO2 in the water every photoperiod, with more than 30 ppm of CO2 is also critical. As is, avoiding any buildup of organic debris in the tank.


Thanks, i'm a little bit confused... I have 300 litter tank (79 gal) and 4*54 w (220w together) of t5. I added the fugeray 24" cause I've been told that the t5 are not enough for high-tech tank ( I inject co2, my water pH is 6.5 and kh about 4 degrees which means my co2 is enough). 
My lights are 3 Osram lumilux 54w and 1 Sylvania full spectrum. 
I changed the light two months ago. Before I had 4 cheap 54w lights (I think panasonic).
You think I have too much light? 
Thanks again for your help

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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

The only way to be sure how much light you have is to use a PAR meter to measure it. But, I think you do have more light than you need, which will make it hard to keep algae under control. You can't determine how much CO2 is in the water by measuring the KH and pH of the water. That only works if the water has nothing in it that affects pH or KH except bicarbonates and CO2, and aquarium water is very unlikely to have that. You can get a good approximation of how much CO2 you have by taking a sample of your tank water, letting it sit out in the air for a day, then measuring it's pH. Now, measure the pH of the tank water after the CO2 has been on for most of the photoperiod. The drop in pH from the sample that "degassed" to the water in the tank should be around 1.0 if you have enough CO2. The ppm of CO2 in the tank will be about 3 times 10 raised to the drop in pH power. So, if the degassed water pH is 7.0, and the tank water pH is 6.2, you will have 3 times 10 to the 0.8 power, or about 20 ppm. That is an easy way to measure how much CO2 you have.


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## galdadi (Mar 25, 2015)

hoppycalif said:


> The only way to be sure how much light you have is to use a PAR meter to measure it. But, I think you do have more light than you need, which will make it hard to keep algae under control. You can't determine how much CO2 is in the water by measuring the KH and pH of the water. That only works if the water has nothing in it that affects pH or KH except bicarbonates and CO2, and aquarium water is very unlikely to have that. You can get a good approximation of how much CO2 you have by taking a sample of your tank water, letting it sit out in the air for a day, then measuring it's pH. Now, measure the pH of the tank water after the CO2 has been on for most of the photoperiod. The drop in pH from the sample that "degassed" to the water in the tank should be around 1.0 if you have enough CO2. The ppm of CO2 in the tank will be about 3 times 10 raised to the drop in pH power. So, if the degassed water pH is 7.0, and the tank water pH is 6.2, you will have 3 times 10 to the 0.8 power, or about 20 ppm. That is an easy way to measure how much CO2 you have.


Cool I'll try that. I have drop checker which shows light green (drop checker solution is 4dkh). 
Anyway I'll run the tank with lower light for two weeks and will see what's going on. Hope my delicate plant won't be offended (rotala marcandra for example).
Thought about dosing flourish Excell for this period also. 
I'll update this post thanks!

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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

A green drop checker is fine. It's basically a controlled pH/kH/CO2 indicator.
You don't need to do other tests.

The algae will still be there. You need to get rid of them first. I suggest a black out. It's a safer solution than overdosing Excel to kill algae although you can try if you want. Dose Excel the first recommended dose, then does 2x the daily dose.


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