# Algae issues - looking for identification and help



## futurezach (Jun 11, 2012)

In May I moved to a new apartment with lots of light. My tank is now being exposed to lots of ambient light during the day, in spite of my blinds/drapes being closed. This caused green dust algae to take off. This week, in an effort to control the amount of light my aquarium received, I made a sheath for it out of blackout drape material. During the day I keep the sheath on and when the lights for the aquarium turn on I take it off.

Currently I have my lights on from about 5pm until 11pm. I am still getting green dust algae and I have been getting a new algae growing on my substrate, plants and mopani wood. I can't seem to figure it out where this algae is coming from.

I've read the getting algae is mostly caused by an imbalance of light, CO2 and nutrients. 

These elements are as follows:

Light: 6-6.5 hours
CO2: I think around 40ppm. My PH tests are very hard to read so i'm not exactly sure. 
Nutrients - I dose PPS pro daily. I was using EI but didn't like the frequent water changes (neither did my shrimp). I changed to PPS pro last week.

First, what is this algae? I've noticed green hair algae (or at least what I think it is) growing in other parts of the tank. 
Second, what do I need to do to eliminate it? Since I am controlling my light and ferts pretty rigorously I am assuming its a CO2 deficit or surplus, what do you think it is?


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## kyle (Oct 9, 2006)

I think you are on the right track about imbalance of Co2 and light causing the algae.

There are a few things you can try to get rid of the algae but the underlying cause is still likely the lighting and C02 problem. So this may be a temporary fix

Some people use Excel, or hydrogen peroxide to get rid of that type green dust algae. But be careful with shrimp and sensative fish. You can take plants out and bath them in a bucket do the treatment then let them sit in Tap water to rinse chemicals off. Give you a chance to clean the Aquarium and substrate 

Some things that you can also try is more flow in the tank. The theory that if you have more surface agitation without splashing you can increase Co2 in the aquarium water something I have been reading up on.

Also are you still doing water changes? Even in planted tanks water changes should be done (weekly recommended) especially if you have fish. Not just top-offs. This is a a pitfall I fall into sometimes.

What type of lights and how many watts? 
What size tank? 
Are the bulbs old or new?.
Are you hanging the light above the tank or does it sit on top?
How long has the Tank been running?
When last filter cleaned?
You can try some faster growing plants. Stem plants or floating plants to suck up more nutrients
These are some of the things you may need to experiment until you get it right

The new algae looks like green hair algae tough to say. I found the best thing to kill that is Algaefix but they dont sell that in Canada


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## futurezach (Jun 11, 2012)

kyle said:


> I think you are on the right track about imbalance of Co2 and light causing the algae.
> 
> There are a few things you can try to get rid of the algae but the underlying cause is still likely the lighting and C02 problem. So this may be a temporary fix
> 
> Some people use Excel, or hydrogen peroxide to get rid of that type green dust algae. But be careful with shrimp and sensative fish. You can take plants out and bath them in a bucket do the treatment then let them sit in Tap water to rinse chemicals off. Give you a chance to clean the Aquarium and substrate


I have tried Excel to get rid of the GDA, I ended up killing everything in my tank by overdosing. It has since all returned. Additionally, I have also tried cleaning my plants/substrate. The algae always returns.



kyle said:


> Some things that you can also try is more flow in the tank. The theory that if you have more surface agitation without splashing you can increase Co2 in the aquarium water something I have been reading up on.


Adding more surface agitation will increase oxygen, not carbon dioxide. If anything agitating the surface more will lower carbon dioxide as it will be able to more readily escape the tank.



kyle said:


> Also are you still doing water changes? Even in planted tanks water changes should be done (weekly recommended) especially if you have fish. Not just top-offs. This is a a pitfall I fall into sometimes.


Yes, I am, about 30% each week. I don't want to overdo it as when I killed everything in the tank it triggered a mini-cycle. I want to eliminate ammonia so I don't want to do too many water changes.



kyle said:


> What type of lights and how many watts?
> What size tank?
> Are the bulbs old or new?.
> Are you hanging the light above the tank or does it sit on top?
> ...


I have 4 bulbs, T5HO, 24W each. 2X6500k, 2x5000k
29G tank
3 bulbs are about 7 months old, one is very new. When you posed this question I looked up whether old bulbs would trigger algae growth... it appears it would.
The lights are on a bracket attached to the tank.
The tank has been running since may but when recently (September) triggered a mass die-off with overdosing excel so it appears it is still cycling.
Filter was cleaned about a week ago. 
I don't want to add stem plants until I get the algae under control.



kyle said:


> The new algae looks like green hair algae tough to say. I found the best thing to kill that is Algaefix but they dont sell that in Canada


I don't want to add chemicals to fix the algae, I just want to get the balance correct.

Is it possible that my CO2 isn't working effectively because my diffuser sucks? I notice the bubbles are probably bigger than they should be? Would that limit how much CO2 is absorbed? Would that trigger algae growth?

I think I am going to buy new bulbs but can't really afford to do it all at once. I will do one each week and see whether that helps at all.. any other suggestions?


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## kyle (Oct 9, 2006)

Hi well there is alot of debate and talk on the internet about surface agitation. And I am just reading up on it. I have several tanks set up and dont really like changing things if they arent broken. I have a tank right now just starting out so I have diatoms and some hair algae and have been experimenting and doing research.

That being said I have been in the same boat as you regarding lack of surface agitation or wet/dry filters. In fact I have put my spray bar about an inch from the substrate level far away from the surface tryiung to keep my co2 in the water.

Most if not all Amano's tanks use wet/dry filters so this would be adding o2 into the tanks water. Remember your filter does need o2 to do its job, fish and to some extend plants need it as well.

There are some people even add pure oxygen to their planted tanks as well as Co2.

After I do a fairly large water change it seems like my plants are the healthiest. Whether it is false pearling, clearer water, exhausted water being replaced or whatever they look like they are doing better.

There are few bodies of water with little to no surface agitation and they tend to look like algae infested ponds stagnant.



I know you dont want to add plants until this is taken care of but it is a great way to keep excess ferts and nutrients down and let them compete with the algae for food hopefully starving the algae for food. Floating plants can do this as well.

I have never used 4 x t5ho lights on a 30 gallon tank. The most I have used is 2 x t5ho on a 40 Gallon Breeder and I am able to grow medium-difficult plants on this one so your lighting I think would be on the higher amount. You may have to raise your lighting higher or reduce the number of bulbs being used. Especially if you dont have the plants to use the light or the Co2 to meet the demands of the plants.


Yes it could be your Co2 problem. The diffuser should give off a fine mist not large bubbles that escape into the tank and released at the surface instead of mixixing with the water

Some diffusers you can clean using bleach but be careful not to add back into your tank until the bleach is gone..

Have you tried a co2 drop checker to see if the Co2 levels are in the range you are looking for?.

Also if you dont want to go the chemical route try a blackout period. cover the tank for a week if nothings growing in there anyway?

Just some ideas


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## futurezach (Jun 11, 2012)

kyle said:


> That being said I have been in the same boat as you regarding lack of surface agitation or wet/dry filters. In fact I have put my spray bar about an inch from the substrate level far away from the surface tryiung to keep my co2 in the water.


If you look at the attached picture, I have adequate surface agitation. I was just playing devils advocate based on what i've read about CO2 evaporation with surface agitation.

I have purchased an inline diffuser, I think that will solve the problem of the bubbles being too large.



kyle said:


> I know you dont want to add plants until this is taken care of but it is a great way to keep excess ferts and nutrients down and let them compete with the algae for food hopefully starving the algae for food. Floating plants can do this as well.


What about the plants I have in the tank already (see attached)... I would imagine that the tank is heavily planted enough to absorb any nutrients in the water...



kyle said:


> I have never used 4 x t5ho lights on a 30 gallon tank. The most I have used is 2 x t5ho on a 40 Gallon Breeder and I am able to grow medium-difficult plants on this one so your lighting I think would be on the higher amount. You may have to raise your lighting higher or reduce the number of bulbs being used. Especially if you dont have the plants to use the light or the Co2 to meet the demands of the plants.


I can't really do that.. Ideally having 3 bulbs would be perfect but these are 2-bulb fixtures that don't operate unless I have both bulbs in. 2 bulbs is too few to obtain the carpeting of HC that I wanted..



kyle said:


> Some diffusers you can clean using bleach but be careful not to add back into your tank until the bleach is gone..


I will try cleaning the diffuser I have currently until the inline diffuser arrives, maybe that will help. I have had a drop checker in the past but always found it very finnicky... I would rather just check PH and KH and calculate CO2 level. I will check my current levels and readjust tonight.



kyle said:


> Also if you dont want to go the chemical route try a blackout period. cover the tank for a week if nothings growing in there anyway?


Won't my plants suffer during a blackout period? not sure if that will accomplish anything..

Thanks for your feedback! What do you think about the old bulbs? Do you think that will cause algae?


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## kyle (Oct 9, 2006)

Well the tank does have plants in it but they look like slow growing plants and with algae they will grow even slower and use less nutrients. With the floating plants you achieve less light getting to the bottom of the tank and if they are fast growers will use up more nutrients. Then later on if you dont want them you can throw them out.

Some people will use a screen or egg crate on top of the aquarium to reduce the amount of light into the aquarium

I usually go the chemical route and adust co2/light at the same time I have never tried to just do the co2/light adjustment on its own and out-compete the algae.

I didnt realize you had alot of plants in there nice ones too so a blackout may not be benficial and HC may die off with chemicals.

What about algae eaters instead of chemicals like oto cats that wouldn't interfere with the shrimp? Yet kill off some of that algae.

The old bulbs can contribute to the algae but it really depends on how old and who made them Most people change T5HO about 9months. There are better bulbs like Giesemann that don't degrade (lose PAR) as quickly and you may be able to use them longer. It is easier to tell if you have an established tank and can see the negative changes in the tank as an indicator to change them. Because your tank hasnt really been up and running for that long its hard to tell if its because of the bulbs.

I would focus on the diffuser and try to reduce amount of light with floaters or egg crate / screen and add a few otos.


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## futurezach (Jun 11, 2012)

My old bulbs (7 months) are giesemann. 

What kind of algae does it look like to you? Green spot algae? I do see some green hair algae as well but there is less of that. 

I will look into getting floatin plants and see how it goes for now. I will also install the inline diffuser when I get it.


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

How are you determine that you co2 is at 40ppm? I hope your not using the kh/pH chart. Your substrate looks like soil, either fluval or something else that lowers pH and kh which would make the co2 chart useless to you.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4


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## futurezach (Jun 11, 2012)

Oh, I didn't realize that. It's ADA Amazonia. How do you effectively measure it then?


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

You need a drop checker with a 4dkh solution. I don't know how big your tank is and how you diffuse it but let me give you a point of reference on my 5.5 gallon with a hob filter that makes a lot of waves, using a regular glass diffuser. Im doing 3bs and I get barely get lime green on my drop checker which brings it to around 30ppm. PM me if you need drop checker and 4dkh solution.


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## futurezach (Jun 11, 2012)

coldmantis said:


> You need a drop checker with a 4dkh solution. I don't know how big your tank is and how you diffuse it but let me give you a point of reference on my 5.5 gallon with a hob filter that makes a lot of waves, using a regular glass diffuser. Im doing 3bs and I get barely get lime green on my drop checker which brings it to around 30ppm. PM me if you need drop checker and 4dkh solution.


I use a glass atomizer diffuser in a 29g tank. I pmd you about the drop checker/solution. Thanks for the advice


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