# What is this stuff growing on the glass?



## svtcontour (Mar 15, 2009)

Its not a good picture but it looks greyish and I cant scrape it off with anything because its a very thin layer. If I use 1000 grit wet/dry, sand paper, I can gently rub it off. It grows on other things but its always in this zebra pattern. It all started happening after I started adding some flourish fertlizer to get the plants growing. Then I started getting some algae and so I backed off on the fert. I'm still getting algae and now this.

None of the fish seem to show any signs of illness and their colours are great. Is it some kind of algae? It even on the filter tubes and everything now. If I scrape it off, its off for about 4-5 days and it slowly starts coming back. I do a 10% water change a week. Plants are not doing so well either I think my lighting is not strong enough.

Any suggestions welcome.


----------



## WiyRay (Jan 11, 2009)

wow what the hell is that? I've never seen that before... lol I'd like to see how this pans out... 
Bacteria or some kind of crazy mutant algae? That would be my guess.


----------



## svtcontour (Mar 15, 2009)

WiyRay said:


> wow what the hell is that? I've never seen that before... lol I'd like to see how this pans out...
> Bacteria or some kind of crazy mutant algae? That would be my guess.


Ya I have no idea. I'll see if I can get a better pictures....


----------



## svtcontour (Mar 15, 2009)

Went to get better pics but ended up with worse.
































































Ok so you'll see stuff on the glass. It cant be regular algae because its freaking tough to scrape off and I cant even feel it with my hand because its such a thin layer. There is much more closer to the top where the light is.

The plants have never done well. I do know that my clown loach are ripping them up so maybe thats why they look so ragged. Anyway I guess if they are eating then they are healthy....

The lighting is 4x 23W CF at around 6500K on some 10" pendant lights which are about 8"-10" above the water line. They get about 12 hours of light. At the moment the water level is low because I was doing a water change.

I have two filters on this 120 gallon tank, one Eheim 2217 and one Eheim 2260. I clean each one every 3 months but I stagger the cleanings.

I am way overstocked but when I measure the water parameters, they seem ok. No ammonia and only a little bit of nitrites or was that nitrates. Anyway close to zero. The PH is a bit on the low side at 6.5 but I've got a ton of drift wood in there too.

Fish
14x Congo tetra (full grown)
4x Dwarf rainbows
8x Black tetra
4x Otto cats
3x Whip tail cats
3x Bronze Corys
1x Firemouth
1x Betta
8x Clown loach (five large and three small)


----------



## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Is that below the waterline or above the waterline? I'm thinking possible if above the waterline that it is mineral/calcium build up.

Check Home Depot for 3M industrial strength green scrub pads. I've used them straight in my tanks with no problems and I've got otocats/z.danios/ramhorns/RCS but if you're cautious soak and rinse the pad a few times in hot water. Try using vinegar on the stain there and see if it'll release off the glass with that abrasive pad. 

Vinegar is good on mineral/calcium stains like that in my experience if that is a mineral/calcium stain. 

NB: Vinegar is a natural pH DOWN. So don't drop a bottle in for obvious reasons. Small amounts won't really change the pH given your volume of h2o. IIRC in my 5.5gal tank it was 1/4 cup of vinegar to drop 7.4pH tap to ~6.9-7.0pH from my experience/experiment so keep that in mind.


----------



## svtcontour (Mar 15, 2009)

AquaNeko said:


> Is that below the waterline or above the waterline? I'm thinking possible if above the waterline that it is mineral/calcium build up.


Thanks for the help...however that stuff is below the water line. In one of the pics you can see that the water level is low but thats only becuase I was doing a water change. You can see in my second set of pictures (first four of the pictures show it better) the stuff on the glass. I do also have some regular green algae but not much.


----------



## WiyRay (Jan 11, 2009)

Do you have any plecos/otos/nerites/etc in the tank?

I'm looking at http://www.guitarfish.org/2008/02 and I'm kind of thinking it looks as if it is something between green dust algae and brown algae. I've had algae grow on my glass before in a similar zebra-like pattern (green though) but I thought it had something to do with the water current blowing on it.

The ferts might have messed with it a bit. Try treating it like algae for now and try that intermittent light schedule thing. Where you turn the lights off for an hour every couple of hours during you lighting schedule hopefully screwing up the algae.

Of course, I'm still just guessing at it all and I'm sure someone will come along soon enough with actual knowledge regarding it.


----------



## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

I get that stuff. It's algae of some sort.


----------



## svtcontour (Mar 15, 2009)

Thanks guys. I'll cut back on the lighting a bit but in the meantime, I'm going to see if I can find out what kind of algae it is. Its like nothing else I've seen...but glad to see its not something totally alien as some of you have seen it too.


----------



## Rmwbrown (Jan 22, 2009)

If it is brown algae cutting back on the light won't do much - it thrives in low light conditions. What kind of plants do you have in there? Looks like a bunch of Swords, some Anubis and maybe Egeria densa? The swords are root feeders so you would be better off using Tropica Nutrient Capsules or something like that - that will keep the excess nutrients out of the water column and away from the algae. You may want to stop using the Flourish or cut the dosing in half for the time being and work your way up to a full dose until you have enough plants to start taking it up. 

I would clean the hell out of the tank and start doing some aggressive water changes - 10% is not enough even for an established planted tank. 
In the long run you may want to increase your lighting.


----------



## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

A couple of thoughts here. It is probably diatoms which are brownish but otherwise as you describe. Oto cats will eat it. 3m scrub pads will work but they will scratch glass. My preference is nylon pot scrubbers which are available at the dollar store usually in bags of six. 
You might want to rethink the types of plants you are keeping. Swords, in my experience need a nutrient rich substrate to do well, as well as a fair bit of light. You might try lowering your lights.
Keep in mind when considering time intervals for you filters, that whatever is in the filter must be considered still in the tank.


----------



## Rmwbrown (Jan 22, 2009)

BillD said:


> You might try lowering your lights.


I don't want to hijack this post so perhaps i should start another thread for this, but on a more general level, what is the rational behind lowering your lighting if you are dealing with an algae caused (in part) by low light? It seems counter intuitive to me, what am I missing?


----------



## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

Lower the lights to get them closer to the tank.


----------



## Rmwbrown (Jan 22, 2009)

Ahh ok. Thanks for the clarification. It seems whenever there is algae problem everyone immediately wants to lower/lessen the the photoperiod instead of addressing the water quality.


----------



## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

Will a razor blade work? I don't think I could ever use sandpaper on my tank glass...even if it's 1000 grit


----------



## Mr Fishies (Sep 21, 2007)

Your plants look like they are starving to me - a lot of weak looking leaves with holes in them unless your whiptail cats are damaging the leaves. You also have a lot of plant - if your test show no nitrates - your plants are probably starving. The algae on your Anubias looks like a sign you have no/low phosphates too. Too much nutrient can lead to algae, but not enough nutrient means your plants starve, leaves die, decay and the only thing than can survive in your depleted water is algae and/or root feeding plants.

You can go low tech to feed swords by freezing soil (unfertilized garden type, not potting soils) into little 1/2 ice cube size blocks and shoving it down to the glass under the middle of the root crown of your swords. Yes it can be messy if/when you uproot, but I'd rather risk stirring some top soil (mulm basically) I can see into my tank than fertilizer tabs I can't.

If that growth on the glass is diatoms, only time and water changes will help since (all the reading I have done to this point seems to support) diatoms subsist on silicates in the water, either from glass (arguable), from your gravel or possibly from your water source - are you on well water?

Top soil ice cubes and frequent large water changes are 2 pretty simple ways to start. If you combine water changes with scraping the glass you can, with a bit of work, hold the hose right near the scraper edge so you can suck the schmutz you scrape off the glass right out of the tank which is ideal. If they are diatoms, they feed on silicates to make their shells, so if you scrape diatoms off the glass and the diatoms stay in the tank the silicates stay in the tank.

Don't have a scraper - hardware stores sells the attached (or similar) for a buck or two. Yes yes...they are really sharp and the blades will rust, if you don't dry them off. They are handy for cutting plants, hose and replacement blades are super cheap. In 5-6 years (knocks on wooden head) I've not scratched my glass or hurt myself or any fish. I just can't cough up $20 for an aquarium scraper - when a $2 tool works just as well.

I don't really like pads of anything for scrubbing inside a tank, it's too easy to pick up a little piece of grit and scratch glass - that I _*have *_done.


----------



## svtcontour (Mar 15, 2009)

Thanks for the feedback. So do you think I should try the flurish ferts again (I suspected that as being a cause of the bloom)? I'm a little nervous about the garden soil thing because maybe there could be unwanted bacteria in there? I dont think my whiptail cats are doing the damage to the plants. I think its my school of clown loaches. They are around 4-5" long and I find them quite often nibbling on the plants.



Mr Fishies said:


> Your plants look like they are starving to me - a lot of weak looking leaves with holes in them unless your whiptail cats are damaging the leaves. You also have a lot of plant - if your test show no nitrates - your plants are probably starving. The algae on your Anubias looks like a sign you have no/low phosphates too. Too much nutrient can lead to algae, but not enough nutrient means your plants starve, leaves die, decay and the only thing than can survive in your depleted water is algae and/or root feeding plants.
> 
> You can go low tech to feed swords by freezing soil (unfertilized garden type, not potting soils) into little 1/2 ice cube size blocks and shoving it down to the glass under the middle of the root crown of your swords. Yes it can be messy if/when you uproot, but I'd rather risk stirring some top soil (mulm basically) I can see into my tank than fertilizer tabs I can't.
> 
> ...


----------



## Rmwbrown (Jan 22, 2009)

Did you ever post what plants you have in the tank? If, as it seems, you have mostly root feeders I would try using something like Tropica Plant Nutrition Capsules. You may also want to trim the dead and dying stuff off the swords. It will help stimulate new growth.


----------

