# Algae Problem!!



## game_killer (Dec 11, 2008)

Hello everyone its me again!

So i got this beautiful t-5 light fixture for my tank and a while after i started getting an algae bloom. ( 2 x 28 watt T5 bulbs) colormax and 6700K

Ive read about the blackout method and the hydrogen peroxide method in different threads here but alas i decided to ask to see if there is another, better way.

Here are some pictures of the algae:


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

It looks like you have a pretty bad case of BBA. 

How big is your tank? Do you have CO2? What about fertilization?

A blackout or hydrogen peroxide will treat the BBA, but is only a temporary solution. Ultimately, to eliminate it, you will (likely) have to maintain a good CO2 and nutrient balance (along with the light you already have) to prevent future algal breakouts.


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## game_killer (Dec 11, 2008)

my tank is a 55 gallon, and as for fertilization i use flourish seachem full plant supplament because i have plain gravels as substrate.
I already have 2 oto cats and a bristlenose pleco, but theyre not eating any algae at all, like none what so ever.
Should i get some siamese algae eaters?

btw, i do not have any CO2 source in the tank except the fish, and im pretty sure im not going to buy a CO2 tank.

Does planting more in the tank help the algae problem?

thanks for the reply


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## zenkeri (Jan 17, 2009)

I agree w/ sorting out your water condition first but it wouldn't hurt to have some siamese. I had rocks that were completely covered look kind of nice actually. It took six Siamese a few weeks and now its all gone all you see is traces of it. Oto cats and bushynose plecos does a great job on the green stuff. hope this helped. 120g w/ 2 175 metal halides about six hrs/day, 20 oto cats, 6 siamese and 2 bushy nose plecos, and a host of other community fish. ps oto cats are breeding in my tank no survivors found a few in the trickle filter, minature of the adults some as small as 2mm, they look amazing, sadly no patients to try to breed them. maybe some will survive on their own.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

On closer inspection, I think you have staghorn algae, not BBA. 

I'm assuming that Seachem's full plant supplement is a trace mix of some kind. With your relatively low lighting (1 WPG), I'd say you probably don't even need to worry about macros or CO2. I assume you're keeping up with regular water changes.

What levels are your nitrates and phosphates at?


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

It's alot harder to go fight off a tank without CO2 and your fert dosage have to be exact.
SAE will definatly help. But don't get too many as they grow pretty big really fast.

Looking at your photos, you have more than 1 kind of algae. The ones in your moss are thread algae and the other ones looks like it's stag horn algae. I hope it just one kind of stag horn.

First off, do %50 water change every week. This will reset any fert inbalance you have in your tank.
Second, do spot treatment on the stag horn alage with seachem excell or hydrogen peroxide. Make sure you don't have any shrimps in there. Shrimps and the above two don't exactly get along (depending on the types of shrimps ofcourse).
Spot treatment should be done daily for a week, so make sure don't overdose your tank.
I think you should see some results after a week.

As for the green hair algae, that is the easiest to fix. Use your hands and a nice tweezer. Don't need anything special. Just keep pulling them every 2 or 3 days for 2 weeks. If you do your ferts right, the moss should be able to repel the algae. Although I prefer to pull most of the moss out and leave a few strands to regrow taking care to pull any residual green hair algae.

Hope that helps.

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## game_killer (Dec 11, 2008)

thanks a lot for the replies guys  
im gonna go buy some SAEs and get my water parameters checked very soon.
So, ill keep you updated when im done doing that.


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## game_killer (Dec 11, 2008)

alright, got 4 SIEs and shortened the light cycles. ALGAE GONE!


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