# Battling Algae



## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

My tank is now infested with green algae and BBA =/ My light is around 7hrs a day and I do 15% water change everyday.. seems that the algae is still growing like crazy on my moss balls and on the glass..

any other methods other than changing 15% water?


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## 5318008 (Dec 11, 2010)

There are other short term methods like SAE, nerite snails, etc but ultimately the only way is getting healthy growth from the plants and the algae will slowly die off. Can't seem to find the thread right now but there's a planted tank journal somewhere on this forum that is a good example of it.


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## missindifferent (Jun 25, 2010)

brapbrapboom said:


> My tank is now infested with green algae and BBA =/ My light is around 7hrs a day and I do 15% water change everyday.. seems that the algae is still growing like crazy on my moss balls and on the glass..
> 
> any other methods other than changing 15% water?


Do you have plants other than moss balls? 15%/day is pretty good...


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## chriscro (Dec 3, 2010)

what is your fert schedule?
you should also do a blackout of atleast 3-4 days...
during the period manually clean all plants walls substrate etc...

remove as much as you can over that period. when you begin your light period again use less then half your fertz that your doing now.

also 15% is good but what size is your tank?
and are you doing a details vacum? or just changeing water?
another thing to think about is your feeding schedule. limit feedings or switch to a less messy food


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

missindifferent said:


> Do you have plants other than moss balls? 15%/day is pretty good...


Yes, crypts wentii, valisneria nana, java ferns, java mosses


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

chriscro said:


> what is your fert schedule?
> you should also do a blackout of atleast 3-4 days...
> during the period manually clean all plants walls substrate etc...
> 
> ...


Mine is a 20g tank only.. I was dosing aqueon plant food once a week before but i stopped it a month ago. Feeding is done once a day and yes, i also do detail vacuuming... not to mention i remove green hair algae's manually but they keep on growing back =/


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## chriscro (Dec 3, 2010)

you could have a lighter than normal level of oxygen within the water.
this can result in hair algae and even bba.

what kinda of bulbs do you have?
maybe try some co2..

from experience co2 has brought algae under control big time on my 90gal tank. its was a complete 360 degree turn once i did a huge clean, hooked up the co2 and kept lighting at a minimum

give it a shot see what happens.


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## fishclubgirl (Mar 4, 2010)

You can always add more plants. They take away the nutrients for the algae. My tanks are jammed but I was thinking of selling my algae scraper!!!


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

As some people have mentioned, what kind of lighting do you have? What about CO2?


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

My lighting is Current USA Nova Extreme 2xT5HO. But im only using the Truelumen 10000K 24W T5HO. I used to do pressurized Co2 which had 1bp 3sec.

heres how the tank looks like and how are the plants doing now... =/


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## chriscro (Dec 3, 2010)

your tank doesn't look that bad.
but start a schedule to remove it...
limit lighting to around 3 hours a day starting with atleast a 3 day blackout.
during the blackout do a manual clean and remove as much as possible including entire leaves...

add a sae or two, maybe a couple ottos.. they really help.

switch you bulb as well to 67k 10k isn't the greatest..


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

thanks for the advice but isnt 67k much greater light than what im using now? 

also, on cutting the leaves do i just take out the whole leaves or cut it from the base of the plant?


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## dr3167 (Feb 18, 2011)

Nope, don,t worry about the colour spectrum (67 is what you need). You only need to worry about the wattage. You currently have 48 watts of t5ho which can be considered high light depending on the bulbs distance to the substrate. This guy named Hoppy over at plantedtank has a whole thread on this stuff.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

brapbrapboom said:


> thanks for the advice but isnt 67k much greater light than what im using now?


As mentioned, the colour temperature has nothing to do with light intensity. You do have quite a bit of light, depending on how far the bulb is away from your substrate. With T5HO lighting, you will usually have quite a bit more light than anticipated.



brapbrapboom said:


> also, on cutting the leaves do i just take out the whole leaves or cut it from the base of the plant?


Cut from the base of the plant.


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

I do have the stock lighting that came with the kit, should I just use that lighting instead? But The thing is i dont know if the bulb itself is the problem or something on the light strip since its emitting blurry and somewhat soft light. I will post up a pic once I do get home


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

brapbrapboom said:


> I do have the stock lighting that came with the kit, should I just use that lighting instead? But The thing is i dont know if the bulb itself is the problem or something on the light strip since its emitting blurry and somewhat soft light. I will post up a pic once I do get home


I am not sure what the stock lighting is. Also, I am not sure what you mean by "blurry" and "soft" light.


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

Darkblade48 said:


> I am not sure what the stock lighting is. Also, I am not sure what you mean by "blurry" and "soft" light.


Sorry for being misleading, I actually forgot how many watts it is but it came with those tetra aquarium kit. Ill upload pics later sorry bout that.


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

so this is the stock lighting that ive had before.. its F15 T8 / 18" natural daylight
but its not as intense as before and it doesnt cover the whole tank anymore. ive tried replacing the fuse before same thing happened, but i guess its the light, i bought one at walmart but the light was much weaker so i brought it back


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## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

brapbrapboom said:


> Yes, crypts wentii, valisneria nana, java ferns, java mosses


We have similar plants tho my setup is a 10gal std. When I had my BBA issues I did the hydrogen peroxide in a eye dropper and manually slowly squeezed the solution on the BBA. The BBA fizzed up and in about 1-2 days turned pink then off white so I knew it was dying. Your current tank image of the BBA isn't bad. I had it about 2-3 times as bad.

I've got 5 x zebra danios, 1 x otocat, 1 full size ramhorn snail, ~3-5 small ~5mm ramhorn babies, 5 amano shrimp (these guys nom nom like mad on the algae and any that died), and about 7 RCS. I run 2 x 23W so my bioload isn't too high.

I have j.moss, flame moss, riccia, j.fern, j. fern windov, cryto wendtii, and hydrophilla something.

I found after I went the Excel route most of the minor BBA died off by itself. My water changing is ~20-40%/week. Excel works if you 2x/3x first dose for a few days then slowly reduce your dosage down over a span of a couple weeks. I see you used co2. Anyways, excel worked for me so just sharing that. I dose now at 5mL/week (at water change time).


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## brapbrapboom (Sep 2, 2009)

Thanks for the tips and info guys!

Today i bought 3 SAE and theyre already munching on the algae's! nomnomnom they go! Lol! I love them already xD


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