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Thread: Persistent Algae

  1. #1
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    Persistent Algae

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    Hello,

    I recently started a low-tech bare-bottom 50L tank with a few plants, some guppies, corys and shrimps. It's running on an external filter (Zoo Med 501) with a sponge, ceramic rings and Purigen, and receives light for 8 hours a day. I don't add anything to the water besides Prime.

    Recently I've discovered a huge unexplained green/brown algae growth and haven't been able to get rid of it despite daily 50% PWCs, reducing food and lighting (down to 4h) and scraping what I can off the tank. Today I discovered that on top of green/brown algae, there were some new black hair algae growing on the deco as well.

    I would like to know how I can get rid of these algae safely. I have considered medication or aquarium salt but I don't think the corys and plants can take it.

    Thanks in advance!

  2. #2
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    Re: Persistent Algae

    gsa is due to either low in co2 or low in phosphorus if I'm not wrong. while bga could mean that light there is too strong or a dead spot

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  3. #3
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    Re: Persistent Algae

    All this issues you have is mostly related to a lack of CO2. Use Excel if you intend to pursue a non injection of CO2.
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    Re: Persistent Algae

    I stopped dosing Excel and CO2 because I thought the excess not soaked up by my plants were causing the algae bloom. Would you guys suggest I restart the CO2?

    I've turned off my lights completely now. And also, the water stinks like rotten eggs (just 2 hours after a 90% water change). I don't have a test kit on me so I don't know what the values are.

    Thanks again!

  5. #5
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    Re: Persistent Algae

    Nope, Excel has been used by hobbyist around the world to eliminate certain kinds of algae. an overdose of Excel can knock off your live stock.

    Water stinks with rotten eggs smell is NOT A GOOD SIGN. Do you have rooted plants and stemmed plants stuffed into the substrate that are doing poorly and/or dying? Use a disposable chop stick and gently plunge it into the substrate at regular intervals especially near plants in question. If you see bubbles coming out of the water, smell it. If it the same rotten egg smell, Its Hydrogen Sulphide and that means the roots and/or plant below the substrate may be rotting, causing your substrate level to go anaerobic.


    If your substrate is clear, and if you have fern, moss or Nanas tied to wood or rock, take it out and give it a smell. If you smell Hydrogen Sulphide, remove it from the tank.

    Hydrogen Sulphide is extremely toxic to plants and fish alike. Let me know the outcome.
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  6. #6
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    Re: Persistent Algae

    Quote Originally Posted by David View Post
    Nope, Excel has been used by hobbyist around the world to eliminate certain kinds of algae. an overdose of Excel can knock off your live stock.

    Water stinks with rotten eggs smell is NOT A GOOD SIGN. Do you have rooted plants and stemmed plants stuffed into the substrate that are doing poorly and/or dying? Use a disposable chop stick and gently plunge it into the substrate at regular intervals especially near plants in question. If you see bubbles coming out of the water, smell it. If it the same rotten egg smell, Its Hydrogen Sulphide and that means the roots and/or plant below the substrate may be rotting, causing your substrate level to go anaerobic.


    If your substrate is clear, and if you have fern, moss or Nanas tied to wood or rock, take it out and give it a smell. If you smell Hydrogen Sulphide, remove it from the tank.

    Hydrogen Sulphide is extremely toxic to plants and fish alike. Let me know the outcome.
    I don't have any substrate in my tank - its a bare bottom tank. Anyways, I moved everything from that tank into another one with fresh water (my tank isn't really cycled so I don't mind restarting it) to get rid of the free floating algae as well as the ones stuck on the plastic (I don't have an algae scraper). I also took out my external filter aside and let it run on bleach to kill off the algae inside while I use a backup filter. Will buy some Excel for the remaining algae stuck on my plants and hope it doesn't kill my shrimps!

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    Re: Persistent Algae

    My apology. My mistake you did mentioned bare bottom tank. It is quite certain something is rotting producing Hydrogen Sulphide.

    What kind of planes is in your tank and how is the plants anchored down? What kind of shrimps is it?
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    Re: Persistent Algae

    PS: Could you check if your Prime has gone bad?
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    Re: Persistent Algae

    I have something that looks like a hygrophila tied on to wood, as well as anubias nanas tied to coconut shell and a moss ball (don't know java or marimo). The shrimps are just feeder shrimps ($1.50 for a bag of 30-50). I've checked and nothing is rotting. Nothing has died from the 100% water change so I think the Prime is still working, although it still smells as bad as when I got it. The bottle doesn't have an expiry date though.

    I'll try to get a photo up soon!

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    Re: Persistent Algae

    Is the water still smelling bad?...as in today?
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    Re: Persistent Algae

    hi inveritas ,

    Can use any hardcard to scape off alage, i am using a IDD calling card i found on the phone booth. Some folks use expired creditcards.
    You may want to check your filter for BGA or anything accumulating inside like old food stuck/ dead fish /dead shrimp, while at it you can "refresh" purigen.

    Not sure why you ran it in bleach, quite the extremist i normally rinse in lukewarm water then air-dry before any reuse.
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    Re: Persistent Algae

    Hi,
    I am a little confused..
    I understand that you have some algae issues.. then you moved the livestock to another tank, ran the filter on bleach.

    and then you have feeder shrimp in the tank. water smell like rotten eggs.

    so now, still have algae issue?

    water smell bad is not a good sign, if its pungent it could be ammonia. if the filter is not cycled, you might want to cycle it first before putting anything live in it.

    my 2 cents.
    I am balding but i am still young!

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    Re: Persistent Algae

    Quote Originally Posted by David View Post
    Is the water still smelling bad?...as in today?
    It's much better now, after I moved everything to a new / bigger tank on Sunday. There are some remaining algae that transferred over with the plants, so I got some Excel and am dosing it right now!

    Quote Originally Posted by felix_fx2 View Post
    hi inveritas ,

    Can use any hardcard to scape off alage, i am using a IDD calling card i found on the phone booth. Some folks use expired creditcards.
    You may want to check your filter for BGA or anything accumulating inside like old food stuck/ dead fish /dead shrimp, while at it you can "refresh" purigen.

    Not sure why you ran it in bleach, quite the extremist i normally rinse in lukewarm water then air-dry before any reuse.
    That's a great idea, wonder why I didn't think of it! I tried using boiling water to clean my filter but the algae revived, hence the bleach. I've just taken the bleach out and am letting the filter run through a few cycles of fresh tap water with 5x prime to flush out the chlorine before putting in new media.

    Thanks guys!

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1379416936.452022.jpg

  14. #14
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    Re: Persistent Algae

    Don't overdose on the Excel thingy. Search for the thread on spot treatment with Excel.
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  15. #15
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    Re: Persistent Algae

    The plant on the right does not look like a true aquatic plant?
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  16. #16
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    Re: Persistent Algae

    that's lucky bamboo, not aquatic plant

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