Reply With QuoteYour tank exposed to sunlight? I suppose so as you state that you place it in your balcony. If that's the case, I guess your algae better will be an uphill task.
Hi guys,
I've setup a 3ft planted aquarium, 50% plants, ADA Amazonia substrate, Half sand.
I place it in my balcony, T5 light not on. CO2 one BPS.
A week old. Green Hair algae blooming after 4 days...
Tried an algae products which claimed to melt it away upon 4 ~ 7 days of treatment. I dose 80ml daily for four days, but it seems that the algae continues to grow.. longer and thicker..
Some of my plants indeed was killed by the dosage..
Anyone has a better advise?
Your tank exposed to sunlight? I suppose so as you state that you place it in your balcony. If that's the case, I guess your algae better will be an uphill task.
Yeah, ADA Amazonia soil + sunlight usually equals algae problems, mainly due to unstable parameters/nutrient spikes during the initial cycling period and uncontrollable light conditions (sunlight is way stronger than any of our aquarium lights).
Try shading the tank away from sunlight (use shade cloth, can buy from gardening shops) and use your T5 lights instead, getting a consistent stable lighting environment going would help.
Do more water changes to flush out the excess nutrients, and crank up the Co2 injection higher to boost plant growth.
Once the tank is cycled, introduce an army of cheap cherry or malayan shrimps (50-100 pcs) or a squad of amano shrimps (10-20 pcs) and let them help consume the algae. You can also try dosing AlgExit to further inhibit and weaken the algae so that the shrimps can clear it faster.
When I started my planted tanks about a year ago I had all kinds of algae issue. I did lots of research and tried all methods like putting in algae eaters, controlling CO2, lighting,... sharing below for personally tested methods -
1. Regular water change (when doing this, get hose to suck up the fish wastes from the top soil. It is these wastes that most algae thrive on)
2. Lighting timing (I started setting my lights on a 4 hour per day cycle. Now I am on a twice 4 hourly cycle - ie turn on 4 hours, off 4 hours, turn on again for another 4 hours)
3. Limit the nutrients that the algae is getting. As long as the plants in your tank can get to the nutrients and light faster, they will out compete the algae and the algae will fight a losing battle. This including feeding your fish less (only once a day and remove any unfinished food after).
4. Algae eaters (ottos, SAE, shrimps, black mollies, etc) However we should all know that these do not work magic. They eat up only very little and you cant really expect them to win the war against any algae bloom. If you wish to know what eat what type of algae, just google it.
Imagine the satisfaction I got - for weeks my tank has all kinds of algae - green spots on glass, green patches on grass, hair algae, blue green algae (we know this is bacteria and ya I had them), string algae, staghorns, etc etc. Was pulling out my hair. Then one fine day when I returned home from work, there are big parts of the glass that had no more algae - like clear and no more algae. The next day all no more. Then after a few days, no more string or whatsoever algae. Just wonderful.
For the Blue Green Algae, these are usually introduced due to uncleaned materials in the tank/foreign object (like I took sand from the beach and put it into the aquarium). Immediately remove as soon as you see small patches. It took me quite a few days to keep removing them until no more.
When setting up new tanks, be patient. Give 3-4 weeks for the plants to thrive first and stabilise before introducing any fish and only very small quantities. This way the plants will consume the fish wastes (out compete) and not let the algae have any chance.
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