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I understand your frustration completely... they are hard to get rid
Hi Guys,
These algae keep coming back even though I remove them daily. Their growth is unbelievable.
I have stop adding fert(Seachem Excel and Comprehensive) 2 weeks ago and have change 100% water on the third week.This 4ft tank is slightly more than a month now. I have cleaned the filter in sponge twice within recent week.
I have one oto and 20 shrimps and nothing else. The livestock is very low and feeding is at most twice a week only.
These algae is getting into my nerve...help.
Pic of Algae
Another angle
The inlet sponge filter which I cleaned.
Thanks.
I understand your frustration completely... they are hard to get rid
More info would help. Fill up the template.
Regards,
Peter Gwee
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
Tank Dimensions:4ft x 1.5ft x 1.5ft
Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) :31Watts
Number and type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) :FL
Age of light bulbs :1 month
No. of hours your lights are on :4 hrs
CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : Non-CO2
Type of CO2 (DIY/Cylinder) : Non-CO2
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor) :Non-CO2
Liquid fertilisers Used: Seachem Excel and Comprehensive
Fertilization regime:
Other fertilisers : Ferka (root fert cannot remember name, use all 10 capsules)
Other additives: None
Type of Filter: Fuval 304 canister
When was the filter last washed : Yesterday
Filter media used : Bio-ring, Biohome, Glass ring.
When was the media last changed : All new media
What was changed :Nothing.
Age of setup : 1 month +
Water change frequency : 2 weeks ago
Amount changed :100%
Water surface movement (None/gentle/turbulent) : gentle
Circulation (None/gentle/turbulent) :gentle
Tank Temperature :25C
Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
-------------------------------------
KH (dKH): 0
GH (dGH):
pH :6~6.5
NH4 (ppm):Not measure
NO2 (ppm):0.5ppm
NO3 (ppm):0
PO4 (ppm):Not measure
Fe (ppm):Not measure
Bioload (Number and type of fish and plants) Mostly moss, DW and Ferns. One oto and 20 shrimp.
Thanks.
Something is not right about the amount of light. I have not seen a bulb rating of 31w at all out unless you total?
You need to pick a better method for a 4ft tank. Excel is going to cost you a bomb in the long run based on the dosing rate written on the product. I'll suggest you go non-CO2 (excel is not non-CO2 but a less potent CO2 enrichment method) or get yourself a CO2 gas tank. Think about it carefully and I'll suggest what you can do afterwards.
Stop washing your filter!!! You need to let the bacteria grow.
Regards,
Peter Gwee
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
Sigh, beginners all start 4 feet and they plant sparingly? Eh, guys starting up using the law of minilistic doesnt work.
Chiller,
You want plants in there to out compete the algae. Btw, excel isnt listed as a fert
Tom did indicate that excess nutrient doesnt cause algae but 1/20 of ammonium or urea causes algae. So yes, i have to agree with Peter, your tank isn't cycled plus you unfortunately also wash your filter and have about 20 shrimps in your tank... so sparingly planted tank + no BB + bioload= bloom
You plant too sparingly and worst still those plants you use are slow grower and slow nutrient uptake plants.
WaterH2O
<Fish are Friends, not food>
Noted, and will make all the necessary changes.
The light set is a single T8 bulb, Hitachi daylight, which I changed from the original pink aquarium blub. The tank is placed outside the house where it get full direct sunlight in the morning until 10am and after indirect sunlight all the way till late about 2pm. Initially I get very bad cloudy water on the 2nd week, therefore I changed 100% water, but it turn cloudy just the following day. It stay terribly cloudy until the beginning of the fourth week, suddenly the whole tank turned crystal clear. Then these algae starts appearing. Not inviting more algae I change the light setting to 4 hours starting from 2pm to 6pm. I only remove the water in the canister containing detritus. All the medias inside are untouched. I refilled the canister with tank water. The 4ft tank is a left over from my goldfish hobby and the tank is cool by a chiller.
Hope this helps.
That explains. the Sun is another cause for the algae. Then I cannot understand the rational of putting the tank under direct sun light which causes a higher water temp and then putting a chiller to chill it down. Sound uneconomical to me unless you really have serious space contraint in the house to put your tank. Be environmental friendly Bro.
<Fish are Friends, not food>
Yes, due the space constraint. Its rising sun, the lights comes in at an angle.
If possible add some oyama paper to your tank or just plain old newspaper will do, my nano tank sits quite close to the window as well, so i had to shield it.
stop doing 100% water change and start doing 50% or less ones. 100% water change is as good as resetting your filter and killing most of your BB even if you left your media alone.
You may want to continue adding ferts. Excess ferts are less likely to cause algae than a deficiency in a certain element. This is backed by a few articles around here, and also by my own personal experience.
Yup, however to becareful on the ferts you are dosing as well, products which contain ammonium or urea at 1/20th level will still cause algae.
Get more otos and shrimp, they love this algae.
I am facing this problem too... been doing manual removal a couple of times. Use a airtube as siphon and pull them out. You can also use a small scissors to cut them at their lowest point. It's going to be a long battle... but don't starve your other plants too. The key objective is to always keep your plants healthy no matter what.
Maybe you could try this, double the daily excel dosage required for a 4 ft. When dosing use a syringe and dose it where the algae is, do this section by section and you will probably see the thickest of the algae disappear. Then take the rest from there. Just a suggestion.
I had tried using excel but it never works. The algae is still there but my moss died. wonder why
excel killed the moss
Probably we are all looking for some wonder cure to rectifiy our algae problems instantly, like i posted in my thread with BGA, its a long process. Close to 4 weeks from my last dose of mycin, BGA is still apparent in my tank along the edges, however, i just followed the basic solution which is to provide enough nitrate/traces for my plants with co2+light and hope they outcompete them. So far i am having some success but not immediate eradication.
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