My experience with fighting algae

[raytan12]

Hi guys,
i've got algae problems in my tank few months back... now 95% has been cleared. this is what i've done...
my mini-riccia is infested with hair-like algae,covering them, choking them. i went to NA last month, Chan introduced me ADA's phyton-git and told me to give it a try and feedback to him. so far hasn't gone there so haven't give him feedback. initially the phyton-git helps but after a week the algae returns even on the glass of the tank and everywhere. tried for afew times but still not much improvement.
i went to try black water extract which i think may help so got tetra's brand. doesn't help much though and i remembered i've read about dennerle's TR7 that it contains alder fruit extract (which says for the prevention of algae) and i got a small bottle. when i return home, changed 70% of the water, added 3 times the dosage of Dennerle's TR7, increase the CO2 dosage abit and it's been a week now, and the algae is reduced tremendously.
must have SAE, pencilfish (seen them eating the algae on my riccia) yamato shrimps. i removed the rest of my fish (cardinals) temporarily. now i notice my glosso starts to be growing (did not notice growth past 1 month, 4-colour lotus growing and leaves are larger...
so far i've tried so many products, i still find Dennerle's the best. though it's expensive but it's worth the bucks.cos it's effective and helps. so since last friday i've seen tremendous change in the riccia, they bubbles like crazy now...just a sharing of my experience and see if it does help anyone else out there. (i put in TR7 every alternate day 2-3 times the dosage, now got the bigger bottle, more worth it for a good product)
good luck guys... hope it helps

[bclee]

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On 7/9/2003 12:31:49 AM

... when i return home, changed 70% of the water, added 3 times the dosage of Dennerle's TR7, increase the CO2 dosage abit and it's been a week now, and the algae is reduced tremendously.
must have SAE, pencilfish (seen them eating the algae on my riccia) yamato shrimps. i removed the rest of my fish (cardinals) temporarily. now i notice my glosso starts to be growing (did not notice growth past 1 month, 4-colour lotus growing and leaves are larger...
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I have used TR 7 but without any significant difference made. I am curious whether it was the increased CO2 or the reduced in bioload or the algae crew... that did the trick.

BC

[raytan12]

i suspect its every factor is important and is involved in order to eradicate algae.
1) reduced feeding
2) adequate lighting and duration
3) effective and correct medication and fertilization
4) algae eaters
5) water change
6) adequate co2
7) proper filtration- preferable external

think all these factors complement each other and has a part to play. i followed the above very closely... now i can say my mini riccia, growing well, lesser and lesser algae.
all these are experiments, we learn from each other and from mistakes we make. my blyxa japonica is growing tall now. has been stunted, honestly, for past 3 months, no growth.my hottonia also has algae in the past, now no algae and growing and growing...
if too much co2 your shrimps and fish will die so it's impossible to have alot of co2. i've used internal filtration at all. it's pretty troublesome cos in order to maintain good filtration and prevent algae. after switching to external, see the benefits.
everything is growing at last, has been stunted for months till don know what to do.

[raytan12]

bclee, i used hell lot of TR7, can you imagine how much i poured in last week a 50ml bottle and three-quarter's gone. i think i did the tr7 and saw great improvement. my glass of my tank always have hair algae growing nonstop even i scrap them away, 1 day later grow again, but since last week i scrapped, till now, no algae, i couldn't believe it myself. my tank is 45cm x 30cm x 25 cm. my PH is about 6.5-7, KH 4. lighting is 3x24W (alot, more than 3 or 4 W per gallon i supposed) all along this amount of lighting, now same and yet no algae, insignificant, can't see 1 strand with my naked eye. so i'm not sure too what really helped it. it's been a week since i did waterchange. before that i did water change 3 times a week yet still algae. this is the only 1 whole week no algae and plants are fast growing now. so i just want to share my experience. i'm not sure myself if it's good reliable method, anyway i tried and satisfied with it. if anyone want to try, it's one's decision so i don hold any responsibility here if anything happened to your tank, etc. cos i'm just relating exactly what i did and hope to help others if possible.

[PeterGwee]

Raytan, I believe it is the increase in CO2 that did the trick...Addition of the TR7 would make life more difficult for you as the skewing of pH or KH would not give you proper CO2 levels not to mention your pH test kit's poor range of pH measurement..(a range of 6.5-7 is too wide and precision is what you need for the pH/KH relationship in order to get the closest proper CO2 level). Stop wasting your money on the peat extract and get a pH test pen...regular and balance fertilization, large water change, addition of herbivores and most importantly addequate CO2 are the things that would help you.

[carlfsk]

Bro Peter Gwee, my 1ft cube tank was infested with the hair like algae too. All the leave of the saggs was with algae. Much of my hair glass turn brown and not to mention the water surface turn slimy. Wondered why?

Thus now the solution is to change large portion of the water about 50%. Subsequently, change 10% every alternate day. CO2 injection I could not control as it's a DIY CO2 bottle.

Questions, should I just leave the algae infested plants alone in the tank or should I get all of them out?

What do you suggest I do now?

BTW, I'm using 2x18w PL light, on from 0830hrs to 1730hrs per day. Liquid fert using aquaglow...inhabitants include 7 neon tetra and a SAE. My working yamato shrimp all died, turn red when dead.

Aiya, don't know how leh...

[sherchoo]

It's my opinion that the hair like algae was due to poor nutrient intake by your plants. With increase in CO2. TR7 does not help a great deal to your plants as it's actually blackwater extracts.
I believe if you stop dosing TR7, your algae will still kept at bay.

[PeterGwee]

Carlfsk, having 36W of light over a 7gallon tank is asking for it. [] You have much light without much CO2...that is going to cause you lots of problems especially algae. Measure your pH and KH to find the current available amount of CO2. If your CO2 is not between 20-30ppm during lights on period, you have too little CO2 and need to change your formulation of DIY CO2 abit to increase the output. Are you adding baking soda to buffer your water or at least some coral chips? Without much buffers in your water, large pH swing could stress your tank inhibitants with CO2 injection.

Your shrimps are dead...how old is your tank? New tanks experience the nitrogen cycle...that process is deadly especially with high ammonia and nitrite.


Try to remove as much algae manually as possible..adding yamatoes can help but they are dying in your tank? You would need to correct the problem of shrimp deaths before attempting to add them though.

Things you need to correct at the moment
1)Lower your lights to 18W would do.
2)Fine tune your CO2
3)Is your ammonia and nitrite high? New Tank?

After which, adding fertilizer would be easy...now, adding them is not going to help much till CO2 is fine tuned. []

[carlfsk]

ya boy, guess I've a fantasy for lights, hehe, but I've now change to a 18w. But pal, care to explain 'Measure your pH and KH to find the current available amount of CO2.'. With PH and KH, how can I know the amount of CO2 in the water? Is there some guage equipment to measure this?

I've yet to add baking soda. It's in my to do list now.

My shrimps are dead, it's a new tank barely 2 weeks. Must have got to do with the nitro cycyhle that have resulted in their eath maybe. but the tetra are doing well.

Btw, will nanas be one of the fast growing plants to add in? Inside the tank, I've some riccia bubbling well now.

My ammonia and nitrate test gives very low rating. thus it's under control.

Any other fert or chemical that I need to add? The fert I'm using now, I'm not very sure whether it's sufficient.

[PeterGwee]

Get a pH test kit( a test pen is always better due to precision) and KH test kit to the values. Then enter the values in the CO2 calculator on this site CO2 calculator site to find the CO2 value. Try to maintain at 20-30ppm using ONLY CO2 once the KH value is adjusted properly. Once that is set, you can start adding nutrients which I will touch on after you get your CO2 right. If you have the money, pressurised CO2 is always better...I know, its only a small tank but consistent CO2 supply is a must if you want to avoid problems. []

[carlfsk]

Alrite pal, thanks. Will definitely get back to you when I've got my KH tester. I've got the PH test pen. Thanks again.

[raytan12]

To certain extent i believe TR7 helps. it contains alder fruit extract which is said to prevent algae. in the past, i increase CO2 but still there's algae. so how to explain this. increase till my shrimps die. so much that my plants also don bubble at all. now every of my single plant bubbles like crazy. strings of tiny bubbles. even with increased CO2 in the past as i've tried... I don see my plants bubble. I'm not sure.
in the beginning, 1.5 years ago, i used dennerle CO30 only. did not diy CO2 at all. i have no problems with algae, until when the price of the CO2 bottle increase from 12 to about 18, i stopped using it and switch to JBL... start to have abit of algae. did DIY to save $, even more algae problems arise. I'm not sure, this is exactly what i experienced.Now i'm using Cylinder.maybe the biological cycle for different tank size differs. or is there any other reasons? before i use TR7, i increased CO2 yet can't notice growth... so decided to do something. i spent lots of money to buy fertilisers, cheaper brand. give me problems...but i don't find such problems when using Dennerle, not promoting for them, they are expensive but worth it.

[raytan12]

Ya,
another time when i don encounter algae at all. when my tank was sick for 2 months. cloudy all the way. plants can still grow but no bubbles seen when i just add freshwater with chlorine.

[carlfsk]

Bro Peter gwee, I've measured my PH as 6.8 and KH 5.0, thus the CO2 injection should be about 24ppm. Thus what's the next thing I need to lookout for?

Fert?

I've just add in some yamato, and now they're doing fine wor...but my hairgrass are turning brown...sigh

[PeterGwee]

Carlfsk, make sure you monitor the CO2 regularly and ensure it stays in the 20-30ppm range or else the following routine would not work that well.

You would need to get some chemicals first though...namely KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4, traces(you have already).

1)Prune off any algae and dead leaves and then do a large 50-70% water change.

2)Add slightly less than 1/8 tsp of KNO3 2X a week (After water change and
3 days later) or you can use a test kit to verify and dose accordingly..Cheap NO3 test kit are not that accurate though...

3)Add 1/8+ tsp of K2SO4 after water change only.

4)Add 0.5-1 ppm of PO4 using KH2PO4. (Use a PO4 test kit to judge as the uptake rate is amazing at times..especially when the plants are starved.)

5)Add traces 2X a week similar to the timing of KNO3 addition.

Repeat the whole thing for 3-4 weeks to see if there is any improvement. You might see increase algae growth but that is fine if you keep up with the maintenance work. Focus on plant growth rather than algae.