Algae on leaves

[TanVincent]

Hi,

Recently, I spotted an increase in green spotted type algae on the leaves of most of my broader leaves plants like Ludwigia repens and four coloured lotus.

Anyone can tell me what is the reason for the increased growth and the remedy to it.

Thanks

VIncent

[Simon]

care to give us more information on your tank and equipment?

[TanVincent]

okie,

tank size: 4 x 1.5 x 2
lighting : 6 x 36 PL
CO2 : ~2 bps
photo period : 10 hours with 2 hours break in the afternoon
filteration : 1200l/h canister filter with rainbar output.

Heavily planted with close to 100 fishes (mostly tetras).

As for the water chemistry test, I have yet to get the test kits so will not be able to give the info (will try to get some soon).

Sorry for the imcomplete info..

Cheers
Vincent

[bclee]

Vincent, do you add any fertiliser at all? How old is your tank?

BC

[vinz]

Remove 2 of the lights. You don't really need 2WPG for such a large tank.

What plants do you have? What fertilisers, and how much and often are you dosing?

[TanVincent]

As a standard newbie, I do have quite a number of different plants in there. Examples are rotala wallichis, rotala macandra, ludwigia SP, ludwigia repens, cambomba, eleocharis vivaparus, nuphar jarponica, echinodorus tennelles, echinodorus red flame, echinodorus rose, echonodorus ozelot, bacopa caroliana, bacopa sp, a whole range of lotuses and much more.....I just like variety....

i dose one capful of Fe twice a week, 1/2 tablespoon of MgSo4 once a week, 1/2 tablespoom of K2So4 once a week and flourish trace once a week.

For base fertilisers, I am using JBL aquabasis, crushed flourish tabs, and a mixture of old fertilizers.

I am using lapis gravel.

Fishes includes angelfish, red line torpedo, lampeyes, silvertips, cardinal tetras, SAEs, otocinculus, albino tetras and a mini puffer. A grand total of about a hundred fishes.

Water temperature ranges from 26.5 to 28 degree celsius.

Please advise.

Thanks
VIncent

[bclee]

Getting some test values will definitely help...

pH, KH, NO3, PO4, maybe GH

Few possibilities... (1) lack of CO2, (2) lack of a macronutrients.

BC

[TanVincent]

Speaking of test kits, are there any testkits that can test all the variables in one pack? It is kinda expensive to get all the test kits individually.

Cheers
Vincent

[stressed]

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On 11/7/2003 10:37:31 AM

Remove 2 of the lights. You don't really need 2WPG for such a large tank.
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Hi Vinz, how is it that larger tanks dont need to go for the general rule of thumb theory of 3WPG?

[bclee]

All-in-one kit are usually not reliable.

For a start, you can consider getting KH, pH and NO3. Can get NO2 if you want to monitor the N-cycle.

Kits I recommended:

pH - any low range pH kit (usually pH 5-7) that can read 0.2 interval is good. (wide range kits, pH 5-9, like Sera pH kit can only read 0.5 intervals)

Aquapharmiceutical KH/GH kit - an economical and pretty reliable 2-in-one KH/GH test kit.

Sera NO3 kit - I find Sera's NO3 kit have a good range coverage and easy to read chart.

BC

[TanVincent]

Thanks for the info!!

But I still need to know how to readicate the green algaes.

Cheers
Vincent

[PeterGwee]

Prune the leaves affected... Do a large water change..correct the CO2 levels and fertilize properly.

[elmike]

vinz

could you pls quality why a larger tank doesn't need 3 WPG. My impression is 2-3 WPG, esp for 2 ft tall tanks, unless you are keeping only low light plts.

mike

[vinz]

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On 11/7/2003 12:57:30 PM

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On 11/7/2003 10:37:31 AM

Remove 2 of the lights. You don't really need 2WPG for such a large tank.
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Hi Vinz, how is it that larger tanks dont need to go for the general rule of thumb theory of 3WPG?

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Opps should be 3WPG... typed wrongly. Have corrected my original post.

So far this is the experience of some of the large tank owners. Personally, my plants hardly seem affected when I reduced the lights on my 6 foot tank from 2.5WPG to 2WPG (by tank capacity, not actual water volume).

Maybe I can illustrate why. Say you have a typical 2 feet tank which is about 20 gallons. At 3WPG you need 60W... which for practicality, translates to 2x36W PL over the tank - more then 3WPG. Now consider a 2ft cube, 54 gallon tank. 165W is needed which is roughly 5x36W.

In the typical 2 ft tank, the plants have only 2x36W light above it. The 2ft cube tank has 5! From this you can see that the 3WPG guideline is not really "scalable".

Ppl will argue that there is a difference in height. I will not disagree, but I don't think you need 3 more PLs just to punch through the 8 or so inches height differences. Probably just one more would do. So the 2ft cube will have 108W which works out to just 2WPG.

[geoffrey]

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On 11/7/2003 11:22:10 AM

nuphar jarponica, echinodorus red flame, echinodorus rose, echonodorus ozelot, a whole range of lotuses and much more.....

i dose one capful of Fe twice a week, 1/2 tablespoon of MgSo4 once a week, 1/2 tablespoom of K2So4 once a week and flourish trace once a week.

For base fertilisers, I am using JBL aquabasis, crushed flourish tabs, and a mixture of old fertilizers.

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With all the big, high cc plants, other fast growers and no indication of dosing NO3 and PO4, chances are those macros are lacking. Why don't check if your tank needs NO3 and/or PO4.

[TanVincent]

Will do that. Are PO3 and NO4 available in LFS?

Cheers
Vincent

[sherchoo]

NO3 and PO4 are available in forms of KNO3 and KH2PO4. They can be purchased from Dr. Mallicks retail shops. Check our LFS list.

[TanVincent]

thanks Sherwin.

Cheers
vincent

[geoffrey]

Alternatively, you can use Seachem Nitrogen and Seachem Phosphorus.

[dx]

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[/quote]

Hi Vinz, how is it that larger tanks dont need to go for the general rule of thumb theory of 3WPG?

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[/quote]

Opps should be 3WPG... typed wrongly. Have corrected my original post.

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so other than general rule of 3 WPG, maybe we should understand that lumen or lux of the light and surface area also play a part.