Green spot algae found on glass!!

[Shaun-]

Any solution to this form of algae?

[|squee|]

It's pretty common. Scrape it off with a old plastic card, or use a scraper.

[Plantbrain]

Add some more CO2 and PO4.
That will generally take care of it.

PO4 limited tanks often have it or tanks with slightly lower than otimal CO2 or a combo of both.

This will take care of it on Anubias leaves as well.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[plantmania]

Scrap them off . If rampant, all over the glass and even on the leaves of plants, up the fert and co2 as mentioned by plantbrain.

[a_scape]

How to dose PO4 correctly ?
Is it also recommended for newly setup tank (let say 1 month old)?
Appreciate any feedback.
Thanks


AChen

[chua]

Hi Plantbrain,

for my case, do you think i dose slightly more PO4?

Exerytime, 5 days after i cleaned the tank, there is usually white, short, unnoticeable hair algae attached on the walls of my tank.

They seem harmless as they don't affect my plants and can be scraped off easily.

Say my CO2 is very sufficient, is my above conclusion correct.

If yes, i will have to drop down the dose for my PO4.

Anyone?

Thanks for the attention.

[Plantbrain]

Adding more PO4 will not hurt, it will generally drive more uptake of NO3, which may influence things some.

I don't get Green spot but use to a long time ago when the level of CO2 dropped, everyone else complained, but I had high PO4.

Many folks dose PO4 and watch the green spot go away.

I add 1ppm range of PO4 generally and it might fall to .5ppm or so and I'll dose again.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[chua]

Same here plantbrain.
No more green spot algae after i started dosing PO4, but have the above algae.
Althought the algae seem harmless, i hope to have a tank with no algae.

Anyone else has the same problem?

[Sleepy_lancs]

Hmm.. My problem is weird then.. When I have spoted algae, I dose more PO4 and get green water... NO3 can't be high since I only have countable livestock (2 fish in 4 ft tank lol Shrimps.. say about 30.). As a record, I dose 5 ppm of NO3 from KNO3 and 0.5 ppm of PO4 from KH2PO4. more than 3/4 tank planted. whenever I raised my PO4 from 0.5 ppm to 1ppm and get green water.

[PeterGwee]

[quote:e25b3e17da="Chua"]No more green spot algae after i started dosing PO4, but have the above algae.
Althought the algae seem harmless, i hope to have a tank with no algae.

Anyone else has the same problem?[/quote:e25b3e17da]

Hope the following quote by Tom Barr in APD would help you...

[quote:e25b3e17da="Tom Barr"]This algae is rather easy to get rid
of and does not bother plants.
It'll appeasr in high light nutrient rich tanks every so often but is not
hard to get rid of.
Before, right before you do the water change, clean off all the green dust
algae. Scrub after you remove the water, and rinse off the green algae into
the buckets.
If you have a micro filter or a fine mechanical filter, use it or a UV
right after water change. Try another water change in a day or two and
leave the filtration/UV going.

The algae is scraped off, then floats around and reattaches quickly then
grows a little. This freaks people out since it appears to be new growth
within about an hour.
They often leave it for a week and then wipe it off again. But unless it's
removed physically, it simply swims around and reattaches again.

It shows up from time to time but is not hard to get rid of if you clean it
all off good, remove it before it reattaches through filtration, water
changes etc.

Nutrients don't seem to play a large role, it went away after normal water
changes, dosing after about 8 weeks all on it's own.
Adding fish food and feeding more seemed to help.
Akinoscendemus is the genus. The zoospores are flagellated and can swinm
around and reattach in hours/minutes even.

But they can only do this a few times so if you attack them anmd remove
them, then go after them again the next day rather than waiting for them to
have a chance to re group and grow,, you will have an easier time of
getting rid of them for good. They seldom come back once you things going.

Generally harassing algae: Remove what's there, keep plant nutrient levels
good, check CO2 no matter what, manually remove it and attack it before it
has a chance to build up it's reserves and blooms again.Large water changes
can remove a lot of spores and leftovers after a pruning, scrubbing. You
can do the scrubbing first then right away do a large water change. Then
the next day repeat this.
This often will work. Adding an UV and a Diatom/micron filter etc can help
also while treating.

Regards,
Tom Barr[/quote:e25b3e17da]

Regards
Peter Gwee

[chua]

Hi PeterGwee,

Thks for the information, it is really helpful.

I think i found out my problem after reading.

I had the habit of draining away the water first before scaping of this alage. Then i top up the water. Thus the spores are not removed. The reason of me doing so is not to get my whole arms wet.

Think i have no choice but to reverse the order.

Will do so for my next water change.

As for Sleepy_lancs, to increase the PO4, you must ensure your CO2 to be very high, >20ppm, this will ensure your dense plants to absorb.

In addition, you should do large water change, say 40% weekly to prevent building up of excessive nutrients.

Hope that can help.

[Sleepy_lancs]

Hi,

Well.. my CO2 is close to 45-50 ppm at record. WC is about 50 percent weekly. Also after scraping off the algae. I am just 1 step short which is the UV thingy after wc which can be easily done for me. Will try that method. TQ.

[Shaun-]

PO4 is phorous? Where to get this product? And how much to add to my tank?

[PeterGwee]

[quote:e32df8de75="Sleepy_lancs"]Well.. my CO2 is close to 45-50 ppm at record. [/quote:e32df8de75]

Is the CO2 level consistently that high during the photoperiod for the entire week in week out? The appearance of green water tells me that either your plants are not growing well at all or you have a lot of dead stuff in your tank? PO4 does not trigger greenwater as you seem to think or felt so and I can tell you it is the ammonia that does that. Your critter load is light hence you might want to dose more higher on the KNO3 and PO4 for your plants 2-3x a week or else they will stunt. You do not want to go that lean on the nutrients or else you will get burnt very often. A richer dosing regime is better and does not cause algae as long as you keep a good eye on the CO2.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[Sleepy_lancs]

Yeap. the co2 is constant. No problem with that.

Nothing is rotting inside. Thats confirmed.

NH4 =0 tested

Tried to dose 10ppm of NO3 and 1 PPM for PO4 same problem.

[Plantbrain]

Fish load/feeding then, if you are sure that the NO3, CO2, PO4 are what you say they are and we assume you are doing the normal pruning etc.

GW does not grow for no reason.
I've never had it ever until I dosed NH4.

Is your filter good etc?
How are you testing the CO2?

Regards,
Tom Barr

[Sleepy_lancs]

Hi Tom,

Feeding could be a case. Since not much fish/livestock. I might have given "extras". Yes. Those are what I dose and calculated.

Filter: Ehiem 2028

Testing is done using test pen.
15 mins before light starts
15 mins after light starts
Mid of the light cycle
15 mins before light ends
15 mins after light ends.

The only fault I could think of could be Coral chips in the filter.
Could high KH could have cause it? KH is about 5-12.

[chua]

Hi sleepy_lance, can share with us your ph too?

Your kh of 5-12 is a great variation, isn't it?

I suggest you take out your coral chips as it is hard to control your kh. Why not try, calcium bicarbonate instead?

[Sleepy_lancs]

It is great because water change is 50% therefore at wc, it will drop to about 5-6 KH... over the week it will increase.

Well. PH goes up as well.. in relation.

Perhaps I will try out other method. CaCO3 is almost like coral chips isn't it

Will keep the link updated.

[Plantbrain]

You must have high light if the tank is sensitive to GW.
also, there has to be something to the CO2 and something slowing the plant growth down.

You will not be able to measure the NH4 in most cases for GW inducement.

You also need to get a good handle on the CO2, pH and KH.

Poor CO2 will reinfest a tank that had GW at high light.

Regards,
Tom Barr