Algae control

[Droicut]

I'm facing brown algae and some kind of green hair algae (on the mosses). I'm just wondering what kind of steps should I proceed with to reduce algae growth? Should I cut back on the fertiliser regime, or should I cut down the lights?

I'm running a 422 with 4x54W T5HO. Just swapped out 2 tubes for 6500K tubes, and using the default Aquazonic 12000K tubes that came with the light set. I also have CO2 and it's green on the drop checker with approximately 4dKH solution.

I dose 20 ml of Lushgro Aqua and 2 drops of Lushgro Micros weekly. And about 1 ppm of phosphate from potassium phosphate. I don't do alot of water change, maybe 30% monthly. Oh, and it's just a plain lapis sand substrate with a couple of root tabs wherever the plants are.

I'll be going NS soon, so this might just be my last ditch attempt before I have someone in the family just keep up with the dosing.

EDIT: I probably have about, 70 odd fishes from tetras to loaches and 8 yamato shrimps.

[barmby]

Problem could be due to lack of water change.

What is your CO2 level during lumination ? This issue needs to be addressed (20-30 ppm CO2)

What is your watt per gallon for lighting ?

[jasperapi]

my tank have bad algae problem before. Then i read some where that by keeping your light on for 4-5 hr, then off for 5-7hr, then on again for another 4-7hr. This on & off will keep the algae away. so i have been practicing it this way. According to the article, this method of on & off w;dnt effect the fish & plants, but algae simply dont like it. True enough after doing so i don't have any more algae problems.

[Droicut]

Problem could be due to lack of water change.

What is your CO2 level during lumination ? This issue needs to be addressed (20-30 ppm CO2)

What is your watt per gallon for lighting ?

CO2 is okay, using a dropchecker with ~4 dKH solution. Green for most of the time. Running on about 2WPG with T5HO

[wllm33]

think if you are going away the safest bet is to do small water change every day to minimise the algae growth till you come back to take back control of your tank.

[Scruffling]

Hi Droicut,

Well,Algae control is an unfortunate, but necessary fact of life when owning a pond.Algae is merely a symptom to larger problems in a pond. Normally it means there are too many available nutrients in the water caused by fish waste, fish food, fertilizer run-off or other dead organic matter. Compounding matters further could be too much direct sunlight or even low oxygen levels...all of which contribute to algae growth.


Thanks

According to Tom Barr website, excess nutrients does not cause algae

[barmby]

Hi Scruffling, you are picking up information out of context. no offence.

NH3 and NH4 cause algae. Therefore , we need good light, sufficient amount of CO2, plus the help of NPK and also TE to help censor out the NH3 and NH4.

CO2 is always the biggest offender of algae.

[Shadow]

Ammonia cause algae, NO3 is not. When martinpaul12 said excess nutrients, he is mentioning about "fish waste, fish food, fertilizer run-off or other dead organic matter" which is very much cause ammonia spike. That is why bio load, moderate feeding and frequent water change always helped in algae issue.

[Shadow]

my tank have bad algae problem before. Then i read some where that by keeping your light on for 4-5 hr, then off for 5-7hr, then on again for another 4-7hr. This on & off will keep the algae away. so i have been practicing it this way. According to the article, this method of on & off w;dnt effect the fish & plants, but algae simply dont like it. True enough after doing so i don't have any more algae problems.

Siesta only work in CO2 limited environment. The off time will help to build up CO2 for the next on time.

[nicken]

think if you are going away the safest bet is to do small water change every day to minimise the algae growth till you come back to take back control of your tank.

i'm running a one footer , i daily do 20% water change , however i still have brown stain algae on the tank wall and equiptments , i have green algae growing on my HC. it look like the green mesh we use to wash our plates after meals. Its very fine green color , anyone knows how to get rid of it ?


Thanks

[nicken]

Ammonia cause algae, NO3 is not. When martinpaul12 said excess nutrients, he is mentioning about "fish waste, fish food, fertilizer run-off or other dead organic matter" which is very much cause ammonia spike. That is why bio load, moderate feeding and frequent water change always helped in algae issue.

my tank is running just plants for 2 months , still have algae growing.
no excess nutrients . what might be the cause ?
photo period 6-8 hrs with 3 X PL 9 w ,
Temp: 23-28
PH: 5.8 - 6.3
CO2 injected.
Tank: 30X16X20cm
Filtration: 2211 with Bio Rio ( ADA )

[Shadow]

i'm running a one footer , i daily do 20% water change , however i still have brown stain algae on the tank wall and equiptments , i have green algae growing on my HC. it look like the green mesh we use to wash our plates after meals. Its very fine green color , anyone knows how to get rid of it ?


Thanks

Otos will eat the brown algae, as for your green mesh, any photo of it? If green brush algae, yamato will eat it but if BGA, good luck

[nicken]

Otos will eat the brown algae, as for your green mesh, any photo of it? If green brush algae, yamato will eat it but if BGA, good luck

thanks bro , i'll try to post a photo later tonight.

[nicken]

Hair Mesh algae




Brown algae on tank wall





Can any bros help me with these algae problem.

Thank You

[barmby]

Remove them manually. then look at your CO2 content in the water again.