Help, spot algae

[apollo]

Hi Guys

Been losing battles to spot algae on my anubias in my 3ft tank. Hope you guys can offer me some help. Its just mostly on that plant. Did cut away the affected leaves but it still come back.

Size: 36x18x18 inches
Lights: 36watts x 4pcs
Duration: 10hrs
CO2: 1 bubble/sec
Water perimeters: KH 2 and Ph 7
Water Change: Weekly.
Bioload: 50 Cardinal tetras, 10 Cherries, 10 Yamatoes, 1 SAE and 3 Otos
Fertilizer regime: After WC will add the following. 5g K2SO4,5g KH2PO4,
3ml LushAqua, 3ml LushMicros

Base on the CO2/KH/pH chart, i know my co2 is on the low side. Will try to increase it. Just wonder if there is any major culprit in my tank. Attached is a pic of how bad is the situation.

[NinjaFly]

hmm, look like it happened on your nanas?

Try reducing the lighting hours and switch your nanas away from direct light.

[juggler]

Yes. Anubias are really low light plants. Exposing them to higher lighting may cause spot algae to form on their leaves.
Try shading them under other plants or have floating plants above them.

BTW - you adding 5g of KH2PO4 to your 3ft tank implies dosing about 18ppm of PO4. You sure?

[Fei Miao]

looks bad, as advise above, reduce the lights hours, move the plants to a low lighted area... to add..cut away as much of the affected leaves as possible. I would do a massive water change.

[hwchoy]

I feel your Dr Mallick dosage is too agreesive.

[apollo]

Guys,
Thanks for the help. Anyway will reduce my lighting from 10 to 9 hrs and see the outcome.

Hi hwchoy

"I feel your Dr Mallick dosage is too agreesive"

Can you sugg the dosage for me pls?

Stephen

[hwchoy]

try to start with half dose, and slowly increase. Believe the dosage is 1ml per 10 litres water changed so if you change 30 litres you add 3ml, and half would be 1.5ml. Also I'm not sure about the combination of lushgro and micros. Some fellow bros here should be able to give better advise.

[PeterGwee]

Till you get a hold of your CO2 level, you are going to have trouble at that light range. Try to get your KH up to 3 at least and drop the pH to 6.5-6.6 range for the entire photoperiod. Adding any fertilizer at this time is not going to be of any help to your plants as they are already heavily limited by lack of carbon and won't take up much nutrients. Try to lower your lights if possible at this moment till you get the CO2 right...

Your PO4 dosage is way over limit...Do you know what you are doing? Some excess is fine but ~18ppm is added for the entire week~! No way the plants are going to use that up..you might even skew your KH level now..Do a large 75% water change to get rid of the excess and get your CO2 up. That is the only thing you need to care about till you get it right. Oh..prune the affected leaves off also..and add back new plants if you are left with only a bit..

Regards
Peter Gwee

[Plantbrain]

I'd do this:

Crank to CO2 to get a pH of 6.3 and keep it there all day.
Remove a bulb maybe turn one pair of the lights on for aonly 3-4 hours and leave the other on for 10 hours.
That would do well for the tank.

Water change, 60-70%
Add the following back to this 50 gal:
1/2 teaspoon of KNO3
1/2 teaspoon of K2SO4
2 rice grains worth of KH2PO4
8-10mls of trace

Add this same amount of KNO3, KH2PO4 and traces once more during the week.

Do 50% weekly water changes and repeat.

If you really like Anubias and CRypts, try using only 1/2 the light and keep everything else the same, perhaps less KNO3, and once a week dosing.

But you need a lot more CO2 in there.

Fix it.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[apollo]

Tks Guys

Will try to follow the above advise.

However, if anybody has visited Keong Seong lately. You will see that their anubias are doing very well with bright lights.

Though am not sure how long the lights are kept on.

Anyway, tks.

Rgs
Stephen