help please

[Jason Stanford]

can you id this/these algae?
and any advice on how to combat it. cheers

 

[Jason Stanford]

also I have ottos, snails, bn plecs, and nothing wants to eat this, whatever it is lol

 

[Henry]

Kind of looks like a mixture of staghorn and "BBA". Keeping CO2 levels stable, while making sure light levels are suitable for the rate of injection are maintained should help to alleviate any issue. Failing that, you flow and CO2/nutrient distribution needs to be scrutinised.

 

[Jason Stanford]

I haven't changed the co2 amount in ages, im only using 4 of the 6 tubes of lighting, the only thing that's changed is the length of hours the lights are on for,
320w lighting, 125g tank.
12,000lph flow plus 2000 filter. the flow is more at one end of the tank, I think the algae is worse on the furthest end away from the wavemaker, I may try adding a wavemaker to the opposite end or placing the one I have in a different location, as the only spares I have are 12000 lph as well
im using jbl ferts, but I have EI which I will be using from the morning, once I have done a water change.
the drop checker is at the end furthest away also, and it says its still getting co2 there, there is flow, not a lot at the surface it looks like, but I can see fow below the surface on that side. I have a tiger lotus the same end as the stuff with algae on it, and its unaffected, I have a stem plant in the middle there as well, maybe a ludwigia and again its unaffected, but the bolbitis is covered, some of the grass, swords, and aponogeton don't look too great either

 

[krazypara3165]

You say youve changed the duration of the lighting? Have you increased it I take it? What bulbs are you using t5 or t8? Four bulbs (320w) seems an incredable amount for a four foot!!! On my old 4ft 285l co2 injected tank I only needed 2 54w bulbs running.

 

[Jason Stanford]

its a 5.5 foot 450l. and yes I increased the duration
t5 HO bulbs

 

[krazypara3165]

Did you have algae issues before you increased it? And how long are they running for now. I found that 2 t5s even just for 6 hours a day was a bit much and I had to raise mine a fair bit to get a good balance

 

[Jason Stanford]

raise the height? mine are low.
10 hours
I did have algae but it seemed to calm down, I think.
theres one thing or two things that I think maybe against me here as well.
im hoping once I use EI from tomorrow this will help.
also I have dieing bits of plants that get caught in the wavemaker etc,...I am lazy and leave them for days.
is this going to be a problem? if it is I will stop being lazy.
the other thing is....its a piranha tank, messy eaters, dead fish and allsorts are going to be in there, I pull out left overs,....that I can see. and now its planted its a lot harder to find every bit.

maybe I have too many watts on still as well?
the bulbs are each 80W High output with reflectors as well.
I have 4 white, and 2 red, at the moment I use 2 red and 2 white

 

[krazypara3165]

Im not experienced in pirahna keeping so I cant comment on that but as for the lighting. I would reduce the period back to what you had it at (at least if not more) and if its possible raise the height a bit and then monitor for a week or two.

 

[Lindy]

You will need to remove this algae by cutting out affected leaves and/or scraping hardscape. I don't think lack of flow is the cause of bba but more inconsistent co2. If you have megawatts over your plants you are going to need mega co2 too, probably more than would be comfortable for your fish. If you reduce the light intensity you can still have a long photoperiod(although 10 is still a lot) but with the plants demanding less co2. Any dead/dying organic material needs to be removed as quickly as possible as poor tank hygiene is a contributing factor.

 

[NatureBoy]

This type of algae seems to "attack" leaves that are deteriorating in quality - I think it's a species of BBA, but has a staghorn like brittle quality to it too, either way it most likely seems to feed on the nutrients constantly being pumped out the unhealthy leaves: it never "attacks" dead detached leaves, etc so would seem to be getting a constant supply of nutrients that it needs from the failing leaf.

So it's a question of total plant health, you won't recover the damaged leaves, so cut them away (this will help the plant establish it's structure). Instead focus on making sure plant nutrition is spot on, check CO2, increase the macros, particularly the phosphates, and ensure you get your traces in there too. The hot summer may also have caused water temps to increase putting an additional stress on the plants, so this may be in your favour now that the temp can be more regulated with heater / thermostat.

Bolbitis will always benefit from a trim and a thin out, as the new actively growing translucent green growth is way more attractive than the old stuff.