Algae strikes back

[fishbro]

Hey all,

So before I decided to go the co2 injection route and really get in to proper planted tanks, I had quite a bad problem with algae in general that seemed to infest my tank. I had light planting (just stems from the local shop) and didn't fertilise or anything (plus lighting wasn't great).

Since then I have done some big water changes, swapped lights (timers on now), fertilise and inject co2. For a while after the overhaul this seemed ok, but I am not getting algae issues again

• Tank: ~200L
• Filter: Oase biomaster 600 thermo (pre filter removed, media baskets are plastic bio -> sachem matrix -> blue sponge -> blue sponge -> Purigen + floss -> orange sponge) using a spray bar along the back of the tank. Usually cleaned every 3 weeks
• Lighting: 2x Eheim PowerLED+ "Fresh Plants" (fitting in to old T8 hood), using a controller and set to 8 hours including sunrise and sunset
• Planting: About as many as I could get in there can go into more detail if needed
• Co2: In-tank diffuser, on 2.5 hours before lights on and off 1 hour before lights off. DC is always a tad darker than lime green (plants perl nicely and fish are happy enough)
• Ferts: The aquascaper all in one, auto dosing 20ml about 30 mins before lights on
• Water changes: About 40% weekly (ideally would do 50% but the temp swing would be too much as I use an outdoor tap) with Prime.

Tank has been running since Jan, previously it was running as a goldfish tank with a different filter. Overhauled it about 6-7 weeks ago to "convert" it to a proper planted tank.

I'll try and get some pics to show the algae, but the most obvious issues are fuzzy black algae on the decor (and sometimes gravel), green algae on the glass grows very fast (taking just 2-3 days to cover it again) and also plants are getting the same black algae and some other types (will get pics later).

Things I have tried:

• otocinclus, unfortunately only a couple survived. They do eat constantly, but it's not enough obviously
• 5 Amano shrimp, mostly hang about on the spray bar! I haven't seen 2 of them for a number of days, so they may be eating algae (or have been eaten?), but in general they aren't doing much yet
• Flourish excel dosing. About 1.5 weeks ago I started double dosing excel and pretty quickly it was turning the black algae red, but as soon as I stopped it started growing back again
• Adding more fast growing plants, didn't really change much (just got a jungle now to try and trim lol).

Something is obviously wrong with my balance, but I just don't know what. I have always battled algae to an extent (even back in my goldfish days), but I am surprised it's this bad with so many plants etc.

I could go back to auto-dosing excel daily, and maybe even put one of my old uv sterilisers back on the filter output, but that kind of feels like chasing the symptoms and not battling the cause.

Does anyone have any tips or ideas what is going wrong for my setup? I'll get some pics later which will help explain it better

Thanks!

 

[tam]

Green on the glass is often too much light. Do your lights have a general % brightness you can turn down - if so try reducing that, otherwise shorten the period.

 

[fishbro]

Hey, yes I can change the brightness in the controller. I had been running on 100% as the plants seemed to pearl the best, but maybe I should run it at more like 80% seeing as I have 2 lights? I guess I can give it a try

 

[fishbro]

Here are some pics of the type of algae I have been getting. It looks like dosing flourish excel is stemming the growth of it somewhat, but obviously that is not really a cure

 

[Edvet]

In general:
Turn down lighting( 5-6 hours max 50%), algae love light
Improve maintenance: 50% waterchanges twice a week, remove algae as much as possible, gently rub leaves, remove heavily damage leaves
up the ferts ( and micro's) and dont forget to use ferts after waterchanges
Add floaters to help blocking light, make sure you have a lot of plantmass ( use cheap stuff to bulk up, watersprite, waterpest etc). Lots of plants will help stabilize the tank.
Do this for 6 weeks meticulously and report back with pics.

 

[fishbro]

Thanks for the tips I'm going to try cutting down the lighting and double the water changes if I can. My ludwiga at the back of the tank are pretty tall and do cover a fair amount of the surface at the moment, I'm going to refrain from cutting those back for a while

 

[Konsa]

Hi
Can U please upload a video or few full tank shots of the tank so we can get better idea of your setup.
Regards Konsa