Algae ID

[fishbro]

Hey guys, still fighting my battle with algae, but it seems to be starting to take over again.

Does anyone know what kind of algae this is? I have seen some BBA in the tank, but mostly on the hardscape items and only in patches - this was my main issue for a long time but has been getting under control with my algae crew.

This algae seems to be getting on all the edges of the plant leaves. Appears to come off reasonably easily if I rub it between my fingers. Some of the strands on the crypts are quite long, but do not appear to be stag horn as they never split. I'll try and get some more photos later if I can.

My algae crew don't seem to touch this stuff much, so I have resorted to double dosing excel for the moment in an attempt to start killing it off.

Apart from this stuff, the algae in the tank is fairly controlled now that my amanos are getting bigger.

Thanks!

 

[Edvet]

Looks like staghorn
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

 

[fishbro]

Hmm it looks like it, but it is all single strands, none of them are showing the stag horn type pattern. It seems most if it is coming off with just a scrub, so I will keep doing that and dose excel for a while

 

[Tim Harrison]

I think Ed is right, try spot dosing it. But looking at the image it's not the only algae you have, so there is obviously something wrong with your setup. Too much light perhaps and/or poor Co2 flow and distribution, poor husbandry or maintenance. Try reading the link Ed has also provided and from that you should be able to figure out what you're doing wrong and remedy it. It's probably a good idea to try and fix the cause as well as treating the symptoms with LC...
We can help you diagnose what is wrong, but we need more info, e.g. photoperiod, light intensity, water change and fertz regime, CO2, Filter, etc.

 

[fishbro]

Should have included this in the OP, but I believe it was definitely triggered by lighting problems I had, the controller for the lights died and everything spiralled (warranty replacement also broke). As my lid is 2x T8 fittings I had to retrofit the LED lights and 2 are too powerful so the controller allows me to run them down a bit. Without the controller I was stuck on 100% for both or just having 1 on which meant half the tank was quite dark.

Only just got it back to normal now, so trying to recover from the aftermath!

Tank is about 200L
Water changes: 40-50% weekly
Photoperiod: 7 hours at ~70% (2x eheim powerled+), seems to be enough to get the plants pearling without being too bright
Ferts: Aquascaper complete, medium to high dosage
Filter is JBL e1902 (2000lph)
Co2 is on 2.5 hours before lights on, off 1 hour before, DC is always a lime green colour, using a bazooka diffuser
Algae crew are ottos, panda garras and amanos (mollies also nibble at this stuff from time to time)

 

[fishbro]

Should have updated this thread earlier as I have had another failure of the light controller I have ordered 2x Fluval Aquasky lights instead. Whether those will be any good or not I don't know as they aren't really aimed at planted tanks in particular.

I do think it's the lighting that is causing the algae issues, even spot dosing excel isn't doing much. Having a few weeks of disturbed lighting, then back to bright lighting has probably made things worse. The filter is more than capable and is distributing the water (and co2) nicely throughout the tank. Ferts maybe need changing if that is what is encouraging this algae growth, but I am not convinced it is.


So I guess the question is, are these new Aquasky lights going to be good enough? They are the Aquasky 2.0 25w versions (83.5cm) and I will be running two of them in the T8 tube holders. http://www.fluvalaquatics.com/uk/product/14553-aquasky-bluetooth-led-20-25-w-835-114cm/#.XHbP0C2cabU

Alternatively I can battle on with the Eheim lights (they are sending me yet another replacement controller anyway), again I am running two of them (25w each) in the T8 tube holders. https://www.eheim.com/en_GB/products/technology/lighting/powerled-plus/plants-lk1-771mm

From what I have found, the Eheim do have the better lumen output, but I really don't know what is best to be honest. I do usually get pearling at about 2/3 through the photoperiod with the Eheims on 70%, if I go higher than I get a hell of a lot of pearling (literal streams of bubbles).

 

[Ady34]

Whenever I suffered staghorn, simply upping tank maintenance fixed the issue. Good filter clean and increasing water change frequency for a week or two did the trick. I’ve always found staghorn to be a ‘cleanliness’ issue rather than light or co2.
Just my experience with it though.....

 

[fishbro]

Whenever I suffered staghorn, simply upping tank maintenance fixed the issue. Good filter clean and increasing water change frequency for a week or two did the trick. I’ve always found staghorn to be a ‘cleanliness’ issue rather than light or co2.
Just my experience with it though.....

Yeah I have noticed that in the past with bursts of stag horn. About a week ago I did some trimming and removed most of the stage horn from the crypts and it doesn't seem to have come back It's just the dreaded BBA as usual, it's the only type of algae I am facing regularly now, I hardly even get any algae build up on the glass these days. I've noticed some of it is turning a bit pink, but I reckon that's the constant bombardment of excel

 

[fishbro]

Well I got the Aquasky lights and fitted them but honestly the colour temperature looks way off even when adjusting manually. I wasn’t expecting great things but I don’t think I could live with them all the time. They will do as a temporary measure for now while I wait for a new controller from Eheim.

The flourish excel doesn’t seem to be touching the algae and it does seem to be melting a few of the plants. Stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment!

 

[fishbro]

Looks like the algae is coming back with a vengeance again! A couple of weeks ago I deep cleaned the tank, got rid of any plant leaves that were algae covered, scrubbed the hardscape, gravel cleaned etc, turned the lights down in intensity, shortened photo period by an hour, upped co2 slightly. Everything seemed fine for a week but now I can see it slowly creeping back.

About the only thing I haven't adjusted or changed is the substrate and I am wondering if that is what is causing it. I have fairly chunky natural looking gravel which I have had for years and years (from when I used to keep goldfish, long before proper planted tanks). I think it might be easily trapping waste before the filter can pull it out (every time I gravel vac it's filthy underneath).

I'm thinking about replacing the substrate if I can. It will be a difficult process in an established tank, but I think I can do it bit by bit (e.g, take out a section of gravel and replace, then leave it to settle).

Is my theory just me going crazy with all this algae ?