Algae issue

[Mark12345]

Hi, hope someone can assist, as you can see from the picture, there is some fine grass like algae that appeared on my wood, it seems to be spreading at quite a rate. I've tried vacuuming it off, and also had a toothbrush on it, all to no avail, it seems really tough. Will reducing my light hours help, or is something else. It didn't bother me when it was on the wood, but it seems to be growing on some plant now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sorry about the photo quality.

 

[castle]

We don’t really know what causes algae; at least I don’t anyway.

Do you do regular water changes?
Would you say you’re an over feeder?
Got any floating plants?
Filter getting cleaned?
How long do your lights run for?

The key thing here is getting your plants to start to out compete the algae; which takes time; but doable. I’d add a healthy dose of floating plants, and id also cut back any leaves that look like they’re more algae than leaf.

 

[hypnogogia]

It might help to provide more information to get the help you need.

Please read the guidelines for Algae help!

Dear Member Please give as many details as possible regarding your aquarium set-up, when requiring advice/help! The above will be posted at the start of each help request. Why do we ask these questions? It will stop the member posting multiple times, plus adviser's don't need to scroll through...

www.ukaps.org

 

[Andy Pierce]

It is soft? Amano shrimp eat the crap out of soft algae like that.

 

[Mark12345]

Thanks for the swift replies, it’s a 300l tank and I’m doing 40/50 l water changes every other day, the pre-filter gets cleaned with the water change, it’s a oase biomaster 350. the lights are on for 12 hours at the moment ( now I’ve written this down it seems an awful lot of time).
The setup is about 3 months old, I’m not using co2.

The algae is soft but Ive never kept shrimp before and am somewhat unsure what special requirements they need.

 

[sparkyweasel]

Are you dosing fertiliser? If so, what and how much?

 

[Mark12345]

I'm dosing tropica premium nutrition, 5 squirts twice a week, I must be honest having never really tried keeping a planted aquarium before, I find this area a complete minefield. I stopped using liquid carbon as I read on the forum that it was not worth it. I also add a capful of iron once a week. Sorry if this is not helpful, but this is real guesswork on my part.

 

[SteveMid]

Thanks for the swift replies, it’s a 300l tank and I’m doing 40/50 l water changes every other day, the pre-filter gets cleaned with the water change, it’s a oase biomaster 350. the lights are on for 12 hours at the moment ( now I’ve written this down it seems an awful lot of time).
The setup is about 3 months old, I’m not using co2.View attachment 206595
The algae is soft but Ive never kept shrimp before and am somewhat unsure what special requirements they need.

Amano shrimps don’t need too much special treatment really in healthy aquarium like this and they’ll get to work straight away. I personally have always found floating plants to help (you can always reduce the quantity of these later when things settle down). You could look to reduce the amount of time your lights are on. It’s difficult, as there are so many factors, but it’s often a case of changing as few variables at once and then taking time to observe the effects before trying something else.

 

[Mark12345]

Amano shrimps don’t need too much special treatment really in healthy aquarium like this and they’ll get to work straight away. I personally have always found floating plants to help (you can always reduce the quantity of these later when things settle down). You could look to reduce the amount of time your lights are on. It’s difficult, as there are so many factors, but it’s often a case of changing as few variables at once and then taking time to observe the effects before trying something else.

Sounds like great advice, I'll start to reduce the light time and at least eliminate one potential cause. My concern with floating plant is that they'll just get pushed to one end by the flow of water, or is this me just being daft.

 

[SteveMid]

Sounds like great advice, I'll start to reduce the light time and at least eliminate one potential cause. My concern with floating plant is that they'll just get pushed to one end by the flow of water, or is this me just being daft.

They might do or they may circulate around depending on the flow pattern. Where they are in the tank doesn’t really matter too much it’s more that you have them in there and their speed of growth, etc that brings the benefits. I suppose they also bring a secondary benefit of reducing some light intensity into the rest of your set up

 

[Mark12345]

I'm on my way to lfs this morning, I shall definitely pick some up. I've always kept fish but the plant aspect is a very steep learning curve, years ago it was always valis or amazon swords when I kept anything prior to this, and I used to plant them pot and all 😳. This forum has been an invaluable source if information, even if most of the fertiliser info goes straight over my head.

 

[Mark12345]

Out of interest, would duckweed on my pond work or would it not tolerate the temperature.

 

[SteveMid]

Out of interest, would duckweed on my pond work or would it not tolerate the temperature.

Yes, I use this but be prepared to have to thin it out quite a lot as it multiplies like mad

 

[Hufsa]

Duckweed would work but its very difficult to keep under control, quite a few people regret introducing it to their tanks

 

[Mark12345]

I bought some from the lfs this morning, no idea what it is but must admit it looks quite nice.

 

[G H Nelson]

Hi
You need to increase your plant mass, best using fast growing stems!
Use this tutorial below....for starters.

Using stem plants as a filtering aid at Start Up!

The subject of using fast-growing stem plants as part of a filtering aid has cropped up a few times recently. This idea has been around for a long time so not new, it has benefits especially for a new set - up. I try and cover at least 50% of the water surface minimum. 1. Improves water...

www.ukaps.org

hoggie

 

[hypnogogia]

I bought some from the lfs this morning, no idea what it is but must admit it looks quite nice.

Post a photo and someone will be able to tell you what they are.

 

[Mark12345]

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

View attachment 206668

That one is <"Nile Cabbage"> (Pistia stratiotes).

Cheers Darrel

 

[sparkyweasel]

I'm dosing tropica premium nutrition, 5 squirts twice a week, I must be honest having never really tried keeping a planted aquarium before, I find this area a complete minefield. I stopped using liquid carbon as I read on the forum that it was not worth it. I also add a capful of iron once a week. Sorry if this is not helpful, but this is real guesswork on my part.

You might get better results with a complete fertiliser. Tropica Specialied if you stick with Tropica.
And add more plants, including floaters as others have said.