Hi all,
New to this forum. Like many, I'm having issues with GSA algae for my tank. It's not insanely sever (at least not yet...) but all my plant leaves are turning darkish along with green dots if you look closely. For some reason it only grows on my plants and rocks but not glass. GSA seems to be developing at all locations (doesn't matter how close it is to the light).
From reading forums, it seems like GSA is caused by either lack of CO2 or low phosphate. When i first noticed the GSA, I tested 0 ppm phosphate so I dosed it to 2 ppm but found that it drops to 0 ppm after 1 day. So I started dosing higher and for the last three weeks I've been dosing daily to make sure the tank has 5 ppm of phosphate. For some reason, my tank consumes 2-3ppm daily which is pretty insane considering the low lighting (see lighting info below)? Any ideas what might be the cause of GSA or how I should proceed?
See photos for reference:
Tank Parameters:
Water Parameters:
Tank for reference:
Thanks,
Phil
New to this forum. Like many, I'm having issues with GSA algae for my tank. It's not insanely sever (at least not yet...) but all my plant leaves are turning darkish along with green dots if you look closely. For some reason it only grows on my plants and rocks but not glass. GSA seems to be developing at all locations (doesn't matter how close it is to the light).
From reading forums, it seems like GSA is caused by either lack of CO2 or low phosphate. When i first noticed the GSA, I tested 0 ppm phosphate so I dosed it to 2 ppm but found that it drops to 0 ppm after 1 day. So I started dosing higher and for the last three weeks I've been dosing daily to make sure the tank has 5 ppm of phosphate. For some reason, my tank consumes 2-3ppm daily which is pretty insane considering the low lighting (see lighting info below)? Any ideas what might be the cause of GSA or how I should proceed?
See photos for reference:
Tank Parameters:
- Tank started in November 2021, GSA appeared around early March 2022
- 11 gallon
- Coralife T5NO light x 2 bulbs (pretty low light). Mounted ~4" from water surface.
- Photoperiod is 7 hours
- CO2 with indicator showing lime green (also did PH test showing 1 PH drop before and after CO2 is turned on)
- Cannister Filter providing 106GPH flowrate
- Fluval Stratum Substrate
- Dosing 1 pump of Tropical Specialized Nutrients and dosing Seachem Fluval Phosphorous to 5 ppm (dosing daily to meet total of 5 ppm in tank).
- 8 CRS shrimps (rarely feed them pellets)
- Biweekly 30-40% water change (every 3-4 days). Treated with Seachem Prime.
- Plants: S. Repens, AR mini, Monte Carlo, Eleocharis acicularis
Water Parameters:
- Ammonia/nitrite: 0
- Nitrate: 20-40 ppm (hard to tell with API drop tester). Not sure why my nitrate is so high??? 1 pump of TSN only gives ~3ppm for my tank size. Maybe the tester is bad?
- PH: 6.8 before CO2
- KH:2
- GH:5
- Phosphate: 5 ppm
- Tap water shows 0 nitrate/nitrite/ammonia/phosphate
Tank for reference:
Thanks,
Phil