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New Setup - Algae

B

Barry Hannah

Member
Joined
5 Jun 2019
Messages
39
Location
London
Hi all, so started a new setup just before Christmas, used a few plants from an old Scape I had and added some new.

Been having some Algae issues and can't quite work out the cause or what needs tweaking to get rid.

The Scape was running for around 5 or 6 weeks before adding some livestock and I've been doing weekly 60%-70% water changes.

Tank is a 240 litre and running an Oase Biomaster 850 with an inline Co2 diffuser.

Also does 20ml of TNC complete daily.

Had some plants flowing so must be happy but want to get a grip of the algae if I can.

Any help / advise would be great!!
 

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Dear Member

Please give as much detail as possible regarding your aquarium set-up, when requiring advice/help!
In bold letters below!

1. Size of tank in litres.
2. Age of the set - up.
3. Filtration.
4. Lighting and duration.
5. Substrate.
6. Co2 dosing or Non-dosing.
7. Fertilizers used + Ratios.
8. Water change regime and type.
9. Plant list + When planted.
10. Inhabitants.
11. Full tank shot.
 
Sorry so lighting is a Juwel HeliaLux 1200 LED Light Unit.

Dawn - 13:30 to 13:45 white 10% blue 40%
Sunrise - 15:45 to 16:00 white 50% blue 50%
Sunset - 21:00 to 22:00 white 0% blue 50%
Dusk - 22:00 to 22:30 white 0% blue 0%

Co2 comes on at 10:00 and off at 21:00

Substrate is Tropica Aquarium Soil

Got Eleocharis acicularis Mini which I'm trying to get to carpet at the front
Limnophila aromatica at the back
Blyxa Japonica Tropica
Bucephalandra Theia

Also have a crypt from my old tank

Have some cherry shrimp and recently added around 25 green neon Tetras









 
Hi
Nice Set-up!
Floating plants are always my go to remedy for algae issues!
Seems your very low in plant mass!
The substrate is reflecting a lot of light....can you id the black algae on the substrate?
TNC Complete is a light weight fertilizer, its pretty lean in NPK.
You have GSA so you could be low in Phosphate.

My plan of action would increase plant mass with fast growing stems you can removes these later and can also use them also as floating plants!
As in this Tutorial below!
www.ukaps.org

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
Reduce your lighting duration.
Clean your filter not just the pre-filter.
Remove as much crud as possible around Hair Grass.
Syphon off algae on the substrate.
 
Barry Hannah said:
Hi all, so started a new setup just before Christmas, used a few plants from an old Scape I had and added some new.

Been having some Algae issues and can't quite work out the cause or what needs tweaking to get rid.

The Scape was running for around 5 or 6 weeks before adding some livestock and I've been doing weekly 60%-70% water changes.

Tank is a 240 litre and running an Oase Biomaster 850 with an inline Co2 diffuser.

Also does 20ml of TNC complete daily.

Had some plants flowing so must be happy but want to get a grip of the algae if I can.

Any help / advise would be great!!
Click to expand...
What @GHNelson says and it looks like a lot of diatom algae from my vantage point - diatoms will fade away as the tank matures. Make sure your CO2 delivery is consistent and you keep up the regular WCs and cleanup - add a bunch of fast growing plants and floating plants as mentioned. Nice tank!

Cheers,
Michael
 
Last edited:
GHNelson said:
Hi
Nice Set-up!
Floating plants are always my go to remedy for algae issues!
Seems your very low in plant mass!
The substrate is reflecting a lot of light....can you id the black algae on the substrate?
TNC Complete is a light weight fertilizer, its pretty lean in NPK.
You have GSA so you could be low in Phosphate.

My plan of action would increase plant mass with fast growing stems you can removes these later and can also use them all so as floating plants!
As in this Tutorial below!
www.ukaps.org

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
Reduce your lighting duration.
Clean your filter not just the pre-filter.
Remove as much crud as possible around Hair Grass.
Syphon off algae on the substrate.
Click to expand...
Ok that's great thanks will have a look at the stem plants, was thinking of adding some floating plants.

For the fertiliser any recommendations over the TNC complete, I've not got that much left so looking to get some more shortly.

I have been cleaning the pre filter most weeks but at the moment not finding the sponges very dirty at all.
I did replace the sponges in the main filter for Matrix.
 
MichaelJ said:
What @GHNelson says and it looks like a lot of diatom algae from my vantage point - diatoms will fade away as the tank matures. Make sure your CO2 delivery is consistent and you keep up the regular WCs and cleanup - add a bunch of fast growing plants and floating plants as mentioned. Nice tank!

Cheers,
Michael
Click to expand...
Thanks, it does seem to be getting less so hoping some of the algae fades as the tank matures.
It was a brand new external filter, just had an internal before but removed everything and started again so think it will take a little while to bed in.

Been keeping an eye on the drop checker and this seems fine and can see the micro bubbles throughout the tank so think the Co2 is pretty much ok.
 
So bit of an update I've stuck with the weekly water changes, added some new plants inc some floating and also changed the fertilizer I was using .

Happy with the results so far, still got a bit to go as getting some algae but much better than it was and plants looking healthier!
 

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Barry Hannah said:
Also does 20ml of TNC complete daily.
Click to expand...

Hi @Barry Hannah

According to my bottle of TNC Complete, the suggested dosage is 1ml per 10 litres of tank water per week. As your tank is 240 litres, that would equate to 24 ml of TNC Complete per week. But, you appear to be adding close on this dose daily. Now, it's a bit late in the day and I may have got my arithmetic wrong. What say you?

JPC
 
jaypeecee said:
Hi @Barry Hannah

According to my bottle of TNC Complete, the suggested dosage is 1ml per 10 litres of tank water per week. As your tank is 240 litres, that would equate to 24 ml of TNC Complete per week. But, you appear to be adding close on this dose daily. Now, it's a bit late in the day and I may have got my arithmetic wrong. What say you?

JPC
Click to expand...
Hi yes to be honest I think I was overdosing but was doing a water change of more than 50% each week so didn't see it being too much of an issue.
Plus I am using a dosing pump and was having some issues with air being trapped, so I may not have been getting as much as that anyway.
I have sorted that by getting a proper dosing container that holds the fertiliser

I have swapped now to using APT 3 complete and running 7ml daily which will hopefully work out better
 
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