Summer heat leads to Algae

[Jaap]

Hello,

Tank specs:
80L tank
Azoo clay based substrate
External Fluval 1000L/h
EI dosing 3 times macro 3 times micro
Pressurized CO2 system set to turn drop checker yellow since no fauna in tank
24W T5HO
Only flora is Eleocharis Parvula
50% weekly wc

The temperature in the tank is around 32-33 degrees Celsius. I just installed a cooling fan hoping that it will drop the temperature below 30. The problem is that the heat has caused much of the Eleocharis Parvula to turn white and died off. The high organic build up probably caused the algae. The algae looks like hair algae but it is brown (not diatoms), it is stringy and brows, haven't seen this before!

Does this sound correct? If yes then apart from the cooling fan, should I go with daily water changes to remove the organic build up? How big of wc?

Thanks

 

[ceg4048]

Hi,
Try adding more CO2. I don't have any trouble at 33 degrees.C but the water holds a lot less CO2 than it does at 25 degrees.C

Cheers,

 

[Jaap]

Have you ever seen thread algae not green but brown instead?

The Eleocharis Parvula turns to white/transparent due to lack of CO2?

 

[ceg4048]

Hi mate,
Yes there are thousands of different types of algal spores in the tank and each one responds to a different set of environmental conditions. What you are seeing might even be a type of diatomic algae since there are 10,000 varieties of this species alone.

Since the heat exposes all the other weaknesses in your technique the very first place to start is with CO2 because there is a 95% chance that this is the problem. The issue could also be flow/distribution or it could also be related to the amount of light. It could even be a combination of all these. Add liquid carbon and/or increase the injection rate if possible and assess from there.

Cheers,