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I'm having problems with algae.

My planted tank was doing okay before last week.

You see, I had 3 crypt wendtiis, some java fern, 10 stems of ludwigia repens. At the time, I only had 40 watts of light. I also had a small clump of hornwort.

Two weeks ago, I changed the substrate to 50% fluorite, 50% washed gravel. The next week, I bought a new stand and cap, and I simultaneously moved the entire tank to the basement. At approximately this point, I replaced my hornwort with 10 stems of cabomba. I also got a new light fixture, a coralife 65W
CF fixture with 6700K bulbs. Noticing a lot of debris and algae growth, I reduced light time to 9 hours a day. I wasn't sure what it was, but it was pissing me off. It was brown, and they were kind of like dropping attached to the plants. It was not diatom algae, it wasn't small specks. I thought it might just be fluorite dust accumulating that had not yet settled, so at this point, I did 2 75% water changes consecutively. I had also removed the fish, because the move had caused them to get ich (I'm treating for it now). Anyhow, it's just so frustrating because I spent all this money on buying expensive light fixtures, etc. so that the tank would actually look presentable.

BTW, my phosphates are quite high--1ppm. I'm thinking of adding a phosphate sponge. I'll try to take some pictures to put on the internet.

The nitrate must be close to 0 now, and when I add some fish, I will most certainly have an ammonia spike.

Just to summarize, now I have 85 watts of light (65W fixture plus the old 20W fixture) 9 hours a day with 50% fluorite 50% plain washed gravel substrate. Phosphates approximately 1ppm.

Somebody help me!

tank size?

dont do 75% changes!!! and 2 of them... thats equivalent to near 95% water change!!! so basically you drained you tank, and filled with new water, maybe that is why ich exists because of stress.

add an algae eating fish to get rid of the algae, use aquarium floss in your filter to reduce debris. and if its not algae... then you are sol

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-08-10 00:23][/span]

Bubbles,

Understand your frustration. Struggle with plants, told you need more light, get more light and voila new problem – algae. Been there, bought the t-shirt.

I don’t recognise the algae you mention, but the way I see it I think you 3 contributing factors. The plants you have are not particularly fast growers so may not be soaking up the nutrients fast enough. You could temporarily stick in some quick growers like Hygro Polysperma, Wisteria, Anachris etc. Although if you have no fish, and your nitrates are indeed zero that could also be an issue , the lack of nitrates could be inhibiting plant growth, leaving all the other nutrients available for algae.

Definitely get the pillow to reduce phosphates, algae are much more efficient at using phosphate then plants.

Also have a look at the length of time you have the lights on for. If you only have on for 8 hours a day the light is helping algae more then plants. Plants need light to provide photosynthesis, plants do most of their growing at night, basically storing the energy from the light and then using that energy to grow (and thereby use up the nutrients). If the lights aren’t on for a long enough period , the night time photosynthesis is not optimized. 10-12 hours would be better length (less then that or more then that is benefitting the algae). If you feel that the extra light is causing the algae problems it would be better to just switch them off for a few days, rather then reduce the photo period too low.

Planted tanks are all about balance. Balance of light and nutrients, and needs to be in balance with the type and quantity of plants, and the type and number of fish. The balance goes of whack slightly and problems arise. Simply adding more light, while beneficail to the plants can cause problems if the other elements are not balanced also. Hang on in there it will come right soon.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Although if you have no fish, and your nitrates are indeed zero that could also be an issue , the lack of nitrates could be inhibiting plant growth, leaving all the other nutrients available for algae.

Yup, yup. 1ppm phosphates in and of itself is not a problem. With that much phosphates you should have 10-13ppm nitrates though. Since you changed the substrate and haven't had a source of ammonia in the tank for a couple weeks, it's safe to say most of your beneficial bacteria is dead so as far as your tank is concerned its subject to "new tank" problems, one of which is algae due to an unbalanced tank.

If you had it, I would add potassium nitrate until you have about 10ppm nitrates. With the addition of the nitrates, and the fast growing plants like others have suggested, the available nutrients should more readily be used. I say add the nitrates instead of take away the phosphates because until you get that tank cycled again, you're not going to have much for nitrogen, and during that time you'd need to keep the phosphates down to practically nothing. Easier to add than to take away and keep away, in my opinion.

10-12 hours would be better length

I'll try this.

To help combat the algae, I added 22 ghost shrimp.


[span class="edited"][Edited by Lindy 2004-08-14 06:57][/span]

They don't really eat algae. I'd suggest some amano shrimp for that.

Well, just a week later and all the algae is completely gone!! I don't know if it was the longer lighting hours, or the shrimp or the phosphate pillow.

The ghost shrimp seem to be eating the algae voraciously. They are constantly gathering in areas that have algae.