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Help with Algae

2K views 15 replies 5 participants last post by  masoudj021 
#1 · (Edited)
hi guys
i have some problem with my LT planted tank.
here is condition of my tank:
filter:eheim 2213----No CO2----temperature= 27-28 C-----Light:4 FPL=144W----about 200Litres----distance between light & water surface is more than 10Cm----fish:about 15 rainbow fish and 3 siamese algae eater and 3 otto.

Unfortunately there is GSA algae ( i think its GSA at least) on glass and some leaves and its hard to remove them.
I dont know if my light is high or not . but my plants are very healthy and they are growing well. so I preferably dont want to reduce light intensity.

Some say its because of low PO4. As I introduced these fishes 2 3 weeks ago can these fishes balance the PO4 level ?
If not , Can I use Seachem Flourish Phosphorus?




Thnak you very much for your help :)
 
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#2 ·
GSA is on the glass and the leaves.
There is a combination of factors here. Light that is too high is the main one.
But having at least a few plants in there that grow faster the most is very helpful
to this problem.
Can you write this out as I don't understand it as it is on your post...
"Light:4 FPL=144W"
Can/will you add a full tank picture ?
 
#4 ·
Phosphates are one of the nutrients that you can overdose easy.
Flake fish food does have more of that than other fish food. or you can look on this for
the correct amount of it to dose the SC Phosphate. Scroll the page.
FertFriend
You will find that dry ferts are cheaper. Look in the for sale section for people who sell them.
You need lots of plants in there if you wish to avoid algae. Light/ferts and CO2 are
the three things which plants must have to grow properly.
Co2 is already in the water, but only to a certain level. To get more speed of growth
you need to add more. Best is injected CO2. Close to or over $200 is needed to start
with good equipment that will last and work properly. Not for me.
Ferts: Plants can get a little of it from regular water changes of 50% or more each week. That also requires a good amount of fish because some of the ferts will need to
come from the fish food/waste. This will also require that you only use a very limited type of plants and low light.
Light MUST BE at the correct level for the kind of tank if you want to have healthy
plants and not have algae problems.
Consider it to be a three legged stool. You can easily see what will happen if one leg
is not the same length as the other two are.
 
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#5 ·
Several years ago I began dosing twice the EI recommended phosphate dosages. Before that I always had GSA problems. After the change I have never had GSA problems. Obviously I like dosing 2X the EI dosage of phosphate. You can dose even 4X and not run into algae problems, at least for short terms, because many of us have accidentally dosed KH2PO4 thinking it was KNO3.
 
#7 ·
I trust Hoppy on his replies. I think if he doses twice the regular amount that's good for me. I often hear the higher phosphates help on GSA on here.
Best answer would be to try it and see. Might allow you to keep the higher light.
The reduction won't be over night. Have patience with it.
When I had some Anubias nana Pettite that the leaves were completely covered/w GSA
a couple of replies I got on that issue was to shade it first but after a couple of days to cut off those covered leaves as they would not be able to be saved. I didn't just to see and after about three months they were clear of the GSA. Gradually got less and less till gone.
 
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#8 ·
You have a well lit tank without many plants in it - that back-ground poster gives a very false impression. You would need to add plants, quite a good amount of them, increase the potassium and phosphate available and also dose some metricide/excel.

I think its the unutilised Nitrogen in the tank which is causing your algae problem, GSA also indicates towards low phosphate. The higher plant count would need the higher potassium - not much of that in fish food. The metricide/excel would boost plant growth enough to remove the excess Nitrogen and solve the algae problem.
 
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#9 · (Edited)
Guys I love seeing the growing of plants. I decided to decrease my light to 72 W as you said.(as Conclusion do u agree with this?) How can I improve my plants growing in this condition? I have too many fishes . Do I need any liquid fert ? (I use jbl balls in my substrate). I must add that the height of my tank is 60 CM unfortunately high.
Thank you very much.
 
#11 ·
That was why I asked to see a picture of the whole tank...to estimate the plant mas.
As Klibs stated it needs a lot of plants in there for beneficial side effects of said plants to help/w the algae. If that plant in the first picture(I think a narrow leaf Hygro type) it will work well for this purpose. Most any on the low light list at the first thread on the Low Tech section of the forum will work well in higher light also. Just skip the very slow growing ones by asking on here on any you might like to try.
Anubias and Java Fern fit in that category but there may be more on that list.
You want plants that can grow a bit faster than those.
 
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#12 ·
Thank you . So you say i should decrease my light to 72 Watt? I'm waiting for your answer to do that cuz the height of my tank is 60cm (i need your answer in yes or no)
I wanted to start a full crypt tank and java and anobias. any other suggestion for fast growing plant in this condition?
Thank you very very much
 
#13 ·
Buy one bunch of Anacharis and break up the bunch and just let them float till other plants are decided on and start growing well. Just cut off extra long parts that grow after you get them to make sure you don't cut off too much light. Cut the old end off not the new growth. The Crypts are not really low light, but the other two plants you mentioned are. Can be grown in any light level but especially the Anubias are very prone to GSA in higher light. You would do yourself a big favor to eliminate those or lower the light. Shade is the same as eliminate. That would mean adding those after some taller plants had grown to the top or at least where they gave some shade to spots on the bottom.
I would try the higher Phosphates first for a month before I lowered the lights.
If you get anything like a noticeable lowering of the algae then you will know two things.
It works first, but the addition of more plants will make up the rest of the picture without lowering the lights. That is why I wouldn't lower them without trying the Phosphates first. Try that and start looking through the plant list meanwhile to see if
any might suit you.
 
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#14 ·
hi
I lowered my light to 72W and bought some plants as you said ( about 10 12 new plants, I also bout 3 anarcharis )
I ordered brightwell phosphorus and will be ready next week probably.
this is my new decoration

Is there any way not cutting off infected leaves ? (In this way I should remove all rotalas and many crypts and sword leaves)
 
#15 ·
I would fill the tank the rest of the way with water. The more water, the more dilute any undesirable substance in the water is, the more stable the water temperature, the more room for the fish, etc. You can also easily scrape the GSA off the glass, if you use a single edge razor blade - you can buy these in hardware stores, either as replacements for scraper blades, or you can buy utility knife blades ( I used the kind that you snap off the worn end to get a fresh sharp end.)

You now have one row of those fluorescent bulbs across the tank, so you may have as much as 30 PAR, but not more. When you had two rows of them you had about twice that. The PAR you get depends on how effective your reflectors are. If you can take a photo that clearly shows the reflectors it will be easier to guess how much PAR you have. I'm saying this because you may not have had too much light with the 2 rows of bulbs. And, you may have too little light now.
 
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