The Planted Tank Forum banner

Could someone please tell me what this is?

3K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  GrampsGrunge 
#1 ·
What causes it and also how to get rid of it.





My tank stats:
2XT5HO + Reflectors
EI Dosing
7 Hours Photo period
Pressurized CO2
46/7 US gal

Stocking 10 cherry shrimp and 16 lemon tetra

I have been trying to work out exactly what this is for a few weeks now. It has grown slowly over time and is now an eye sore. What weird is that while it's attached to plants it doesn't seem to grown/root on them if that makes sense.
 
See less See more
2
#7 ·
i have encountered this beast in the past. nobody could tell me what it was. i also believed it was filamentous diatoms which is NOT an algae and therefore really hard to kill. does not respond to chemicals and nothing would eat it despite others claiming they would. it crushed my HC and was really hard to pick out

people claim it is caused by excess silicates in the water (like other forms of diatoms) and I tend to agree for the most part. I only get this stuff under the following circumstances: too much light in a newer tank

if it is growing slowly then you are fortunate. remove as much as possible and tone things down a bit IMO. in my case it BLEW UP and covered everything like the above pic in a matter of a few days. this was back when I was starting my first high tech setup.

my issue was i had a newer tank (diatoms are common in newer tanks) with too much light and not enough healthy plant mass. once I let healthy plants grow in it went away and I could get away with higher light again. was not an easy battle.

because of this experience whenever i start fresh i do the following... I highly recommend this method. never again will I start out with something like a carpet plant. they always get crushed by algae of some sort while the tank becomes established... IMO this is hard to avoid unless you take things slow:

run medium light, plenty of CO2, moderate but adequate ferts
use lots of healthy, fast growing, easy plants that suck up tons of nutrients (rotala, water sprite are two of my favorites)
keep an eye on things
when diatoms come (they always do in some shape or form for me) just keep things controlled and continue to focus on growing huge plant mass with easy plants
once things are stable begin to swap out starter plants for long-term plants for the scape. do this slowly (aka not all at once) so that the tank remains balanced
eventually you will be fine

patience is key... this whole process takes me at least a month. also, I stock a few batches of fish during this time so the tank is in good shape by the end of the starter period. always QT the fish!
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the suggestions kibs

As basic as it may seem I've been thinking it may be a light issue. Thankfully this algae hasn't taken over and falls off pretty easily. I'll remove my reflectors on Sunday during the WC and see if that helps. I already have the scape so I'll have to add to it. And on that note do you have a specific rotala you think I should go for? I'm asking since there are several.

Also, I have watched a onion nerite eat this algae before. Not enough to address the amount that's in there but I'm certain they eat it in small doses.
@Dman911

Pretty stange that I there doesn't seem to be a name for it. At least, one that I can find.
 
#9 ·
Thanks for the suggestions kibs

As basic as it may seem I've been thinking it may be a light issue. Thankfully this algae hasn't taken over and falls off pretty easily. I'll remove my reflectors on Sunday during the WC and see if that helps. I already have the scape so I'll have to add to it. And on that note do you have a specific rotala you think I should go for? I'm asking since there are several.

Also, I have watched a onion nerite eat this algae before. Not enough to address the amount that's in there but I'm certain they eat it in small doses.

@Dman911

Pretty stange that I there doesn't seem to be a name for it. At least, one that I can find.

I'm at a loss but will be paying attention here as there are lots of people with immense experience I'm hoping can shed some light. I took note of Klibs comments as it seems he has dealt with this before incase I ever run into this.

Dan
 
#11 ·
If you turn that tank over to about a 100 CRS they'll beat it down good, it'll take a few months. It's what I'm feeding my CBS as it grows well in really soft water.

@ the OP have you checked your tap water for general hardness? This kind of algae will disappear if your calcium levels are sufficiently high. Buy some Calcium Sulfate and get your GH up to about 4~6.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top