[Desertsp]

I have an order arriving today from Planted Aquariums Central, just a few additional plants to fill out empty spaces. The tank these are going into currently has an algae problem, mainly staghorn and possibly BBA (but I am not positive it's BBA...have had that before and this is more of a dark green than black, it might just be preliminary staghorn).

My tactic so far with the algae has been manually remove the severely infested leaves, more frequent water changes, ensuring CO2 is stable, and (just yesterday) I decreased the photoperiod from 8.5 to 6 hours. I've also been removing the manzanita to dose with peroxide every few weeks. I have been leaving some mildly infested leaves alone, simply to avoid pulling out too much plant mass, which I thought might weaken the plants.

My question is: Before adding the new plants, should I remove ALL traces of algae from within the tank? This would mean removing about 1/3 of the overall plant mass. Or is that too harsh?

Photos were taken today, and it's been about a week since I pulled any infested leaves.


Here is what's already in the tank:

Cryptocoryne wendtii
Hygrophila corymbosa
Java fern (newly added and not established)
Anubias nana petite (newly added and not established)


...and here's what's arriving today:

1x Ludwigia repens, Broadleaf
2x Cryptocoryne retrospiralis,
3x Cryptocoryne balansae
1x Micranthemum Tweedie sp. Monte carlo
1x Dwarf Lily Plant


Thanks for any input!

 

[Desertsp]

Too late to fix the title...but I am NOT using excel, meant to write Peroxide. Originally I was going to ask if the new plants would be affected by peroxide dosing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Termato]

What kind of lighting do you have on this tank? Lumens if you have it or wattage if you don't have lumens? Kelvin rating of the bulb?

The ludwigia you are getting will help soak up nutrients. It grows quite fast. Have you thought about treating this tank with Seachem Excel like the title suggests? It helps with algae removal. Just a thought. There are many tabs with great information on this site about using Excel.

 

[Desertsp]

Thanks for the response...I forgot I posted the question!

Looking at my tank today I realized everything has grown a LOT since I started this thread...and miraculously most of the algae has disappeared. I did reduce the lighting duration by an hour, now the 4000k spotlight bulb is on for about 6 hours total. I didn't use Excel, but I did pull out all traces of algae from the tank when I put in the new plants, and I also used peroxide on the branches while the water level was lowered. At this point, bba does return to the branches within a couple days of cleaning them, but it seems to stop growing at that point and isn't a big problem. I'm changing 50% of the water once a week, and fertilizing slightly less than 1/8 tsp KNO3, 1/8 tsp KH2SO4, 1/32 tsp K2PO4, and 1/32 CSM+B right after the water change (once a week). The lily is showing signs of deficiency so I may up the dosage some.

tldr: didn't do a whole tank treatment of any kind. reduced lighting duration and manually removed all algae instead. Used peroxide on the branch only.

 

[Hilde]

Have you checked phosphate levels? It was 1 of the causes of BBA in my tank. Fluval clearmax in the filter will help decrease the phosphates. Also switching to spectrum food helped me. For my fish flakes had phosphates in them and I overfed.

 

[Desertsp]

I have not checked phosphate (don't want to spend the $$$ for a reliable test kit), and am actually supplementing it per the EI regimen.

A week ago I added a couple more fish, cory cats..so they eat a lot!, so we'll have to see if the extra food starts causing algae.

 

[Hilde]

I have not checked phosphate (don't want to spend the $$$ for a reliable test kit), and am actually supplementing it per the EI regimen.

Here I have found an independent aquatic store test for phosphates. Have you searched?

Fluval maxclear is only $9 at Petsmart

 

[WaterSprite414]

I would warn against using both peroxide and excel as I recently did this and melted half my plants. Vals, guppy grass, Sag. all gone for the most part. I cut out all the dead leaves and left the roots to see if they grow back. In the mean time I have restocked with new plants. The tank is looking great now. I believe it was the Excel which killed the plants personally, although I probably over dosed also. I still have a little algae, but I need something for the Otos to feed on.

 

[roostertech]

I don't think you could ever truly remove al algae. The best you can do is to manage it. There will always be spores waiting around for the right condition to pop.

 

[psyflyjohn]

Even slight overdosing with Excel will melt the plants you mentioned. When you are done dosing with Excel, and correct the cause of the algae problem, you can replant the vals, sags, etc.

 

[Desertsp]

I melted some plants with Excel once too (well, metricide...but the same chemical) and prefer to stay away. If/when the bba on the branch becomes unsightly, my maintenance plan is to remove the branch and saturate it in peroxide, coupled with some mechanical scrubbing.

Right now I'm just thankful that the staghorn is gone!