[Cpt. Parker]

Hello, I’ve been dealing with a strange algae that I can’t seem to identify and I’m struggling to reduce it, even by a little bit. This stuff is really slippery and hard to manually remove from the leaves, comes off in sheets off the glass, and has completely taken over my driftwood. I think the algae on my front glass is diatoms, but this also comes off in weird sheets which is something I have never before experienced with diatoms.

The tank is 55 gallons, with C02 injection monitored by a drop checker, and on a lighting schedule of 8hrs using a Fluval 3.0 at 50% intensity. I fertilize using Easy green once a week after a water change and twice a week using Seachem flourish potassium. For my root feeders, I add root tabs as necessary depending on signs of deficiency. The tank gets fed lightly twice a day. Parameters are: Ammo=0ppm, Nitrite=0ppm, Nitrate=20-40ppm, GH=6°.

Here's a list of things I have tried (Note: all these solutions were done with 2-3 weeks in between and I'm not necessarily still doing all of these things currently):
-Lower and increase lighting intensity
-Increase water change percentage from 25-30% to 50% (Still doing this as I like to keep my nitrates below 40ppm but no lower than 20ppm for the plants)
-Decrease fish feedings
-Dose Easy carbon
-Nerite snails (started with 3 and 2 died from unknown causes. The one I still have doesn't do much)
-Ramshorn snail (started with 5 hoping they'd breed. The EBA ate 3, 1 died of unknown causes, and the 1 I still have isn't enough to make a noticeable impact)
-Bristlenose pleco (Got him 3 days ago, so haven't noticed much yet... He may not even eat this algae I have, but I like him and want to keep him. I plan on supplementing his diet as needed)
-C02 injection (started this about a week ago, my Pogostemon stellatus octopus, jungle Val, and crypt seem to be liking the stuff)

Any advice is much appreciated; thank you!

 

[Cpt. Parker]

@rdek Thank you for responding! I have bought a bunch of plants on 3 separate occasions and all of them have fallen victim to the algae. Perhaps it's that I'm struggling with understanding how to properly place plants to get the most out of my space for that lush look. Or, maybe I am not getting the appropriate plants that will look great and help battle this issue. I guess this has raised 3 more questions:

1. Do you have a suggestion for plants I should get?
2. Should I just get rid of the plants that are already covered in the algae?
3. How can I better understand how to bunch/group plants to get the abundance I need without it looking strange?

I do want to make a nice-looking tank, but first and foremost I want the fish I have to be comfortable and have room to swim as the gold barbs and EBA I have are fairly active. I also have no issue spending a little extra money, but constantly trashing the plants I have because they didn't take to the parameters or got consumed by this algae is becoming frustrating and a little discouraging. I got into the hobby 2 years ago knowing I'd be spending a decent amount of money, but the trial and error on this tank is starting to hurt my pockets haha 😅.

 

[Cpt. Parker]

Hi @ThreadFin ,

The tank is about 9 months old. the issues really started after I went on vacation this past summer for a week and left someone in charge of feeding my tanks while I was away. I left conservative amounts of pre-portioned food, but my fish sitter felt I was “starving” the fish and fed more than I left. I came back to an algae nightmare, and since then it’s been an on and off battle. I got it to start receding shortly after my vacation, but these past few months have been downhill.

Since my initial post, the back panel of glass has started to recede. My bristlenose may be coming through and cleaning some stuff up.

I also have pose the same question to you Threadfin, do you have a recommendation for plants that I should invest in? I am willing to take any advice I can get !

Thanks!