[ZheRooH]

Hey all,

Ripping my hair out with this tank, I've got it to a better place then it was, but still. The bba is slowly going away, same with the green fuzz algea. The windows do get filthy pretty fast (within the week).
But atm I still heave some algea persistant and I wonder what it is, it looks a bit like staghorn crossed with bba, if I put easycarbo on it it doesn't turn red/pink though . Any tips on what it is and what I can do?
I also have a returning cyano bacteria problem. In december I added a wavemaker for more flow, try to feed less, no idea what else I can do

Tankinfo: 200l, 7.30 hours light (chihiros wrgb2 60cm), co2 injection, goes from green to pale green, 6ml all in one fertilizer per day (planted box), weekly water change 40 - 50%, spot dosing of easycarbo. Oase 350 filter, gh 14 , kh 8, NO3 10-15

I tried my best with the close ups but my phone camera isn't the best

 

[brendon-]

How close is your light to the surface? You may want to raise it slightly or lower the intensity of it. Make sure ambient light from windows isn't effecting it too much. If your water is too warm you could probably lower it to 73-74 as long as the species would be happy. Instead of spot treating the Easycarbo, I would dose the entire water column with the recommended dosage or even double dose it (do research on this and see if it's right for you, and can be dangerous but I can tell you from first hand experience it certainly works). On top of that, doing even smaller daily water changes and removing leaves that are the worst effected, and you'll start to definitely start to notice a change as long as there isn't an excessive nutrient problem. You could even take a toothbrush and gently jostling your plants around while your syphoning near it to remove the algae spores from the water while you're doing your change. I can't tell from your photo, but you may want to introduce more algae eaters if you don't have them. The catfish I see tend to be good at keeping the substrate clean and detritus suspended in the water for the filter to catch, but they won't help at removing it from the leaves. Amano shrimp are algae eating machines and large enough your larger tetras won't bother them. Otocinulus are also really good but you should get 3-6 because they prefer groups (they stay small and blend in well). And then there is of course the nuclear option, which is to do a full light blackout with a blanket for a couple of days...

 

[AVN]

I would try doing a blackout for a few days to a week to kill off the algae on your plant leaves.

You need to find the balance point for your water changes/light period/nutrient regimen. Currently it sounds like you have excess light and nutrients.

Going forward, try a shorter photoperiod and fertilize a little bit lighter than you do.

 

[minorhero]

Are you doing 100% with the light output? If so, drop it back to 60%. I have a WRGB 2 and at 60% I am getting 60 ppfd under the light at 18 inches.

 

[Wasserpest]

That is a beautiful 'scape!

Regarding the Cyano, the best way to get rid of them is an Erythromycin treatment, not sure if you can get the pills where you're located. They have done the trick for me a few times, without recurring issues.

The other algae, my approach is to let them really take over for a few weeks, which seems to result in a burnout, where they disappear on their own. All while continuing to waterchange, fertilize, light, anything that keeps the plants growing. This is a difficult approach, since it requires patience, and having an ugly, algae-ridden tank for a while, but on the other hand, you don't need to do drastic stuff with chemicals and black-outs.

Also, "all in one fertilizer" raises up flags in my head. Often lack of macros (NPK) will lead to algae heaven. Testing N and P levels, at least for a while, can help to pinpoint issues.

 

[Savetheplants]

I thought Algae Fest was in October. Beautiful layout. There is a real balancing act between the brightness of lights and CO2. I'm constantly adjusting my lights and CO2. If I see algae I turn down the lights for a while then I crank up the CO2 and turn the lights back up. Sometimes I have found that I have been dumping in too much fertilizer. I had an old expired NO3 test kit. Recently, I weighed and diluted my KNO3 to better control dosing it and got a new test kit. I have always weighed and diluted my PO4 dosing solution.

It could also be a fertilizer deficiency. If your plants are missing a nutrient they can get sick and begin to decay and leach off Ammonia which attracts the algae to the surface of the plants to get at the source of the Ammonia the plants are producing. Find the deficiency and the plants will be healthy and won't continue to support the algae.

 

[ZheRooH]

How close is your light to the surface? You may want to raise it slightly or lower the intensity of it. Make sure ambient light from windows isn't effecting it too much. If your water is too warm you could probably lower it to 73-74 as long as the species would be happy. Instead of spot treating the Easycarbo, I would dose the entire water column with the recommended dosage or even double dose it (do research on this and see if it's right for you, and can be dangerous but I can tell you from first hand experience it certainly works). On top of that, doing even smaller daily water changes and removing leaves that are the worst effected, and you'll start to definitely start to notice a change as long as there isn't an excessive nutrient problem. You could even take a toothbrush and gently jostling your plants around while your syphoning near it to remove the algae spores from the water while you're doing your change. I can't tell from your photo, but you may want to introduce more algae eaters if you don't have them. The catfish I see tend to be good at keeping the substrate clean and detritus suspended in the water for the filter to catch, but they won't help at removing it from the leaves. Amano shrimp are algae eating machines and large enough your larger tetras won't bother them. Otocinulus are also really good but you should get 3-6 because they prefer groups (they stay small and blend in well). And then there is of course the nuclear option, which is to do a full light blackout with a blanket for a couple of days...

There's 10 amano's and 10 oto's in there and one nerite

Are you doing 100% with the light output? If so, drop it back to 60%. I have a WRGB 2 and at 60% I am getting 60 ppfd under the light at 18 inches.

No it's at 55, I raised the light higher, if was pretty flush because this isn't a rimless tank and it looks funky. But I want the algea gone.

I've started doing 2 waterchanges per week now and give the fish a bit less food.
In the past I have dosed the watercolumn with easycarbo and it doesn't do anything even if I overdose.
I have bought different fertilizer and was also thinking of going the lean fertilizer way like green aqua does, although not sure if I want realy slow growth. I do want my rotala to pop more.

I've done blackouts in the past and they didn't help much.
And yep I have a very bright living space so that's not optimal.

Before the Chihiros I had the lights that came with the tank and it was even worse, those were not powerful enough. So it's always been something. I'm also thinking of getting a SAE in there though that ofcourse won't solve the cause.

 

[minorhero]

There's 10 amano's and 10 oto's in there and one nerite



No it's at 55, I raised the light higher, if was pretty flush because this isn't a rimless tank and it looks funky. But I want the algea gone.

I've started doing 2 waterchanges per week now and give the fish a bit less food.
In the past I have dosed the watercolumn with easycarbo and it doesn't do anything even if I overdose.
I have bought different fertilizer and was also thinking of going the lean fertilizer way like green aqua does, although not sure if I want realy slow growth. I do want my rotala to pop more.

I've done blackouts in the past and they didn't help much.
And yep I have a very bright living space so that's not optimal.

Before the Chihiros I had the lights that came with the tank and it was even worse, those were not powerful enough. So it's always been something. I'm also thinking of getting a SAE in there though that ofcourse won't solve the cause.

I mean there is always some algae in a tank, getting it to a point you can't see it from more then 2 feet away is the goal not 6 inches away after careful study ;p

Anyway if you don't currently have cleanup crew in the tank then ya, thats a very good thing to get. I use snails and shrimp for the most part but everyone has there preferences. If you are doing 2 water changes a week of 50% each then you are already doing my next piece of advice. I aim for 70+% each week with a minimum of 50% with good results. Next up I'd just give it time. Any leaves affected by algae will remain affected of course so as new growth comes in monitor it to see if it has the same algae problems.