[elpezpr]

Hi. I am having trouble with thread algae and BGA on the substrate. The tank is 2 months old. My tank specs are:
-2 36" Coralife NO T5 42w Fixtures (84w total) for 10hrs
-2 6700k Bulbs
-1 Colormax Bulb
-1 10k Bulb
-Filstar XP2 Filter
-Press CO2 2bps w/ limewood diffuser under the spray bar
-EcoC Substrate
-Temp 79-81F
-Fish:
-4 Corys
-2 Blue Rams
-2 Ottos
-3 Platys
-1 Guppy
-Plants:
-Hygrophila difformis (Covered with thread algae)
-Hygrophila polysperma (A little thread algae)
-Amazon Swords (Covered with thread algae)
-Red Tiger Lotus (No Algae)
-Guppy Grass (A little BGA)

I have a big piece of DW that is covered with thread algae. I am using Seachem N and K as per directions and doing a 50% WC weekly but stopped dosing last week to see if that would control the algae. I only test for Nitrate, ph, Gh, Kh. Test today:
-ph 6.8 (7.6 from tap)
-gh 6
-kh 8
-Nitrate 0

What are your suggestions? Should I cut the light intensity or its duration? Thanks

 

[elpezpr]

I just realized... It's a 30g. Thanks

 

[elpezpr]

I had a lot more Hygrophila difformis but had to cut it down due to the algae. Some pics:

Thanks

 

[mistergreen]

whoa....
manually remove the algae.. and cut back on your light wattage and photo period..

cut back to 1-1.5 watts per gallon... and have it on for 7-8 hours.. you can increase these as you add more plants or as they grow.

the problem is you don't have that much plants..and you're putting in a lot of light the plants don't need or can't use so then the algae take over.

 

[eklikewhoa]

if you cant cut down your wattage then cut back on the photo period!

 

[elpezpr]

Hi. I had a Hygrophila difformis and Guppy Grass jungle but tossed it all away due to the algae. I will use 1 fixture only, giving me 1.4wpg. Cut down time to 8hrs. Remove as much as algae as I can. No dosing for now. This sound good? Thanks

 

[elpezpr]

Hi. I did what I stated above.
-1 Light fixture 1.4wpg for 8hrs
-Removed most of the algae
-No dosing
-Another WC

Now the algae is growing at the same rate or faster and my entire substrate is covered with BGA. Now I am starting to see hints of BBA. This is very frustrating. What should I do? Thanks

 

[supamii]

i hear flourish excel will kill staghorn. its killing all of my bba right now.

as for your bga... i solved mine by dosing nitrates and phosphates in the correct ratio. but you have to make sure you do a real solid blackout for 3 days. in my experience, when bga is present, dosing the correct ratio won't slow it down.. so when i killed all the bga and maintained something close to a 15:1 nitratehosphate ratio it stayed away

since you dont have a lot of plants i'm not sure how the dosing ratio will work, you may have to experiment.