[PhillipC]

Tank info:
55g
Finnex Ray 2 - Ran for 7 hours a day (3 hours in morning, 4 at night)
Pressurized Co2 - Drop checker is yellow
EI dosing (normally) - Have stopped EI dosing for past 3 weeks

Got this dark brown/black film on all of my plants in my tank. I've done 200% water changes 3 times in the past 2 weeks and have done a deep gravel cleaning. Also cleaned out all of the filter material and tubes on the eheim 2217 filter. I really don't know what kind of algae this is. Any idea on how to get rid of it? I'm pretty sure it's slowly killing most of my plants because it's blocking the lights to the plants.

 

[sohankpatel]

I have the exact same setup on my tank. Your fault lies in fert dosing. Plants need NPK and micros to grow properly. If one is missing, nutrient uptake stops. Algae, one the other hand can survive off pretty much anything. Resume dosing ferts and keep up with water changes. It looks like it grows on the decaying parts of the plants. Which may be caused by the fact that the plants are dying from lack of nutrients. A good thing to remember is that there will always be a little bit of algae in your tank. When it starts taking over is when it is a problem.

 

[PhillipC]

Should I do a reduced EI dosing? I find that if I do the normal EI dosing, by the time i get to the 50% water change day, algae has just covered the glass and decor. This was the original reason of why i stopped EI completely for the past few weeks

 

[sohankpatel]

Should I do a reduced EI dosing? I find that if I do the normal EI dosing, by the time i get to the 50% water change day, algae has just covered the glass and decor. This was the original reason of why i stopped EI completely for the past few weeks

Can we see the entire tank? It helps to see how densely planted the tank is. What kind of algae is covering the glass? Is it green spot algae, is it hard to scrape off? If it is gsa, then up your phosphate. I find it has helped me lessen the amount that grown on my glass.

 

[PhillipC]

Here's a pic of the tank currently. It use to be much more dense but the algae has really taken a toll on the plants. Should've done something sooner but I've been busy lately.

Yes, with normal EI dosing, by day 4-5, I'll have green spot algae on the glass and the water itself will be slightly green

 

[sohankpatel]

Definitely do a reduced EI dose. The algae will go away as the plant mass increases. Dont be afraid to alter the amount of ferts you give if there are deficiencies or algae that point to a lack of a fert.

 

[PhillipC]

Thanks for the advice! I'll try this and report back.

 

[vision]

I would try to stick as many plants as possible into the tank as well. higher plant mass will outcompete algae and these issues will subside quickly


Brevity and typos courtesy of my iPhone using Tapatalk.

 

[PhillipC]

Thanks vision, I'll try to get some more fast growing stem plants to try to beat that algae