[Abhijit_21]

Hello All,

My two months old 15 gallon planted tank is under attack by algae and I can't figure out what type it is and what I need to do to fix this. Referring to attached photos, definitely one of them is thread algae but what is that on surface of leaves. New growth seems to be algae free as of now. Also as per attached photo, ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0 and nitrate is almost close to 0 on 6th day after water change. Chihiros RGB light (35 watt) is turned on daily for 5 hours only. 2HR Aquarist APT complete fertilizer thrice a week. Soil used is ADA Amazonia 2. Since my water parameters are not bad, what is causing this type of algae to overtake my tank? Any ideas please?

Thanks.

 

[Abhijit_21]

Is my algae due to almost 0 nitrates? I am reading that algae outbreak can happen due to both high and low nitrates. I am confused what's happening with my tank and what I need to do.

 

[Thenoob]

Looks like black beard algae (BBA) to me. Not an expert but zero nitrate definitely sounds like a major contributing factor. Hopefully some of the pros can chime in.
Very cool tank by the way

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[Abhijit_21]

Looks like black beard algae (BBA) to me. Not an expert but zero nitrate definitely sounds like a major contributing factor. Hopefully some of the pros can chime in.
Very cool tank by the way

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Thanks for your feedback. I read all the time that people struggle to keep nitrates down and that can be factor for algae. For me it seems I am having problem at other end. I have 5 pieces of pothos on top of tank and that seems to be sucking all nitrates.

 

[Plinkploop]

There are MANY causes for bba. When have you been taking your readings, though? Try tracking by testing directly after you add ferts and then again the morning after. You can spot treat with excel or peroxide and manually remove while you work on finding the cause of it to give your plants a better chance of outcompeting it.

 

[Asteroid]

If you have insufficient uptake of organic waste given the parameters of your setup (light, plant load, fish load, maintenance you will get BBA or other algae. So you need to either increase water changes, add more fast growing plants or reduce light intensity and/or period to correct. Using organic removal products like activated carbon or purigen will help as well. This all assumes ferts are present for the plants to grow. With 2 month old amazonia no3 is not the problem.

 

[Abhijit_21]

There are MANY causes for bba. When have you been taking your readings, though? Try tracking by testing directly after you add ferts and then again the morning after. You can spot treat with excel or peroxide and manually remove while you work on finding the cause of it to give your plants a better chance of outcompeting it.

My readings were taken on 6th day after water change and two days after ferts. Will try hydrogen peroxide treatment. Thanks.