Brown Plants and Algae

Okay I'm having a problem with hair or thread algae or whatever it's called. I've been trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong and if anyone can help me. My tanks stats are below and my phosphate is 0. My iron has been low for a couple weeks and I just started adding Seachem's Iron today and my level is now up to .15 so I hope that helps. Also my amazon swords aren't really transparent anymore but they don't look as flat they are kind of curled and the new leaves look bented and don't look like the right color. Anyway here are some pics.

Brown Water Sprite. The new leaves are nice and healthy though but the stems are getting a little brown too.

New leaves look a little brown on some of the hygrophilia polysperma.

This source is helpful for pinpointing nutrient deficiencies. Since your NO3 is at 0, it would be best to try to increase it as it is an integral maco-nutrient for plants. It could be a trace element deficiency as well. Generally, what I would do is dose everything (although maybe not PO4) and that will probably solve your problem.

Thread algae, which is my current algal blight, is a relatively fast growing algae that forms multiple thin, thread-like strands, up to more than a foot long. Many of these threads can and do accumulate together to form a thick mat of green webbing across the tank.

What you have is one of the many forms of "hair algae". I had that really bad, along with some staghorn algae (the thicker stuff) when I switched from .75 to 3.5wpg. After reading the pinned topics here and at other planted tank forums I've managed to be rid of it for now.

Alright I'm going to order some Nitrate which I believe is also called Nitrogen by many sites. I'll have to wait a couple more weeks and see whats going on.

I'm adding Seachem Flourish weekly at the moment and I just added Seachem Iron and got my Iron levels to around 1.5. I think all my nutrient levels are where they should be now so I'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully once I get the nirate up things will get better.

Your hygro looks fine, the brownish tinge is a start torward pink!

Sorry to hear of your problems.

I agree with Nospherith. In your set-up (high nutrient uptake) it is important to dose everything in abundance, NO3 - 5 to 30ppm, PO4 - aim for 0.5ppm, Potassium - 20ppm, Iron (and other traces) - 0.5 to 1ppm. For a detailed look at effective fertilisation do a search on Tom Barr's Estimative Index.

What is your CO2 level? A common cause of many algae is fluctuating CO2 levels. Try to reach a constant 30ppm, this combined with your ferts will almost certainly see off your algae.

One observation on your polysperma and water sprite - the pink/brown is a definite sign of Nitrogen deficiency. I would get some KNO3 as soon as possible or you may encounter furthur problems i.e. BGA - I have been there!!

Good luck.

I would agree with the advice Nospherith and gf225 gave you. Your tank is lacking in vital nutrients.

Do you know if your tap water contains nitrate and phosphate? If it does, it could be a good idea to do a large 50% water change. This will put an emergency supply of nitrate, phosphate and other vital nutrients in your tank, until you are able to get hold of KNO3, KH2PO4 etc.

As gf225 said........you need to act a.s.a.p. or you could have other major algae issues.

Good luck

gf225 said:

Sorry to hear of your problems.

I agree with Nospherith. In your set-up (high nutrient uptake) it is important to dose everything in abundance, NO3 - 5 to 30ppm, PO4 - aim for 0.5ppm, Potassium - 20ppm, Iron (and other traces) - 0.5 to 1ppm. For a detailed look at effective fertilisation do a search on Tom Barr's Estimative Index.

What is your CO2 level? A common cause of many algae is fluctuating CO2 levels. Try to reach a constant 30ppm, this combined with your ferts will almost certainly see off your algae.

One observation on your polysperma and water sprite - the pink/brown is a definite sign of Nitrogen deficiency. I would get some KNO3 as soon as possible or you may encounter furthur problems i.e. BGA - I have been there!!

Good luck.

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I just double my yeast to get a higher CO2 output and I can't seem to get it to go any lower than 7.0 PH now. My KH is like 2-3 so my CO2 concentration is like 8PPM. I have a CO2 ladder and the bubbles dissolve just not as fully as it should. I have two DIY CO2 bottles.

6 cups of water
2 Cups of sugar
1/2 TSP yeast
1 tsp bicarb
in each.

My nutrients are coming tommorow so I'll start working on that. I've just spent so much money on the tank and I'd hate to spend more on Pressure CO2 you know. I have summer classes this summer and I don't have a job so my savings is kind of limited at the moment.

My tap water is very plain, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, 0 phosphate, PH 7.0. No iron either.

I just started adding Iron and had a reading of .15 or .2 that was on sunday, today is tuesday and is now zero again.

I got a deal on seachem stuff so I ordered Flourish Nitrogen, Flourish Trace, Flourish Excel, and Flourish Potassium I figured it would be best to have them all just in case.

id keep working on your co2, maybe use bigger bottles or add another bottle, how big is your tank?

55 gallon, I'm slowly increasing my yeast I don't want to cause any major problems. As of now my CO2 is minimal.

Ive been reading a lot about the diy method, some suggest useing bigger bottles to increase the bubble rate, more bubbles = more co2, use as big as a 3 or 4 litre bottle and you could try that, or you could try a bell type passive diffuser at the top of the ladder to catch any bubbles that rise to the top of the surface, basically its just the bottom of any soda bottle cut off at the end and you stick it below the water surface and catch the bubbles, and it should diffuse the co2 passively back into the water, i have this running on my tank for the last few days so a bit early to tell if its working but apperantly it does work.

I have 1 of them above each ladder below the water surface catching the excess bubbles, i stuck them on with suction pads anyway worth a try.

Or you could make a small reactor with a cheap powerhead if all else fails.

Good luck with it.