Algae

[BillyBigBananas]

I have just moved from having a 50 litre tank to a 380 litre fish & plant tank and it has been going several months now.

The algae is slowing creeping in on the plants and driftwood and even the slate in the tank. I desperately want to get rid of it, in my old tank i had about 4 bristlenoses and they did an ok job. How many should/could I have in this tank and any other tips on keeping the algae levels down. Btw I do a regular water change weekly and remove dead plants.

Thanks if you can give me advice

 

[dolphin]

Hi BillyBigBananas

to the site.


You can raise the CO2 level, and increase the light intensity. This will stop the algae from growing, and improve the groth of your plants.

Are the 4 bristlenoses, in the new tank?

What other fish are in the new tank?

 

[CFC]

As long as you have no predatory fish add some siamese algea eaters (Crossocheilus siamensis) and 10 or so Ottocinclus,no algea would stand a chance with a clean up clue like that.
The Co2 will help a great ammount too.

 

[teknikz]

i had a brown algae problem that wouldnt go away

i got a large pleco 2 days ago n woke up this mornin to find it all gone....

so ive called him pledge after the pollish coz he's made my tank sparkle


Tek

 

[snotirl]

howdo you increase the co2 level?

 

[CFC]

By fitting a co2 system,instructions for making one are around somewhere or you can buy one but they can be pricey.

 

[BillyBigBananas]

Thanks everyone, I went to a very good fish shop in Crews Hill, Enfield called Home marine at the weekend and they gave me some great advice (and took lots of my money). Apparently algae growth is due to high phosphates and nitrates in the water. I bought a canister thingy called Nitragon which takes out phosphates and nitrates. Also I put a bag of Phosphate absorbing stuff in my filter. I tested my tap water pre nitragon-ing and the phosphates were at the max. After they was hardly a trace. Hopefully this will help, bought another 2 catfish as well, apparently bristlenoses arent the best algae eaters, people just like them cause theyre small.

Didnt speak to them about a co2 unit, does anyone else use one or does anyone else have experience with a nitragon canister thingy?

For the best solution they told me to get a RO unit which provides pure water but theyre not cheap and you'd need to get it plummed in.

Btw I have 11 rummy nosed tetra, 10 corys, 3 platys, 8 guppys, 1 sydontis, 6 black phantom tetra and a siamese fighting fish as well. They all get on fine.

 

[H2O]

BBB - You say that you have just moved up to the 380 ltr tank, but what are the dimensions and what type amount of lighting do you have over it?
What kind of algae do you have?

 

[BillyBigBananas]

L 121cm X W 51cm X H 70.5cm

Its a rena tank that came with 2 fluorescent tubes as standard.

The algae is green, theres not so much of it on the glass, its more on the driftwood and gets on the plants.

Its fuzzy stuff that just gets hairier if you leave it, thats not a very technical description I know

 

[H2O]

Your lfs was right about the phosphates and nitrates. You say your tank is a planted tank, just how heavily planted is it, lightly planted, medium or heavily planted? With just the two lights that came with your setup I can't imagine that it is too heavily planted. Do you already inject CO2? if so and your tank is not heavily planted and with a small amount of light it will be wasted on the plants.
Plants need three things to grow. Light, Carbon and Nutrients. All three need to be supplied in a balance.
So if you don't have a lot of light (over about 2.5 watts per US gallon) then you shouldn't need to be injecting CO2 as the plants will not be needing it anyway. They can get some carbon from the tank itself via fish waste and mulm that builds up.
The algae is out competing your plants for the light they use to grow. hopefully by removing the phosphates you will be able to get the algae to die back. Another thing you can try is to completely black out the tank (by covering it completely with blankets so absolutely no light gets in and don't put the tank lights on) and leave it like that for about 3 days. This should get rid of the algae, don't worry the plants and fish will be fine.

You need to get your plants growing and get plenty of them so they out compete the algae for available light.

I presume the tank gets no other light (direct sunlight?) as this would also promote algae growth.

Another point that might interest you is that the Nitragon that removes nitrates may well be a bad thing if you do ever get a heavily planted tank as nitrates are used by plants also and many aquarists with heavily planted tanks actually have to add nitrogen to their tanks as part of their nutrient additions.

 

[BillyBigBananas]

I'd say it was lightly planted, I have about 10 plants in - 3 vallis, 1 hornwort, 3 lily things, a java fern, and 3 skinny spikey things i dont know the name of. Im keen to increase the number of plants. I'm waiting for the vallises to multiply. No Co2 injections, wouldnt know how. It gets a bit of sunlight via another room on one side, but I dont think its too bad.

One more question should I be adding plant nutrients like iron directly to the mix when changing water and if so how often?

 

[teknikz]

what type of lights are they???

im using a day-glow and a plant-gro in my 180 litre tank and ive not had a problem with algae......well i did but it was brown algae that transferred from the other tank

the sunlight from the window onto the tank would have an affect on algae growth too.......but id say sunlight in ur tank is a good thing.....and so is algae.....but only a little bit otherwise it gets unsightly

Tek

 

[H2O]

I would recommend getting a LOT more plants. You need to get lots of them growing to use up the nutrients/light and starve the algae.
That tank is pretty deep too. If you can you would be best adding more light too.
I would add another light and plant lots of quick growing plants.
For the plants choose species such as HYDROCOTYL LEUCOCEPHALA, MICROSORIUM PTEROPUS, BACOPA MONNIERA, GYMNOCORONIS SPILANTHOIDES, HYGROPHILA POLYSPERMA and HYGROPHILA STRICTA.
All these plants are fast growing and do not need a great deal of light. Of course there are many others too if you have a look around yourself.
You DO NOT NEED to be adding nutrients to the tank. Don't do it!
You will only be creating excess nutrients and feeding the algae.
You need to get the plants growing and using up the available nutrients in the tank and get rid of the algae before you even think about adding nutrients. I suspect that with a fairly lightly or even medium planted tank of that depth with a low to medium amount of light you will not need to add nutrients even when the plants are established as they will more than likely have enough provided in the tank anyway.

 

[BillyBigBananas]

2 racks of lights each rack has 2 30watt tubes 1 glo tube which is fluorescent and 1 clear, so 4 in total.

Thanks for the tips re the plants, I'll go and get some more at the weekend.

Ive saved down a piccy less than 50kb but dont know how to add it. Read the instructions and didnt see a browse button?

Ahh just worked it out its gone in the piccies forum.

 

[H2O]

Just had a look at your tank, looks okay.
With your tank being deep the plants near the bottom of the tank will not be getting as much light as they would if your tank was shallower.
So you should only consider plants that can cope with low light for the bottom of the tank. Cryptocorynes would be ideal (Cryptocoryne Wendtii is a personal favourite) as they do not need much light at all just a nutrient rich substrate (so plenty of root tabs for them )
For taller plants you would be best sticking to nothing that needs more than medium light.
There are many species that fit the bill. Check out some of the plants I already mentioned.