How to remove Staghorn algae

[Tacocat]

Hi there, turns out I have staghorn algae, and I originally thought that I was putting my arm into the tank so much my hairs were falling off and sticking to the moss, but it turns out it's just a type of algae, which relieves me greatly. How should I get rid of it? I read that you can spot-treat it with seachem excel, which is CO2 in a bottle, but does anybody know a method in which I don't have to use that?

Thanks

 

[Colin_T]

Hi there, turns out I have staghorn algae, and I originally thought that I was putting my arm into the tank so much my hairs were falling off and sticking to the moss, but it turns out it's just a type of algae, which relieves me greatly.

LOL
That goes in my classic statements file

Post some pictures of the algae

 

[Tacocat]

LOL
That goes in my classic statements file

Post some pictures of the algae

I'll take some photos of it tomorrow.

 

[Byron]

Photos will tell us what this is (hopefully), but if it is a "problem" algae there is only one way to safely and effectively deal with it. If this is in a planted tank, you need to establish or re-establish the balance of light and nutrients to benefit the plants but thwart algae. I got rid of black brush algae five years ago and it has never returned. If the tank is not planted, then algae is beneficial and I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Tacocat]

Photos will tell us what this is (hopefully), but if it is a "problem" algae there is only one way to safely and effectively deal with it. If this is in a planted tank, you need to establish or re-establish the balance of light and nutrients to benefit the plants but thwart algae. I got rid of black brush algae five years ago and it has never returned. If the tank is not planted, then algae is beneficial and I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Byron]

Some of that seems to be staghorn, but no matter, problem algae is problem algae and is caused by and resolved by the light/nutrient balance.

Do you have any data on the light, i.e., intensity, spectrum, and duration daily? Are you using any fertilizers/additives? It seems you do water changes, these help by removing nutrients that can feed algae if in excess, so are you thorough in substantial weekly WC's and keeping the filter clean, substrate in open areas? A photo of the entire tank will show us the plant load and fish load which are also factors.

 

[Tacocat]

Some of that seems to be staghorn, but no matter, problem algae is problem algae and is caused by and resolved by the light/nutrient balance.

Do you have any data on the light, i.e., intensity, spectrum, and duration daily? Are you using any fertilizers/additives? It seems you do water changes, these help by removing nutrients that can feed algae if in excess, so are you thorough in substantial weekly WC's and keeping the filter clean, substrate in open areas? A photo of the entire tank will show us the plant load and fish load which are also factors.

Full tank photo from about a week ago

 

[Byron]

That photo tells us one possible issue, the light spectrum. It appears on the blue side, which is common with many LED units, and more to the point will always encourage algae. Do you know the spectrum? And how long per day is it on?

 

[Tacocat]

This is from just now.
No clue what the spectrum is, but I've put electrical tape over some parts to control the lighting, mainly the tape is over the ludwigia part while the moss part is untaped. It is on for about 10 hours a day. No ferts, and I do do weekly 50% water changes, but I will now be doing 30% changes for 2 weeks, 40% for 2 weeks then back to 50% to acclimate my new shrimp to my tap water.
The stag horn algae has been around for longer than the shrimp is, so it's not from that.

 

[Tacocat]

That photo tells us one possible issue, the light spectrum. It appears on the blue side, which is common with many LED units, and more to the point will always encourage algae. Do you know the spectrum? And how long per day is it on?

Oh btw I know that the stocking that you can see is not optimal, but it's the best that I can do with my parents refusing to return fish.

Edit: the blue lighting in the second picture is a vibrant filter I applied to the photo.

 

[Byron]

I think light is your issue here. Ten hour a day is a lot, especially since you are not using any fertilizers so nutrients become depleted quickly, esp CO2. I worked on my lighting until seven hours daily solved the algae problem that I had on and off for many years. You could take it down to 8. Use a timer as consistent light is better for fish, also for plants, and this can somewhat thwart algae.

The spectrum...can you find any indication either on the unit itself, or the manufacturer's online site, that gives either the Kelvin or the CRI (colour rendering index)?

 

[Tacocat]

I think light is your issue here. Ten hour a day is a lot, especially since you are not using any fertilizers so nutrients become depleted quickly, esp CO2. I worked on my lighting until seven hours daily solved the algae problem that I had on and off for many years. You could take it down to 8. Use a timer as consistent light is better for fish, also for plants, and this can somewhat thwart algae.

The spectrum...can you find any indication either on the unit itself, or the manufacturer's online site, that gives either the Kelvin or the CRI (colour rendering index)?

Apparently "7000K high output LED that is 20% brighter than before"
I do have a wall timer, I just leave it on too long. I'll turn the light to 8 hours then.

 

[Byron]

Apparently "7000K high output LED that is 20% brighter than before"
I do have a wall timer, I just leave it on too long. I'll turn the light to 8 hours then.

OK, this is what I thought. The Kelvin is the colour temperature of light. The higher the number, the more blue and less red is in the light, what is termed "cool" white, while the lower the number the more red and less blue, termed warm white. Aquatic plants need red and blue light to drive photosynthesis, and of these, red is the more significant. Green light added to the mix does improve the plants' response, probably because the mix of red, blue and green is closest to the sun. This can be exprssed in the range of 5000K to 7000K using Kelvin.

Your light is low on red, which is one negative for plants, but high on the blue. Algae is not fussy over colour/spectrum like higher plants are, so having the cooler light is advantaging algae. There may be some way to reduce the blue...? If not, reducing the duration may help, but if the red is not high enough, you might still have issues. However, the algae is not too bad, so let's hope the reduction may offset this enough to work.

I went through this some years ago trying to get a LED for one of my tanks when the T8 ballast gave out. Some of these are in the range of 10000K to 11000K, which is ideal for marine corals, but certainly not for plants in freshwater.

 

[Tacocat]

Can't really tell any difference right now but what I can tell you is that the algae only ever stayed near the bacopa and kinda just drifted around the tank and never really grew out of control. It just grew in the shade on the bacopa.