Still Getting Algae Growth With Co²

[@ombomb]

Some of you may remember I has some rather unpleasent algae problems, the general consensus about the casue of this was high phosphate levels (curse you Thames Water!) and unstable CO². Last weekend I added my JBL system and have been running it with a solenoid / pH controller.

I slowly bought my pH down to 6.9 (6.85 - 6.95) with the KH stable at 8.5 = 32ppm CO²

I am still getting some of the nasty slimely tentacle algae (MUCH less that I was) growing on my Amazon Sword / Vallis. Do you think I should:

A - Just remove it as normal and give the CO² another week and see what happens

B - Bleach dip the plants

Here's a pic of how the algae looked a few weeks ago:

N.B. I am yet to positively ID this algae!

 

[Bloo]

Oh dear I think you should completely remove all infected plants and start afresh

Edit: I don't have algae like that, though I do have some flight brown fluffy algae growth on my non-CO2 tank with 1WpG around the leave edges of my Amazons. But nothing like that.

 

[Discomafia]

Are you sure that this is not a nutrient problem? What is your phosphate reading? If I were you, I'd increase CO2, keep an eye on the fish, and wait for another week. Bleaching the plants won't cure the problem permanently, it'll just remove it temporarily... Also, is your tank heavily planted?

 

[pseud]

Could the problem be that you don't have many fast growing plants?

 

[@ombomb]

Oh dear confused.gif I think you should completely remove all infected plants and start afresh smile.gif

Things are MUCH better now that in the photo Bloo, that was taken at the height of the problem and at the time the algae was growing across all my plants, now just couple of sword leaves have it and some of the Val, but not any where as bad as in the photo. I'm most of the way to beating this, just need to wipe out the few remaining problem areas.

It's very dark green / grey and the tentacles grew up to about 10cm in a couple of days during thr worst part of the infestation. Fortunately it's easy to remove with a gravel vac but grows back VERY quickly. Not been able to find anything about it on the net.

Are you sure that this is not a nutrient problem? What is your phosphate reading?

I'm fairly certain it was a combination of high phosphates (5ppm from the tap) and unstable DIY CO². The phosphates are getting used up by the plants but I still have high levels even though the tank is eavily planted.

Could the problem be that you don't have many fast growing plants?

Fraid not, I have 3 types of Hygro in there which grow like there's no tomorrow, Amazon Frogbit which can easily double in numbers over the course of a week and Vallis which is growing so quickly I have to give it regular haircuts to stop it blocking the light to the rest of the tank.

I suggest bleaching as I think that while I am removing the majority of the algae from the leaves, some of it remains and grows back. If bleached I am hoping to remove it from the leaves permamently as now that I have the balance of the tank close to where it needs to be apart from the phosphates (being pointing out RO units to my girlfriend already and making Xmas present suggestions) that it will not come back.

Current water stats:

Nitrite / Amonia = 0
Nitrate = 20ppm
Phosphate = 3.5ppm - too high
pH = 6.9
KH = 8.5
CO² = 32ppm

If I take the pH down to around 6.75, that would give me 50ppm CO² which I will try for a while to see if it makes any impact. One of the things that worries me slightly at the moment, is my first water change after adding the CO² as my tap water is much higher that the current tank water, but I'll just have to fill the tank up slowly and keep a close eye on the pH reading.

Thanks for the imput.

 

[houndour]

i would be tempted to bleach. I know what its like to have algae problems. I dont think having the correct conditions will necessarily get rid of whats there completely.

Have you been using your solenoid? Just out of interest what is the pH swing? I didn't use my solenoid for the first bottle but my bottle ran out quick So now I'm using it. pH swing is 0.6, but fish seem ok after a week.

 

[@ombomb]

Yes I have it all hooked up to the pH controller. The swing at the moment has calmed down and is around 0.6 - 0.8 but I'm fine tuning it. Fish seem fine.

 

[zig]

I still think its some sort of beard algae or bba, there are thousands of species of this algae so you may never find your exact one, but whatever it is i would remove any infected areas from the tank asap, if it is some form of bba upping the co2 levels will only stop its growth, it wont kill it or eliminate it from the tank, you would still have to physically remove the infected areas.

It would be very interesting to see if overdosing Excel worked for this algae, but that would cost money and its probably just as easy to remove it from the tank alltogether.

Id be slow to bleach the plants, that really is a last resort, ive had good and bad results with bleaching and id be very slow to do it again.

 

[RYO]

It would be very interesting to see if overdosing Excel worked for this algae

Im trying that at the moment,i have algae that looks the same and i think my prob is my co2 stability.

 

[@ombomb]

Well I'm upping the level of CO² slowly and at the water change this afternoon I took the opportunity to rearrange the tank somewhat. I pulled out the two enormous swords, which had created a dead corner in the tank where all sorts of unpleasent stuff (dead leaves, poo etc) had built up, thinned them out by removing the infected leaves, trimmed the Vallis right back to remove in the problem areas, and had a good rearrange.

The outcome is no dead areas, it looks heaps better, and all leaves that were still showing the algae growth have been removed.

Will keep you updated, but I'm quietly optimistic!

Will be doing a similar spring clean in the other half of the tank next week, but it's look fantastic at the moment (with I had a digital camera) and everything is pearling like crazy.

 

[Walt]

Could it be cause its only been 1 week?
Sounds like most of the problems have gone... might just take a bit longer to finish up....

 

[@ombomb]

Well it's all looking good so far, there's much more room in the tank and more light getting down to the lower levels now (I had let it get a little overgrown ) ) and no sign of any algae growth 3 days after the cleanout.

Fingers crossed!