Algae takeover

[clm08k]

Hey all. I'm very new to planted tanks. Had my current set up for 5-6 months now. It's a 55g with Aquaclear 110 HOB, and a sunblaster 4foot T5 bulb.

Temp :80. F
Ph 7.5
Am: O
Nitrites: O
Nitrate: 15-20ppm
Phosphate: tested and the test turned grey?
Current stock is: 3 bichirs and 4 giant danios.
I do a 30-50% water change 1x a week. Lately been closer to 40/50.

Plants: amazon swords, two types of Vals.
Everything started going south once my water lettuce died. Then all my plants started getting spots of brown/black on them. Now there is also green algae and every leaf has spots or film on it . I'm having to scrub the plants at least once a week. But still can't get all of it off. Then it comes back a few days later.

. Maybe the light is on too much? around 8 hours a day. Should I be supplementing? I occasionally add "synthesis" and "envy" supplements by aquavitro (sea Chem line). The gravel is PFS and petco black sand.

Here are some pictures of the algae:




The del says:" please help." I miss having green plants.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Two things come to mind. First the amazons are heavy root feeders. They need some sort of plant food at the roots. I use to use "plant tabs" but can not find them now. I have tried flourish tabs the last couple of years and find them better than nothing. So some sort of solid fertilizer stuck into the substrate near the roots.

Second is that normally I would suggest a reduced lighted period but eight hours is fairly short already. Not familiar with the

sunblaster 4foot T5 bulb.

.
I am tempted to suggest a longer lighted period but am not sure about that. I run my lights on a longer cycle but may have less lumens.

 

[clm08k]

Hello; Two things come to mind. First the amazons are heavy root feeders. They need some sort of plant food at the roots. I use to use "plant tabs" but can not find them now. I have tried flourish tabs the last couple of years and find them better than nothing. So some sort of solid fertilizer stuck into the substrate near the roots.

Second is that normally I would suggest a reduced lighted period but eight hours is fairly short already. Not familiar with the .
I am tempted to suggest a longer lighted period but am not sure about that. I run my lights on a longer cycle but may have less lumens.

Thank you! I will get some flourish tabs. How often should I replace them?

How many hours a day do you suggest trying? If I cut the light down will the algae stop growing?

 

[fisheatfish]

Two things come to mind when I encounter the problem you have. Too much high lighting and too much nutrient in your water column and not enough plants to absorb them. With time and experience, you'll figure out the balance point...we all go through it. For the time being, a quick, easy and inexpensive fix to rid the algae is to use hydrogen peroxide from your medicine cabinet. You can remove the plant out of water and spray or dip or I use a dropper to squirt it right onto the plant in the water...won't harm the plant of livestock. May require a few application every few days...no scrubbing necessary. Works on hair algae too.

 

[clm08k]

J jaws7777 kno4te magpie twentyleagues Experiment397 Vancouver_98683 Polyaddict86

 

[clm08k]

Two things come to mind when I encounter the problem you have. Too much high lighting and too much nutrient in your water column and not enough plants to absorb them. With time and experience, you'll figure out the balance point...we all go through it. For the time being, a quick, easy and inexpensive fix to rid the algae is to use hydrogen peroxide from your medicine cabinet. You can remove the plant out of water and spray or dip or I use a dropper to squirt it right onto the plant in the water...won't harm the plant of livestock. May require a few application every few days...no scrubbing necessary. Works on hair algae too.

Thanks for replying! Do I need to scrub the plant? How long do I dip or spray the plant?

 

[jaws7777]

Ive had that happen before. Too long of a light period. Theres a product called excel that supposed to reduce algea

 

[tiger15]

You have black beard algae infestation. You can spot spray BBA with 3% H2O2 during water change when the plants are emerged. Any spill over to the water will quickly vaporize as O2 and won't harm fish. The BBA will turn red the next few days and be eaten by algae eater or removed by your hand. Next, you need to dose Flourish Excel at 2x recommended dosage daily to the tank water as an algaecide to systemically eliminate BBA. Excel also provide a carbon source to help your plants grow faster.

 

[tarheel96]

That's brown diatom algae. It's not BBA. There may be some BBA there that's barely visible but, everything you see ... all of that brown colored stuff .. is diatomaceous algae.

The nutrient ratio proposed for diatoms is Si: N: P = 15:16:1 so they use roughly equal parts silicate and nitrate. Orthosilicate and other silicic acid forms come from most tap water so there's no way around that.

The best thing to do is to rub it off the plants.

 

[Polyaddict86]

I had the same thing happen, light been on too long, plus you need flourish for your plants everytime you do water change, my water lettuce too died cause of the lights are on more than 8 hrs a day.