# Problem with Green Spot Algae and Green Dust Algae, the rest types of algae are under control



## enb141 (26 Feb 2020)

Hi, my 70 US gallon tank has problems with Green Spot Algae and Green Dust Algae, the rest of algae are under control.

The most affected plants are my anubias and old leaves, new leaves doesn't seem to have issues with this types of algae.

My parameters are:

- Co2 about 2 or 3 bubbles per second with glass diffuser.
- Temperature 76 Farenheight.
- Dosing GLA PPS-PRO (2 ml twice a day = 4 ml total per day)
- Plantex CSM + B (1 ml twice a day = 2 ml today per day)
- dkh probably 1 because I use RODI water
- Lights 2 Radion planted edition at about 40%


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## GHNelson (26 Feb 2020)

Hi
Information on Algae issues below...suspect you may have to up the Phosphate dose!
www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm
hoggie


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## enb141 (26 Feb 2020)

Looks like a trial of error, according to the link for the GSA, I have to increase phosphates and probably water flow as well.

For the GDA, pretty much says about phosphates, so if I'm already dosing phosphates with PPS-PRO, my question is if should I increase the dose of KpPO4 or should I look for something else?


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## GHNelson (26 Feb 2020)

Hi
I personally would up the Macro dosing for 6 to 8 weeks!
Remove Aubias leaves that are affected by GSA.
Cut your RO water with 25% tapwater.....3 to1 Ratio.
Perform the largest water changes possible each week.
hoggie


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## enb141 (26 Feb 2020)

hogan53 said:


> Hi
> I personally would up the Macro dosing for 6 to 8 weeks!
> Remove Aubias leaves that are affected by GSA.
> Cut your RO water with 25% tapwater.....3 to1 Ratio.
> ...



Would up the macros? what do you mean?

All anubias leaves are affected by GSA, when I dose micros and macros the problem gets worse, pretty much the only way to keep the anubias with less GSA is to stop dosing micros and macros but then the red plants get pale and get GSA.

I have seachem Equilibrium, should I dose it?

Previously I used to have 100% tap water and the problems were worse, lots of green water and GSA was even worse on the anubias.

I usually only do water change about once every other month because RODI is pretty expensive in comparison to tap water plus the green water.

Other reason why I use RODI and almost no water changes is because I'm using PPS-PRO instead of E.I.

I do water changes when TDS goes above 180.


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## GHNelson (26 Feb 2020)

Macros = GLA PPS-PRO
Micros = Plantex CSM + B
Dosing fertilizers will not cause algae issues!
Although poor tank maintenance will, due to organic pollutants from plant waste.

Just my advice....go back to using tap water and do regular water changes.
Once or twice per week.
Still do your regular fertilizing regime.
hoggie


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## ian_m (26 Feb 2020)

1. What does your drop checker say ? Seems awfully small amount of CO2 for such a large tank.
2. For such a large tank, I very very very very much doubt a glass diffuser will get anywhere decent enough CO2 levels and distribution.
3. Your water is awfully soft, which again leads to many issues. Try hardening it with tap water or calcium carbonate to at least 4dKH, even better 8.. With soft water and CO2 you are never far away from pH crashes and associated livestock issues !!!
4. What level filtration are you using as well as spray bars etc ?. For a high tech tank with CO2 you will be needing a filtration rate of at least 700 US G per hour, to stand any chance of enough flow and distribution of CO2.


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## Jayefc1 (26 Feb 2020)

Totaly agree with hoggie poor maintenance is the most comman cause of issues in a planted tank going 4 weeks between water changes in a high tech tank dont seem right at all as most do at least 50% weekly


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## GHNelson (26 Feb 2020)

Micros = Plantex CSM + B
Shouldn't be added the same day as the Macro fertilizer!
hoggie


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## enb141 (26 Feb 2020)

hogan53 said:


> Macros = GLA PPS-PRO
> Micros = Plantex CSM + B
> Dosing fertilizers will not cause algae issues!
> Although poor tank maintenance will, due to organic pollutants from plant waste.
> ...



I was using tap water long time ago but the water from where I live is pretty crappy, dead fish, green water, etc. So after changing to RODI the dead fish by the water quality was practically gone.

For cleaning up the water I use a fluval 403 canister and when the water looks bad I use a Marineland Magnum polisher for about 4 or 6 hours.



ian_m said:


> 1. What does your drop checker say ? Seems awfully small amount of CO2 for such a large tank.
> 2. For such a large tank, I very very very very much doubt a glass diffuser will get anywhere decent enough CO2 levels and distribution.
> 3. Your water is awfully soft, which again leads to many issues. Try hardening it with tap water or calcium carbonate to at least 4dKH, even better 8.. With soft water and CO2 you are never far away from pH crashes and associated livestock issues !!!
> 4. What level filtration are you using as well as spray bars etc ?. For a high tech tank with CO2 you will be needing a filtration rate of at least 700 US G per hour, to stand any chance of enough flow and distribution of CO2.



I'm having issues with my drop checker because the low dkh, is supposed to be green but I don't trust it, even when testing with two different drop brands.

I was thinking the same for the glass diffuser but if I dose more drops all the leaves start to bubble and also the reason why I think the co2 distribution is not that bad is because the return of the canister is about 2 inches below the water so not much of gas loss.

I was thinking to add a circulation pump as I do with my reef tank, I currently use a fluval 306 and is rated at 206 US G/h.



Jayefc1 said:


> Totaly agree with hoggie poor maintenance is the most comman cause of issues in a planted tank going 4 weeks between water changes in a high tech tank dont seem right at all as most do at least 50% weekly



That's why I use the Magnum polishing to remove lots of waste.



hogan53 said:


> Micros = Plantex CSM + B
> Shouldn't be added the same day as the Macro fertilizer!
> hoggie



But the instructions says that I have to dose micros and macros daily, so how to dose them then?


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## Witcher (26 Feb 2020)

For such a soft water I think you shouldn't go with more than 0.3ppm weekly of Fe (depending if you have Fe hungry plants or not, Anubias is not one of them). Personally I'd go up with PO4 (and potentially NO3), down with Fe/micro, dose macro and micro on alternate days (avoid dosing Fe and PO4 on the same day) and dose at least 4ppm of Ca for water change volume. PPS is a great system, but dosing should be done as often as possible with very tiny amounts of ferts for each dose - idea is in the frequency, not the quantity.


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## GHNelson (26 Feb 2020)

Macro dose Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday.
Micro dose Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.
hoggie


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## enb141 (26 Feb 2020)

Witcher said:


> For such a soft water I think you shouldn't go with more than 0.3ppm weekly of Fe (depending if you have Fe hungry plants or not, Anubias is not one of them). Personally I'd go up with PO4 (and potentially NO3), down with Fe/micro, dose macro and micro on alternate days (avoid dosing Fe and PO4 on the same day) and dose at least 4ppm of Ca for water change volume. PPS is a great system, but dosing should be done as often as possible with very tiny amounts of ferts for each dose - idea is in the frequency, not the quantity.



Should I increase the hardness of my water, if I do what's the benefit of increasing the hardness of the water?


So if I dose FE, can I feed my fish on that day?



hogan53 said:


> Macro dose Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday.
> Micro dose Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.
> hoggie



I'm gonna do that, but since now I'm gonna do this on every other day, what amounts should I dose for each day?


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## GHNelson (26 Feb 2020)

Have a read at the below sticky...this will give you a better understanding about water hardness!
https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/all-about-water-hardness.4869/

 Yes, you can feed your fish when dosing Micro Ferts!

70 US Gallons is approximately 250 Litres.
Dose 1ml per 40 litres = 7ml
Dose 7ml of GLA PPS-PRO on allocated days!

Micros I would keep the same dosing amount! 
hoggie​


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## enb141 (27 Feb 2020)

hogan53 said:


> Have a read at the below sticky...this will give you a better understanding about water hardness!
> https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/all-about-water-hardness.4869/
> 
> Yes, you can feed your fish when dosing Micro Ferts!
> ...



After reading the link about water hardness, pretty much says that low alkalinity is better than high alkalinity, so should I keep my RODI or shoud I add Seachem equilibrium?

About the CO2 drops per second, are the fine or should I increase or decrease?

Thanks.


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## GHNelson (27 Feb 2020)

Hi
I would add Seachem equilibrium to raise the hardness.
Have a look at this picture of the JBL Test kit!




Green Smilie Faces are good indicators!

Adding more Co2?
If you have livestock I would be careful...you may gas the inhabitants.

Probably you are better to change to an in-line diffuser for better Co2 dissolution for that size of an aquarium.
hoggie


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## ian_m (27 Feb 2020)

hogan53 said:


> Green Smilie Faces are good indicators!


As stated before, do not use neat RODI water, harden up to 4-8 dGH before use.

Also remember to dechlorinate eg Prime your water before use as RODI units, especially if not in tip top condition can lead to chlorine and/or ammonia being present in the water. Both are extremely toxic to fish and ammonia very good for growing algae.

Someone else here, had real issues with green algae of all sorts whilst using his RO water and was eventually traced to ammonia in the RO water (along with not hardending the water). This was due chloramine in the tap water along with poor quality pre-filter and/or too higher flow rate through the RO system.


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## Witcher (27 Feb 2020)

enb141 said:


> Should I increase the hardness of my water, if I do what's the benefit of increasing the hardness of the water?


I'd personally keep it as low as possible, most of the plants we keep in our tanks are coming from soft waters (Amazon basin etc.). You can add some Ca and Mg to keep it at 2kh/4dGH - it should be perfect for most of the plants, but bear in mind that with low carbonate hardness you must be careful with CO2 management/pH/acidity as there won't be too much buffer in the water.


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## enb141 (27 Feb 2020)

ian_m said:


> As stated before, do not use neat RODI water, harden up to 4-8 dGH before use.
> 
> Also remember to dechlorinate eg Prime your water before use as RODI units, especially if not in tip top condition can lead to chlorine and/or ammonia being present in the water. Both are extremely toxic to fish and ammonia very good for growing algae.
> 
> Someone else here, had real issues with green algae of all sorts whilst using his RO water and was eventually traced to ammonia in the RO water (along with not hardending the water). This was due chloramine in the tap water along with poor quality pre-filter and/or too higher flow rate through the RO system.



I use industrial grade RODI, in other words I don't use my own filters, I buy it from a water company, that's why is expensive and that's why I use PPS-PRO method because I don't wanna do twice a week water changes.

I don't use tap water for the same reasons, the water here has a lot o chloramine and other bad stuffs, when I started using RODI the results were almost immediately, the only problem that I have is when I dose, but I have to dose if not the red plants doesn't get the right colors, but my anubias and old leaves get GSA and GDA.



Witcher said:


> I'd personally keep it as low as possible, most of the plants we keep in our tanks are coming from soft waters (Amazon basin etc.). You can add some Ca and Mg to keep it at 2kh/4dGH - it should be perfect for most of the plants, but bear in mind that with low carbonate hardness you must be careful with CO2 management/pH/acidity as there won't be too much buffer in the water.



That's why I got almost 0 dkh because of my tank size so I have to add less CO2.  



hogan53 said:


> Hi
> I would add Seachem equilibrium to raise the hardness.
> Have a look at this picture of the JBL Test kit!
> View attachment 131919
> ...



I can't read the image, I just see green parts but can't read what is says.

I have lots of fish, that's why I was thinking to use very low dkh so I have to use way less CO2.


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## GHNelson (28 Feb 2020)

ian_m said:
			
		

> What ian_m said which is correct!...
> 3. Your water is awfully soft, which again leads to many issues.
> Try hardening it with tap water or calcium carbonate to at least 4dKH, even better 8dKH.


 With soft water and CO2 you are never far away from *pH crashes* and associated livestock issues !!!


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## ian_m (28 Feb 2020)

enb141 said:


> That's why I got almost 0 dkh because of my tank size so I have to add less CO2.


This is bad, very bad and is probably the source of your algae issues. With 0dKH you have no buffer capacity thus will encounter rapid pH swings due to CO2, rotting plants, fish poo etc which is a 100% sure way to grow algae (and kill fish). You mustn't use pure RO, it must be used with some form of slight hardening, whether it is cut with tap water, calcium carbonate added or some commercial salts added.


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## enb141 (28 Feb 2020)

So even if I'm using Fluval Stratum I have to add dkh?


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## ian_m (28 Feb 2020)

enb141 said:


> So even if I'm using Fluval Stratum I have to add dkh?


Yes. Fluval Stratum (which I use as well) does not significantly affect the water parameters.

You can harden RO water many ways, commercial solutions are one option.
https://www.seachem.com/equilibrium.php

You can also make your own.
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/RO.htm


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## enb141 (28 Feb 2020)

ian_m said:


> Yes. Fluval Stratum (which I use as well) does not significantly affect the water parameters.
> 
> You can harden RO water many ways, commercial solutions are one option.
> https://www.seachem.com/equilibrium.php
> ...



I already have equilibrium and I started to slowly increase my dkh to about 4 dkh.


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## enb141 (1 Mar 2020)

ian_m said:


> 1. What does your drop checker say ? Seems awfully small amount of CO2 for such a large tank.
> 2. For such a large tank, I very very very very much doubt a glass diffuser will get anywhere decent enough CO2 levels and distribution.
> 3. Your water is awfully soft, which again leads to many issues. Try hardening it with tap water or calcium carbonate to at least 4dKH, even better 8.. With soft water and CO2 you are never far away from pH crashes and associated livestock issues !!!
> 4. What level filtration are you using as well as spray bars etc ?. For a high tech tank with CO2 you will be needing a filtration rate of at least 700 US G per hour, to stand any chance of enough flow and distribution of CO2.



Well I managed to get dark green with the drop checker.



hogan53 said:


> Macro dose Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday.
> Micro dose Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.
> hoggie



So that means Monday and Sunday will get Macros so in other words micros will be dosed on 3 days a week and macros 4 days a week?


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## GHNelson (1 Mar 2020)

Yes!
Your dosing a daily routine with GLA PPS-PRO & Plantex CSM + B .

The estimated Index dosing regime is as below.
Macros should be dosed for 3 days!
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Trace dosing relates to (T) Tuesday and Thursday!
Saturday is a rest day from dosing!
Sunday water change day.
I hope that helps!
hoggie


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