# Algae, algae, algae



## Chuunofish (8 Mar 2021)

Hi 

I have a juwel rio 350 (2x 29w leds) with both  standard internal and oase 350 external filters.

Water parameters are as follows:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Ph6.5
Kh 4.2
Phosphates <,0.1ppm.

I am using ro water changed 30% weekly with seachem stability.  Filter maintenance weekly/monthly as required.  I have been dosing with trace elements and seachem flourish as per manufacturers recommendation. Plants seem to be growing ok albeit some species appear a little pale.

I have a severe algae problem, particularly on slow growing plants.  I have recently started dosing co2 which is around 30ppm.  

am I on the right track or do I need to increase dosing with higher dosage.  I am also considering using s dosing pump, can anyone recommend a good fert strategy for auto dosing?


----------



## GHNelson (8 Mar 2021)

Please read the guidelines for Algae help!
					

Dear Member  Please give as much detail as possible regarding your aquarium set-up, when requiring advice/help! Please upload photographs if possible. Copy and Paste the numbered questions and add your answers next to each!  1. Size of tank in litres. 2. Age of the set - up. 3. Filtration. 4...



					www.ukaps.org


----------



## sparkyweasel (9 Mar 2021)

Yes, more info would help.
But I suspect a lack of macronutrients. Seachem Flourish is basically trace elements, no nitrogen or phosphorus.


----------



## GHNelson (9 Mar 2021)

Hi 
Some more information will be helpful.
Is there a reason you are using RO?
Whats your tap water parameters?
Larger water changes will benefit the system....50% or even more if you don't have shrimp!
Remove as much algae infested leaves as possible.
General husbandry will reduce various algae......liquid carbon will help in the short term.
Seems your dosing two lots of trace/micro elements!
The plants look like they are suffering from Nitrate shortage giving them a lighter green colour.
You need to dose NPK macro fertilizer especially now your adding Carbon Dioxide.
hoggie


----------



## Chuunofish (9 Mar 2021)

Chuunofish said:


> Hi
> 
> I have a juwel rio 350 (2x 29w leds) with both  standard internal and oase 350 external filters.
> 
> ...





GHNelson said:


> Please read the guidelines for Algae help!
> 
> 
> Dear Member  Please give as much detail as possible regarding your aquarium set-up, when requiring advice/help! Please upload photographs if possible. Copy and Paste the numbered questions and add your answers next to each!  1. Size of tank in litres. 2. Age of the set - up. 3. Filtration. 4...
> ...


My apologies, I am new to this.

Tank is 350 ltrs
Lighting schedule is 6 hours per day. 
Not sure how to classify planting density but I would say  medium.  All easy tropica plants sorry I have forgotten about of names, but anubis, crypts and java fern are the ones I can remember.

Gravel over tropica substrate.


Fish density is highish 1 x plec, 3 gourami, 3 rams, 5 derphae tetra  10 rummy nose tetra and 11+ ,otocinclus (started with 4).


----------



## Chuunofish (9 Mar 2021)

GHNelson said:


> Hi
> Some more information will be helpful.
> Is there a reason you are using RO?
> Whats your tap water parameters?
> ...


Hi, thank you for the feedback.

I am using RO as water is very hard  kh 17+ and not suitable for fish species I keep.  I thought ro was better than chemical treatments.

I remove the plants on rocks and treat with bleach solution  1 per month but the algae returns very quickly.



I will try a NPK Fertiliser, any recommendations?

Thank you once again


----------



## Chuunofish (9 Mar 2021)

sparkyweasel said:


> Yes, more info would help.
> But I suspect a lack of macronutrients. Seachem Flourish is basically trace elements, no nitrogen or phosphorus.


Thank you for the help


----------



## GHNelson (9 Mar 2021)

Have a listen to Georges podcast.....his coarse of action towards algae issues are everything I would endorse.








						‎The George Farmer Podcast: 011. Algae in the Planted Aquarium on Apple Podcasts
					

‎Show The George Farmer Podcast, Ep 011. Algae in the Planted Aquarium - 6 Oct 2020



					podcasts.apple.com
				



hoggie


----------



## Zeus. (9 Mar 2021)

Chuunofish said:


> am I on the right track



Unfortunately no.



Chuunofish said:


> do I need to increase dosing with higher dosage.



Yes, esp with CO2 injection.

Commercial ferts will soon work out expensive with 350l tank, Less than 100litres then TNC complete would be the product I would advise, For your tank a starter kit from APFUK would provide ferts at a better levels and cheaper (out of stock ), Short term some TNC then dosing at x3 to x6 standard dose (standard dose works out at about £0.50 a week for your tank)


----------



## GHNelson (9 Mar 2021)

I wouldnt use a bleach dip.....never found that it worked long term!
Have a look at this article below!








						Using stem plants as a filtering aid at Start Up!
					

The subject of using fast-growing stem plants as part of a filtering aid has cropped up a few times recently. This idea has been around for a long time so not new,....it has benefits especially for a new set - up. I try and cover at least 50% of the water surface minimum.  1. Improves water...



					www.ukaps.org
				



hoggie


----------



## dw1305 (9 Mar 2021)

Hi all,
Welcome to UKAPS. 


Chuunofish said:


> Filter maintenance weekly/monthly as required.


Which media do you have inside your filter? It might be a bit of a strange question, but while we don't know <"what is the trigger"> for the growth of any type of algae, but we think that an outbreak of Stagshorn Algae might be preceded by high levels of <"dissolved organic matter">.

Because plants are very effective at taking up <"fixed nitrogen"> we don't  want the biological filter media <"to develop a thick biofilm">.


sparkyweasel said:


> But I suspect a lack of macronutrients. Seachem Flourish is basically trace elements, no nitrogen or phosphorus.


Probably <"part of the answer">. Again we don't know exactly why, but a <"large biomass of plants"> (in active growth) seems to deter algae.

cheers Darrel


----------



## Chuunofish (9 Mar 2021)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> Welcome to UKAPS.
> 
> Which media do you have inside your filter? It might be a bit of a strange question, but while we don't know <"what is the trigger"> for the growth of any type of algae, but we think that an outbreak of Stagshorn Algae might be preceded by high levels of <"dissolved organic matter">.
> ...


In juwel stack I have 1x carbon, 1 x seachem  phosguard1 x seachem purigen, 2 x coarsefoam and 1 x filter floss

In the oase 350 2 x seachem matrix, 1 x coarse foam  3 x medium foam.  The pre filter has 40ppm sponges


----------



## Chuunofish (9 Mar 2021)

GHNelson said:


> Have a listen to Georges podcast.....his coarse of action towards algae issues are everything I would endorse.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Having listened to George the great, am I better off binning all the plants and starting again or will the algae reduce over time with an improved regime?


----------



## Zeus. (9 Mar 2021)

Chuunofish said:


> In juwel stack I have 1x carbon, 1 x seachem  phosguard1 x seachem purigen, 2 x coarsefoam and 1 x filter floss
> 
> In the oase 350 2 x seachem matrix, 1 x coarse foam  3 x medium foam.  The pre filter has 40ppm sponges



I would remove everything except coarse foam, medium foam and the pre filter sponges, may a hand full of ceramic but not much. As @ceg4048 often says 'FLOW is KING' in the high tech tank, have a strong King to rule everything


----------



## Chuunofish (9 Mar 2021)

Zeus. said:


> I would remove everything except coarse foam, medium foam and the pre filter sponges, may a hand full of ceramic but not much. As @ceg4048 often says 'FLOW is KING' in the high tech tank, have a strong King to rule everything


Based on between the 2 filters I have 6 x flow 2100ltrs per hours  how much more should I aim for?


----------



## GHNelson (9 Mar 2021)

About 10x the volume of the aquarium.
I don't think you need to bin your plants yet!
Have a go at upping the filter cleaning.....and reduce your lighting intensity if you can, get some floating plants or use fast growing stems as floaters also plant some of the stems!
Remove algae infected leaves as much as possible.....Staghorn Algae can be due to a build up of organics in the filters.
You have green spot algae which is an indicator of low phosphate!
Get your drop checker to a green colour before lights come on.
You need to dose NPK.....purchase dry salts from eBay this will save you money....... and you can tailor which ferts you need to add to the aquarium!


----------



## Zeus. (9 Mar 2021)

For 350litre tank we would advise x10 so 3500Litres per hour, it can be done with less and some users do manage with x5. With your staghorn the higher the better IMO and good surface agitation. will see the fastest results in combination with ferts a good clean removing worse leaves and frequent WCs. 
Starting again would give the fastest result, however you may find you didnt resolve the issue which caused the staghorn .

So getting things to improve first would be my goal
As @GHNelson mentioned checking CO2 drop and a pH profile would/may help


----------



## dw1305 (9 Mar 2021)

Hi all, 


Chuunofish said:


> 1 x seachem phosguard


That one should <"come out">.  If it is removing all the phosphate (PO4--- ions from the water column it is actively hampering plant growth. 


Zeus. said:


> I would remove everything except coarse foam, medium foam and the pre filter sponges


I'm not a fan of <"floss or fine sponge"> either. We have some <"threads on modding"> the <"pre-filters on OASE filters">.

cheers Darrel


----------



## GHNelson (9 Mar 2021)

GHNelson said:


> The plants look like they are suffering from Nitrate shortage giving them a lighter green colour.


Would guess Nitrate is 0 ppm!


----------



## jaypeecee (9 Mar 2021)

Chuunofish said:


> I am using ro water changed 30% weekly with seachem stability.


Hi @Chuunofish 

Which remineralizer did you use with your RO water and did you follow the manufacturer's recommendations about how much to use?

JPC


----------



## Chuunofish (9 Mar 2021)

jaypeecee said:


> Hi @Chuunofish
> 
> Which remineralizer did you use with your RO water and did you follow the manufacturer's recommendations about how much to use?
> 
> JPC


Hi  

I using marin tropic remineralise  dosing at 20mls per 100ltrs. Which is correct target for 4dh


----------



## dw1305 (9 Mar 2021)

Hi all,


Chuunofish said:


> I using marin tropic remineralise dosing at 20mls per 100ltrs. Which is correct target for 4dh





Chuunofish said:


> I am using RO as water is very hard kh 17+


You can <"just use some tap water"> to give you some dGH/dKH. The hardness is all from dissolved limestone (CaCO3) and it gives you <"1:1 dGH (the Ca++) and dKH (2HCO3-)">.

I have hard tap water (~17dKH is pretty much <"fully saturated with CaCO3)"> and I keep soft water fish (<"in rainwater">) and I use about 10% tap.

cheers Darrel


----------



## Zeus. (9 Mar 2021)

Chuunofish said:


> Hi
> 
> I using marin tropic remineralise  dosing at 20mls per 100ltrs. Which is correct target for 4dh



Assuming marin tropic remineralise





So 200g/750Lx 100L = 26.667 grams per 100litres

Works out quite costly IMO, and DIY dry salts will be well worth your time



To make life easy toss in after water change
Magnesium Sulphate one teaspoon
Calcium Chloride one teaspoon
Potassium Bicarbonate three teaspoons
and call it done 



Money you save pays for your DIY ferts and still in pocket, once staghorn sorted some spare cash for new plants

We don't know the actual Ca:Mg:K ratio of the product, but 3:1:12 Ca:Mg:K sounds good to me, plus tank will be more stable IMO using single salts rather than a multi salt mix, as not every teaspoon will be the same in a multi salt mix, due to salts size and density of the individual salts will vary


----------



## Chuunofish (10 Mar 2021)

Zeus. said:


> Assuming marin tropic remineralise
> View attachment 164496
> 
> So 200g/750Lx 100L = 26.667 grams per 100litres
> ...


Thanks 

Have ordered my starter kit from aquarium plant food and will start my journey with dry DIY.  I will keep you posted.  Thank you everyone for your help. Let the journey begin


----------



## nigel bentley (20 Mar 2021)

Chuunofish said:


> Based on between the 2 filters I have 6 x flow 2100ltrs per hours  how much more should I aim for?


Also the stated filter output is assumed with no hoses and no media. For instance I run two external filters which according to data sheets will give  litres 2800 per hour. In reality, I probably achieve half of that and use powerheads to make up shortfall. Along with not overpacking media as mentioned by others, I believe that by having the shortest length hoses possible will help with flow, particularly the outlet hose
Thanks
Nigel


----------

