# Algae VS H.C.



## Lewisr (3 Apr 2011)

Tank specifications - 35l.
Lighting - 18w T5ho. 10hours a day
CO2 -DIY 1 bubble every second.. quite stable.. Overdosing Excel
Filtration - 1 external (150lph) 1 internal (200lph)
Fertilisation routine - E.I.






The pic prettymuch describes my problem.. My HC is being attacked by this algae.. It is only growing on the plant, the rocks and glass are all free from any algae (there is a bit of brown algae over some of the hardware but these are not mature filters). I have heard about excel dealing with algae so have tried putting half a capful in every day, I have noticed in this time the threads have turned brown but i still cannot remove it as doing so uproots the HC..

Would a blackout for a few days help? Getting a bit annoyed with it now


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## John Starkey (3 Apr 2011)

How long has the tank been running?,also 10hrs a day is far too long a photo period in my opinion,if this a newly setup tank,then 6hrs a day for a month or at least until you see good growth,then up the period by half a week until you get to 7 hrs and so on,but only if you are having good growth and minimal algae probs,also your co2 bubble rate is too low,i would run at at least 3 BPS,as long as you have good flow,the algae looks like diatoms to me too,add some amano shrimp and do water changes every day 50%,

john.


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## Lewisr (3 Apr 2011)

The HC was first dry started for 3 weeks but I saw minimal growth so I flooded the tank. After a few days the HC had doubled in size and has continued to grow rapidly even with the algae smothering it. I will try cutting the photoperiod down to 6 hours and see if that helps, I can increase the co2 rate but at the expense of stability as this is a yeast system..
How would a 50% water change help with the algae? I also cannot add livestock yet as these filters are not mature(only been running just over 2 weeks)

Thanks for your help mate

Lewis.


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## gmartins (3 Apr 2011)

hi,

water changes help by removing amonia, which may be causing the algae.

GM


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## Lewisr (3 Apr 2011)

I recognise this, and I do not want to appear rude by questioning you guys, I still have much to learn but I am curious as to why there is ammonia in a new tank that only contains plants. 

Thanks

Lewis.


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## gmartins (3 Apr 2011)

No worries mate,

Amonia is a by-product of decomposing organic matter. There's always amonia in every tank but this tends to be more pronouced in recently set ups as filters are yet to be matured.

Even on new tanks only with plants will always have some melt down, dead leaves, etc which will cause amonia spikes. Try to have your tank as clean as possible especially in these first weeks.

cheers,

GM


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## bigmatt (3 Apr 2011)

yeast co2 could also be the culprit! BBA tends to be a product of inconsistent co2 delivery so when you say stable how do you mean? Are you checking gas delivery to the substrate with a drop checker as this could reveal the problem! Hope this helps, Matt


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## Lewisr (3 Apr 2011)

I forgot about dead leaves and so on.. I guess I forgot about those as there has been so much growth, this definitely isnt BBA it was more like long green threads, the iphone camera really doesnt show it well. I do not own a drop checker yet but there is plenty of circulation right across the substrate as i have the internal filter exit as close as i can get to it without actually turning up the substrate. My 2nd filter is causing slight disturbance at the top to stop a film forming on the surface. I have heard this can drive co2 out of the water but have also read that it does not.. should I stop the filter from disturbing the surface?

Thanks 

Lewis.


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