# Algae problems



## jonnyedwards1981 (25 Mar 2014)

Evening everyone, I'm new to this forum.

I have a 5" 300l AquaOak aquarium which has now been running for 10 weeks or so. I set the tank up with a fishless cycle and its now the happy home to some lovely fish.

I have plant substrate under aquarium sand and run co2 via the jbl proflora kit. Over the past two weeks, I've been getting some algae problems, mainly growing on the plants and it looks like black beard algae to me (although I may be wrong). I have three TMC aquagro led tiles which run for 7 hours per day and my co2 come on an hour before the lights come on and goes off 30 mins before the light dim to nothing.

I add ferropol weekly plus the ferropol 24 daily.

I thought I may have phosphate issues and so purchased the jbl po4 test kit at the weekend, and after testing, had zero phosphates. My local fish store said it would be worth adding 6 ml of easycarbo each day to help with the algae and so I have been doing this daily for the last three days. Plus, due to having zero phosphates, they recommended adding easy life fosfo which I have also been doing for the past three days. I have however had no increase in phosphates which has given me a headache this evening! Then I had a horrible thought that my two external filters had phosphate pads in them, and after checking, my suspicions were confirmed. I have now removed both of the phosphate pads and am hoping that I can now get a 0.2 or so reading of phosphate tomorrow. 

Am I missing anything else? Should the removal of pads give me the phosphate reading and help kill off the algae? How else can I get rid of the unsightly stuff? Pic attached


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## stu_ (25 Mar 2014)

Hi.Welcome to the forum
What level are the led tiles running at,100% ?
Also,neither of your ferts seem to contain Nitrate.Are you dosing any?
Lastly,do you know what the plant substrate is?


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## tim (25 Mar 2014)

Only way to get rid of the unsightly stuff is to trim it off the plants and remove it from the tank, jbl ferropol is lacking in NPK which plants need, you may have flow/distribution issues around the substrate area of your tank which a stronger filter or a power head could resolve, I would imagine a reduction in lighting intensity will also help your tank.


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## jonnyedwards1981 (25 Mar 2014)

stu_ said:


> Hi.Welcome to the forum
> What level are the led tiles running at,100% ?
> Also,neither of your ferts seem to contain Nitrate.Are you dosing any?
> Lastly,do you know what the plant substrate is?


They ramp up to 100% after 30 mins from coming on, then dim down to zero in a 45 min spell 7 hours later, so in short, they run for 7 hours at 100%.  I'm not dosing any nitrate no. The plant substrate was jbl proflora start set (2 tubs)


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## jonnyedwards1981 (25 Mar 2014)

tim said:


> Only way to get rid of the unsightly stuff is to trim it off the plants and remove it from the tank, jbl ferropol is lacking in NPK which plants need, you may have flow/distribution issues around the substrate area of your tank which a stronger filter or a power head could resolve, I would imagine a reduction in lighting intensity will also help your tank.


Thanks Tim, so trim the leaves off completely? This would leave me with a fairly bare tank and most of the plants have it unfortunately. My local fish store have said that squirting the dose of easycarbo directly onto the leaves may help? So adding a power head to the bottom of the tank could also help you think?


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## tim (25 Mar 2014)

The power head will help get co2 and nutrients to the plants but you have to add them, easy carbo will kill algae but you'll need to add shrimp, snails etc to clean it off the plants once dead or remove manually. As I stated a reduction in lighting intensity will really help your cause for the time being.


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## jonnyedwards1981 (25 Mar 2014)

tim said:


> The power head will help get co2 and nutrients to the plants but you have to add them, easy carbo will kill algae but you'll need to add shrimp, snails etc to clean it off the plants once dead or remove manually. As I stated a reduction in lighting intensity will really help your cause for the time being.


Many thanks, will cut light down to 5 hours on full. I have 10 amano shrimp in the tank. I have a line green drop check and have moved it to all corners of the tank as it where and the colour stays the same. Would you have a power head at the top of tank and have it pointing down


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## Martin in Holland (26 Mar 2014)

The tiles you have are are very powerful. The amount of light (PAR) could be way to much if set 100%, you may consider cutting down to half for the time being at least or (if possible) hang them higher above your tank.

Greetings from China


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## dw1305 (26 Mar 2014)

Hi all,
They aren't to every-ones taste, but Red Ramshorn snails do a pretty good job on BBA in the long term. They won't eat the mature tufts you have, but they will graze off sporelings. Spot dosing with "Easycarbo" also works I think as a short term fix.





> 5" 300l AquaOak aquarium


 I'll say straight away that I'm not a fan of CO2, but I'd have a re-think about CO2 in a tank of this size. If you do want to stay high tech. you probably need to go down the Fire Extinguisher <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/everything-you-need-for-a-fe-co2-set-up.7776/> and "Estimative Index" route <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/the-estimative-index.13/>.

Have a look at this thread for an alternative approach for large tanks <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/toms-bucket-o-mud-cryptpocalyspe.14521/>

Like the others have said if you are dosing carbon and have high light, your plants can only make use of this if they have sufficient nutrients. Basically plants need about 10 times as much N (nitrogen) and potassium (K), as they do phosphorus (P), and several times as much P as they do the intermediate and micro-nutrients (Mg, Ca, Fe etc.)  





> I set the tank up with a fishless cycle


 Planted tanks don't need to be cycled, if you mean you added ammonia? this is unnecessary, and often damaging. Cycling is a fairly strange concept based upon a series of misconceptions and half truths. Have a look here: <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/bacterial-colony-or-algae.31254/> &  <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/new-shrimp-set-up.31129/#post-328065>. 





> and am hoping that I can now get a 0.2 or so reading of phosphate tomorrow.


 You can't really test for any of the nutrients using the test kits available to us.

cheers Darrel


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## jonnyedwards1981 (26 Mar 2014)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> They aren't to every-ones taste, but Red Ramshorn snails do a pretty good job on BBA in the long term. They won't eat the mature tufts you have, but they will graze off sporelings. Spot dosing with "Easycarbo" also works I think as a short term fix. I'll say straight away that I'm not a fan of CO2, but I'd have a re-think about CO2 in a tank of this size. If you do want to stay high tech. you probably need to go down the Fire Extinguisher <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/everything-you-need-for-a-fe-co2-set-up.7776/> and "Estimative Index" route <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/the-estimative-index.13/>.
> 
> Have a look at this thread for an alternative approach for large tanks <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/toms-bucket-o-mud-cryptpocalyspe.14521/>
> ...


Thanks very much for this, I will be doing a lot of reading later today


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## kirk (26 Mar 2014)

Just read through the thread, unless I've missed it I didn't read anything about water changes.( unless it's in the links)  How often and when are they done, lights on lights off.?percentage.?


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## jonnyedwards1981 (26 Mar 2014)

kirk said:


> Just read through the thread, unless I've missed it I didn't read anything about water changes.( unless it's in the links)  How often and when are they done, lights on lights off.?percentage.?


Hi, 20% water change done weekly with the lights off


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## kirk (26 Mar 2014)

Try uping it to 50 percent. Could you tell me how you get 300 ltrs in to a 5 inch tank too.?......... Just ignore me I'm a clown.


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## jonnyedwards1981 (26 Mar 2014)

kirk said:


> Try uping it to 50 percent. Could you tell me how you get 300 ltrs in to a 5 inch tank too.?......... Just ignore me I'm a clown.


Sorry I did mean a 5' tank


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## jonnyedwards1981 (26 Mar 2014)

Phosphates are 0.4ppm this eve after removing the phosphate pads from filters


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## island lad (26 Mar 2014)

Good to hear mate. I've learnt that flow distribution, (high
Or low tech) is very important, along with regular sufficient water changes and correct light and nutrient uptake. I've had my first planted tank running for 18 months and its only just starting to look lush and healthy !


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## jonnyedwards1981 (26 Mar 2014)

island lad said:


> Good to hear mate. I've learnt that flow distribution, (high
> Or low tech) is very important, along with regular sufficient water changes and correct light and nutrient uptake. I've had my first planted tank running for 18 months and its only just starting to look lush and healthy !


Cheers for this, going to add another 10 amano shrimp and 6 Siamese flying fox to help with some of the less established algae too


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## jonnyedwards1981 (29 Mar 2014)

Parts of the established BBA has turned red since hitting it with easycarbo - is this a good sign? Also, some of the less established BBA has gone since I have had phosphate readings


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## kirk (29 Mar 2014)

Yes that's the way.great news mate. Come and sort mine out


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## jonnyedwards1981 (29 Mar 2014)

Thanks kirk, added to my army of amano shrimp yesterday too, plus 6 Siamese flying fox to help with any future unestablished algae.


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## jonnyedwards1981 (30 Mar 2014)

Going to go down the ei route and buy an ei starter kit from apf


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