# Sudden Algae Problem



## KrishP (6 Apr 2014)

Hello Everyone,

I have a sudden algae bloom in my shrimp only tank, over the last week or so ever since we have been getting more sunlight during the day. This the worst algae that has taken over my HC. I try to cut away as much as I can but it keeps growing back.


There is also some brown algae on the rocks and glass.
The tank is 18 litres.
The light was a 24W T5, but I have reduced it to 2x9W T5s (18W)
I used 1ml of Easy Carbo, 1 Pump of Tropica Plant Growth Specialised Fertiliser and about 1-2 drops ADA Brightly K.
The filter is eden 301, 300LPH.

Thanks for the help!


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## Martin in Holland (6 Apr 2014)

Still to much light mate...cut down to 1x9W....T5's are powerful 
I know it sometimes looks as if it's not enough light and not bright enough, but that's a matter of getting use to and you will see that after a while you will find it bright enough.


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## KrishP (6 Apr 2014)

Okay, I read I only that for small aquariums you should use 1W to 1 Litre, thanks for the advice Martin!


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## KrishP (6 Apr 2014)

Can anyone help me to identify this algae?


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## Aquadream (6 Apr 2014)

GSA, green slime algae. It gets in new set ups when the CO2 is low. Now if this is going to be a shrimp tank as you say, better over dose a bit the CO than use Easy Carbo. The Easy Carbo will not kill the shrimp if it is normal dose, but they don't like it never the less.
Also see if you can use some active carbon. It helps to remove extra organic matter dissolved in the water which in turn will reduce a bit the algae bloom.
What substrate do you use?

Do not remove the HC. Just get some brush and gently take out the algae. it will come off very easy.


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## KrishP (6 Apr 2014)

There are shrimp in the tank so I am being cautious with liquid carbon, (and the tank has no CO2 injection). I am used ADA aquasoil Amazonia. The tank has been set up for about 4/5 weeks (and is fully cycled). I might try and get active carbon soon and see if it makes a difference. Thanks for the help.


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## tim (6 Apr 2014)

Hi krishp, wpg/wpl is pretty much outdated, without access to a par meter I've found this chart pretty useful as a guide to keep me in the medium to lowlight territory on my tanks
http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss176/Hoppycalif/LightIntensityTable.jpg
Taken from hoppys par thread on the planted tank


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## Aquadream (6 Apr 2014)

I had problems with Amazonia Aquasoil for almost a year. In the end I figured that the use of active carbon from the start is a must and in as big quantities as possible. Amazonia releases some compound (not identified yet) that neutralises or inhibits the absorption of CO2 by plants at the start up and later in lesses amount. I can not say how. I can only state that without active carbon my plants were not doing well, no matter how much CO2 I injected, even to the point of poisoning my fish.

So my suggestion is;
Put decent amount of active carbon in the filter. If the filter is small, use a second filter only for the active carbon.
Start again water changes 50% every other day for at least the next 2 weeks.
With every water change clean the tank as much as you can.
Start injecting CO2 with a rate that will just get the CO2 checker yellow.
Right before water changes wave a brush or something else near the substrate, that will lift off as much detritus as possible, so some significant part of the detritus will go our with the water change.
Use fertilisers as recommended by the supplier, preferably smaller doses every day instead of one per week.
Use also Nitrates and Phosphates together with the other fertilisers. Shrimps are not concerned about those.
Stop the liquid carbon. If you use CO2 injection, which is far better in your case liquid carbon will not aid anything, but only irritate the shrimp as plants are not able at this point to absorb the carbon effectively.

All this advise may sound extreme, but it is what I do and my tank is clean beyond believe. Not even the guys that use the Twinstar can say as much. I also have about 250 CRS in my tank and Amazonia for substrate.
I could post a picture for you to see what my results are with the suggested routine and also describe precisely what I use, what and when I do.


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## Edvet (7 Apr 2014)

Could you block sunlight?


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## KrishP (7 Apr 2014)

tim said:


> Hi krishp, wpg/wpl is pretty much outdated, without access to a par meter I've found this chart pretty useful as a guide to keep me in the medium to lowlight territory on my tanks
> http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss176/Hoppycalif/LightIntensityTable.jpg
> Taken from hoppys par thread on the planted tank



Thanks Tim, I think I will move the light 4 inch's above the water line and hope it makes a difference.



Aquadream said:


> I had problems with Amazonia Aquasoil for almost a year. In the end I figured that the use of active carbon from the start is a must and in as big quantities as possible. Amazonia releases some compound (not identified yet) that neutralises or inhibits the absorption of CO2 by plants at the start up and later in lesses amount. I can not say how. I can only state that without active carbon my plants were not doing well, no matter how much CO2 I injected, even to the point of poisoning my fish.
> 
> So my suggestion is;
> Put decent amount of active carbon in the filter. If the filter is small, use a second filter only for the active carbon.
> ...



Hi Aquadream, I will use the active carbon in the filter, but I cant use inject CO2 as I don't not have enough money to set one up. I will start to use the fertilisers daily instead of weekly, and carry out the water changes like you said. I just want to be careful due to CRS/Taiwan Bees being sensitive shrimps.



Edvet said:


> Could you block sunlight?



Hi Edvet, the only way is to close the curtains, I think that should block out a bit of the light.

I have one for more question what is the name of the algae?

Thanks everyone for there help!
Krish


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## Aquadream (7 Apr 2014)

If yo can not inject CO2 at this point then you should reduce the light a lot until you can sort this out. Other wise the choice would be to use more liquid carbon and the shrimps will not be happy about it.


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## KrishP (7 Apr 2014)

The lights are on for 6 hours a day, should I reduce it to 4 hour hours? or should I be lowering the W's


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## Aquadream (7 Apr 2014)

KrishP said:


> The lights are on for 6 hours a day, should I reduce it to 4 hour hours? or should I be lowering the W's


Lower the power. 6 hours is short enough cycle.


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## KrishP (7 Apr 2014)

Would you say 9w is still too high?


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## viktorlantos (7 Apr 2014)

Yeah this is a starter algae which is still there because your tank is a low e tank and you do not have enough house keepers (algae eaters). 
Small foreground plants usually get affected by this algae with soils like Amazonia in the first few weeks. Not all the foreground plants but HC is one of them for sure.

A have a few thoughts on it.
People use Amazonia often, but this soil is made for Nature Aquariums. With its fast growing plant masses. It means a lot of light (9-10 hours per day), CO2 (a lot), fertilizers (daily) and tons of plants for start. That was the concept for this soil from the beginning.

In this condition this substrate perform really well. But if you put this into a low tech environment you will face with issues usually. Nothing major which you can't fix, but a could be a nightmare for a beginner. I also have many shrimp breeder friends who use it for years now in their shrimp rack, but they are not growing HC 

Why you put in a soil to a tank where you really not growing plants so fast? Just because people saying a lot of good things about it or because of the soil has good reputation in the aquascpaing and shrimp scene does not mean this is the best way to go.
This could be, but need more work, and probably better plant selection which is aligned to your equipment.

Your plants looks weak compare to the 4/5 weeks timeframe. The HC gets less valuable light, no CO and not sure this was a potted or a jelly plant, but maybe the fertilizers are not aligned to the tank.
Hard water soft water?

Lot of yellow leaf, less green ones means no CO2 for HC usually.

This brown algae will die off or you can put in more maintenance work with water changes to eliminate it in 1-3 weeks, but usually enough if you put in a lot of shrimps which eat it up in a few days.
Since this is a small tank no amano shrimps pls  Or just smaller ones. Better to throw in 30 tigers and they will clean it up quickly.

This algae block the light so if you have a lot of it the HC will strugle.

So i see 2 issues here:

- Soil is not aligned with the tank parameters
- Bad plant selection (very CO2 demanding one) there are much easier alternatives

For shrimps you not mentioned which one, but Crystals, Taiwans can live nicely on Malaya for example which has lower pH and no ferts in it.

For Amazonia better to have good filtration, good maintenance routine, and give energy to your plants to use up the fertilizers from the soil.
Or just use less demanding plants with more maintenance. 

No worry even the bad ass scapers face with this algae many times.


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