# Help identifying algae type.



## Ady34 (29 Oct 2011)

Hi,
im hoping somebody will be able to help identify this type of algae, or even confirm that it is algae (not the green algae).
My set up has been running for 11 weeks and planted for 7 weeks, and i have just recently got rid of a bout of staghorn algae, but have noticed these dark spots on the hardscape, filter pipes and plants. It is very difficult/impossible to remove with a toothbrush and is almost like a stain, some of it even looking like its smudged? 
Im currently doing 2 x weekly water changes, dosing 7ml tpn+ daily and 4ml flourish excel daily (water changes and excel continued from battling the staghorn). Co2 is 25-30ppm (lime green drop checker) and flow is reasonable, althogh not 10x turnover. The tank has a volume of 180l, filtration via a fluval G6, and lighting is 2x 39w ho t5 tubes with a photoperiod of 9hrs. 
Any help will be much appreciated, although it isnt a huge problem at the moment i would like to find out what it is, what may be causing it and if it is going to present a more serious issue in the future.
Thanks
Ady.

Algae?


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## Nelson (29 Oct 2011)

Looks like BBA.

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm


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## J Butler (29 Oct 2011)

That's what I initially thought to, Nelson. Ady said that it wasn't raised or 'furry', as I though BBA was supposed to be though. We were not quite sure if it could be an early stage of BBA, later taking on the more characteristic form or something else entirely.


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## clonitza (29 Oct 2011)

The algae is BBA.

There's an easy way to know you set your hardware correctly, if your drop checker is lime green when lights are on and blue when lights are out.


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## Ady34 (29 Oct 2011)

Hi,
thanks for the replies guys, like joe said he had initially also identified the algae as bba in my journal. However my only concern in identifying it as bba was the lack of the tuft and raised nature of the algae shown. Ive had bba before and it was definitely more furry.... in which case is this non raised spotting the formative stages of bba?



			
				clonitza said:
			
		

> The algae is BBA.
> 
> There's an easy way to know you set your hardware correctly, if your drop checker is lime green when lights are on and blue when lights are out.



my drop checker turns lime green about 4hrs into the photoperiod and never returns to blue (except the morning after water changes when there is lots of aeration and surface agitation), the drop checker normally only returns to a darker green, i put this down to reduced surface gas exchange (slight surface film and glass tank covers). I know the reagent and 4dkh solution are not compromised as the dc returns to blue if left out of the tank in the air.

Thanks for the responses guys, i dont mean to question the identification, just understand the formation process of bba.


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## clonitza (29 Oct 2011)

Then you should improve the water circulation and surface movement mate, same issues here when they aren't adjusted properly.

Mike


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## Dolly Sprint 16v (29 Oct 2011)

Ady34 said:
			
		

> There's an easy way to know you set your hardware correctly, if your drop checker is lime green when lights are on and blue when lights are out.


 my drop checker turns lime green about 4hrs into the photoperiod [/quote]

Ady

You need to aim for a lime green colouration in your DC as soon as your lights come on. if you have your Co2 solenoid valve on a timer, adjust the timer to switch on the gas 1 hour prior to the lights coming on and tweek timer accordingly until your obtain the lime green colour - as for switching off: 1 hour prior to the lights going out, you might ask the question why turn off gas 1 hour before - well - why pump in gas into water column just before the ligths go off, your wasteing gas, plant will only comsume gas during ligthing period, so switch off the gas and let the plants comsume what gas is within the water column but make sure that there is plenty of gas within the water column when the lights come on.

Regards
paul.


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## Ady34 (30 Oct 2011)

*Re: Help identifying algae type. Another picture.*



			
				Dolly Sprint 16v said:
			
		

> Ady
> 
> You need to aim for a lime green colouration in your DC as soon as your lights come on. if you have your Co2 solenoid valve on a timer, adjust the timer to switch on the gas 1 hour prior to the lights coming on and tweek timer accordingly until your obtain the lime green colour - as for switching off: 1 hour prior to the lights going out, you might ask the question why turn off gas 1 hour before - well - why pump in gas into water column just before the ligths go off, your wasteing gas, plant will only comsume gas during ligthing period, so switch off the gas and let the plants comsume what gas is within the water column but make sure that there is plenty of gas within the water column when the lights come on.
> 
> ...



Hi Paul,
thanks for the info, currently my c02 comes on 2hrs pre lights on and goes off 2hrs before lights out. Maybe i need to look at increasing my co2 to get a lime green colouration when lights first come on, not 4hrs into the photoperiod as is now. Being new to the planted scene and co2 injection im worried about gasing the livestock, but i presume the plants will utilise the c02 if its there and therefore it wont become a problem. Ill increase it slowly to get a lime green colour nearer to lights on.
Thanks.

Also heres maybe a better shot of the algae issue which shows the 'smudging' look and lack of any sort of raised or tufty growth i was talking about earlier.


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## Nelson (30 Oct 2011)

Looks like diatoms in the last pic.


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## Dolly Sprint 16v (30 Oct 2011)

Hi 

Try and aim for lime green colouration @ the start time of the lighting period. As for the gasping fish, if you slowly tweek the quantity of gas been added the fish will acclimatise themselves to the high level or turn the lighting period down as 9 hrs is a lot - oldish picture attached of my tank and this only has 6 hrs 



.

The spot of algea on the outlet pipe from your filter could be due to the co2 levels being low at the begin of the lighting period / long lighting period using T5 lighting.

Regards
Paul.


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## J Butler (30 Oct 2011)

nelson said:
			
		

> Looks like diatoms in the last pic.



I didn't think they were diatoms as I think Ady said he scrubbed the algae pretty vigorously and it proved to be very stubborn.

+1 on increasing the CO2 gradually over a week or two


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## Nelson (30 Oct 2011)

J Butler said:
			
		

> nelson said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Good point    .


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## Ady34 (30 Oct 2011)

nelson said:
			
		

> J Butler said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Hi again guys,
much appreciation again for taking the time to discuss this issue, i know it sounds outlandish but could these spots be residue left from the death of the staghorn algae killed by flourish excel?    The pics maybe dont show the whole story but they really do look like stains or powder burns and they have a slightly red tinge to them!!! They dont seem to be increasing in numbers at all and i only noticed them when the staghorn had gone.... maybe coincidence, but has anyone seen or heard of anything like this before?



			
				Dolly Sprint 16v said:
			
		

> Hi
> 
> Try and aim for lime green colouration @ the start time of the lighting period. As for the gasping fish, if you slowly tweek the quantity of gas been added the fish will acclimatise themselves to the high level or turn the lighting period down as 9 hrs is a lot - oldish picture attached of my tank and this only has 6 hrs
> 
> ...



Hi Paul,
the reason i have a 9hr lighting period is because im only running 2 39w ho t5 tubes on a 180l tank giving less than 2wpg, i thought this was considered not high level lighting so thought by giving the plants a slightly longer photoperiod would help? Is this likely to cause me problems, and if im going to tweak things should i just tweak one thing at a time and up the c02 to get this spot on first? 
Ill definitely up the c02 as this makes a lot of sense    and then maybe see how it goes regarding the photoperiod, addressing this next if issues persist.
Nice tank btw, is it one of the osakas?
Thanks
Ady.


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