# Help - algae is growing too fast



## jjl (11 Feb 2014)

Hi Guys,

We have an algae problem in our 240 litre tank.  We cleaned all the algae off the rocks and in one week the rocks were covered again!  I will upload a photo if that is possible on here.  Below are the details of how we manage the tank.  Do you think the issue is due to too much light?  It came back so quick and we'd even used hydrogen peroxide in the sink when we were scrubbing the rocks.

All help is welcome please!


240 Liter tank.
4 39w T5 bulbs for 10hrs a day
we have a CO2 injection and keep levels at ~20-30ppm
7x filtration and another 10x movement from powerjets
Easycarbo 10ml per day (at night)
Fertilisers: Florena 0-0-4 once a week (we have plenty of nitrates/phosphates in london tap water-yuk)
Water change is 1/3 once a week

Ideas?


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## ian_m (11 Feb 2014)

jjl said:


> 4 39w T5 bulbs for 10hrs a day


Woow way too much light for that volume....you will get algae unless careful... oh you do..



jjl said:


> (we have plenty of nitrates/phosphates in london tap water)


Who told you that ? A test kit ? You need to add proper ferts to let plants grow and not rely on what you think is in the water.

You are suffering being misled by more light means better plants and what you think is in your water.


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## Edvet (11 Feb 2014)

If you have enough CO2 (which is not sure yet, how do you measure?) you dont give enough ferts. look at this:EI DOSING USING DRY SALTS | UK Aquatic Plant Society
And give us a picture to help you better.


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## MARKCOUSINS (11 Feb 2014)

Agree with the words of Ian and Edvet!Less light and dose the proper ferts!


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## jjl (11 Feb 2014)

Thank you both gentlemen. The test kits did show that we have sky high Nitrates and Phosphates. The LFS said just to dose micronutrients. Would you add ferts on top of that (e.g. EI dosing) or would we need to use RO first?

To measure CO2, we just use a drop checker (it seems accurate since pH is around 7.1/7.2 in the tank with CO2 vs 8.2 for tap water) I've attached some photos of the rocks with the scary rapid-growing algae on them. 

Thanks again!






Keep in mind these were immaculate 10 days ago...


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## Edvet (12 Feb 2014)

Could you give us a full tank shot? Can you give pH readings: pH at night, at lights on, at lights of?

It looks as if you don't have a lot of plants. Even if that is the case to much ferts "never"happens, it's a myth. Don't believe test kits. They are 1) not measuring what they say and 2) very inaccurate.

Stil looks like a lot of light over the tank.


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## Edvet (12 Feb 2014)

There is a ton of information in here: Tutorials | UK Aquatic Plant Society

Basically it realy boils down to: lower light level, up the ferts, up the waterchanges, up the CO2, up the flow in the tank. It sounds too general, but this covers most of the mistakes people make. A lot of mistakes come from wrongfull information which is in the aquariumworld and gets retold and retold.


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## OllieNZ (12 Feb 2014)

You still need to dose macros. Im a thames water customer (assuming you are too) and the water report shows not alot of nitrate or phosphate just very hard.


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## jjl (12 Feb 2014)

Got it. Thanks again!

What I'm hearing is:

a) light fewer hours a day (and perhaps drop one of the 39w T5s)
b) dose macros using EI - no need to worry about RO (Thames Water is fine)

Can I just clarify that in your expert opinions, the photos of the rocks above show Green algae and not BGA?

--------

To your question Edvet, my pH is 7.4 at night and 7.2 after the light's on and it has been on a few hours. We use a timer/solenoid so that makes sense.

I've attached two photos. The well-planted one is from December. The second is recent. We've attempted a near total replant so that we could get the algae off the rocks. We knew the disturbance of the substrate would cause a temporary ammonia spike so we delayed replanting a bit and reduced light. The important data are that in both a densely planted and loosely planted tank, we had the *same issue with algae on the rocks*. I suspect the solution may lie in ferts and light as has been suggested.

December 2013 - densely planted (note the pristine gray rocks have turned 'black' due to algae





And today... the glosso is just starting to grow back


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## OllieNZ (12 Feb 2014)

Also get half a dozen nerite snails they will keep the rocks sparkling.


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## Arne (12 Feb 2014)

less light doesn't necessarily mean fewer hours. I would take out 1 of the 4 bulbs, and keep 10 hours. Or if you're using reflectors, remove those. Reduce the overal light intensity.


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## Ted (12 Feb 2014)

I didn't realise that Nerites will take care of that kind of algae. I thought they were best at green spot / diatoms.


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## James O (12 Feb 2014)

If those T5s are in the hood a couple of inches off the water, I'd drop to 2 bulbs and get everything else right.  Was this a marine tank before btw?

As for flow did I read right? - 7x with filtration with an additional 10x from power heads making 17x or 4080lph total?!?!?!?  Your fish must be exhausted


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## jjl (12 Feb 2014)

Okay. I'll drop one bulb for starters - the reason we went up to four is because the glosso wouldn't carpet with two. As you can see in the first picture it kind of...over-carpeted with four. LOL.

It's just an Eheim tropical tank - though the scubaline marine is similar. My filters are realistically getting 3x on a good day, not the 7x they claim... As for the 10x from powerheads, our garra flavatra love the flow. And I love them.


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## James O (12 Feb 2014)

You might have a distribution CO2 issue - I can see at least 3 different directions of flow.  High flow doesn't automatically mean good distribution.  With that much turnover I'd expect you have issues keeping the sand/glosso in place - the glosso might not be getting the CO2 it needs.

Right now I'd: Reduce light intensity (bulbs) and photo period (78w for 10hrs is enough to grow algae let alone plants ) + Add good amounts of ferts (you cant really add _too_ much) + Run just the smaller (if there is one) powerhead to improve distribution.  

Hopefully you'll find some equilibrium


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## jjl (13 Feb 2014)

Thanks so much everyone, again. I have 2 kilos of powdered fertiliser on the way and I'm going to dial back light as you guys suggested. I'll let you know how when we reach equilibrium!

Does anybody know if there is any gospel on where to place inputs/outputs and powerheads? Just for fun, I did a quick (and quite ugly!) sketch of what I have set up now if anybody has thoughts.


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## Arne (13 Feb 2014)

Think like a river 

Try and get the flow to as much in 1 direction as possible, without blowing the substrate away ....
Usually get a flow along the surface from end to end, and then it "rolls" down the side and comes back the other way across the bottom. You could also do a complete back to front flow with all the outlets you have.


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## Martin in Holland (13 Feb 2014)

I agree with Arne....it seems that your flow goes in all directions and working against each other instead of with each other


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## jjl (23 Feb 2014)

Hi everyone. I just wanted to let you know that we adjusted the flow so it's all back to front with a spraybar. We also lowered the lights to  two T5 39w x2 and have started EI dosing.The net result is way less algae already, our glosso is still carpeting and I can see the CO2 reaching every corner of the tank. Great suggestions all. Thanks so much!


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## Martin in Holland (23 Feb 2014)

good to hear that it is going in the right direction with your tank


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## James O (23 Feb 2014)

Glad it's moving on well 

Maybe grab some oto's as well.  They'll munch away on remaining algae


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## Ady34 (26 Feb 2014)

Hi, good to hear things are moving in the right direction.
Plants love co2, by reducing your huge lighting intensity, you reduced the huge demand for co2. By improving your distribution you have improved co2 availability to the plants, these two combined result in a win win situation 
Getting enough co2 down to the substrate where co2 hungry plants like hc and glosso live is key to their success, the light just dictates how fast they try and grow and subsequently how much co2 you have to feed them.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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