# Blue algae problems



## Mrwim94 (22 Apr 2018)

Hey guys,

As you can see in the following pictures I have a bit of an blue algae problem. The algae is spreading over the whole background, hardscape and sand. I hope you guys could help me along to solve this problem. First I will state the current set-up of the tank, and if one of you requires more information for an in depth answer, feel free to ask!




_The tank of as today (after maintenance). Noted that the plants on the right side of the tank perform better than the plants of the left side.
_
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*Set-up:*


_Tank Size:_
200 cm x 65 cm x 60 cm =  780L (around 170 UK Gallons)


_Filttration:_
Exernal Biological filter ( 88 cm x 65 cm x 25 cm) = 121L ( around 26,5 UK Gallons). Equipped with ceramic pipes and filtration cottonwool). The filter has an output of around 1600L/h.


_Lighting:_
4 x GroBeam 1500 Ultima Natural Daylight
These lights are on for 9 hours a day at 50% strength (see picture below for more info)

1 x Ledstrip 5050 SMD, (7,2W per meter)
Effective lighting of 10 hours a day, plus it mimics sunset and sunrise.


_Temperature_
_27°C
_

_CO2:_
Pressurised, Ph-controlled at 6.4. Also a dropchecker is added in the tank, says the co2 level in the tank is good/almost too much. Dropchecker is placed as far as possible from the co2 outflow.


_Fertilisation routine:_
on refill day (50% water change) I add the following:

26,3 grams of potassium nitrate
2,1 grams of potassium phosphate
12 grams of potassium sulfate

The day after I add:

4,4 grams of trace elements

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_Detailed information of the GroBeam 1500 Ultima Natural Daylight.



 

 
Pictures of the algae.
_



_The plants on the right side, when cleaned of algae._

This is the initial information I wanted to share with you, like said before, if you require more or other information feel free to ask.

Kind regards,

Willem


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## sparkyweasel (22 Apr 2018)

I think you need more plants. You have light, ferts and CO2, something will use them either plants or algae. I would add lots of cheap, fast-growing plants ASAP, then gradually replace them with the plants you really want. Elodea or Water Wisteria work for me.
hth


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## Zeus. (22 Apr 2018)

As Sparky surgested more plants. 
Too much light also. 6hours max I would turn it down to 25% intensity also till your algea issues have resolved.
Also your ferts would be better dosed over 5 or six days not two days.


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## ceg4048 (23 Apr 2018)

Hello,
    Not only is there too much light, but you also have a flow/distribution problem, which is the fundamental cause of this issue.

Is this information correct? There is only one of these filters?


Mrwim94 said:


> _Filttration:_
> Exernal Biological filter ( 88 cm x 65 cm x 25 cm) = 121L ( around 26,5 UK Gallons). Equipped with ceramic pipes and filtration cottonwool). The filter has an output of around 1600L/h.



A 700L fuel injected tank needs to have a water turnover rate of about 10X the tank volume based on the filter rating. That means you should be looking at a combined filter or pump output of about 7000L per hour.

Filters and pumps typically only have a real output of about 40% of the value listed in the literature or printed on the box, especially if you kill your flow by using those awful noodles.

You really do not need all those noodles. Simple layers of foam, coarse and then medium or fine will do and they will not bog down your flow rate.

Although other posters have correctly advised that you need more plants, that will not solve this problem as they will simply fall victim the the same problem.
You should address the flow and distribution of flow in the tank first, otherwise, you will suffer even more problems.

BGA occurs due to poor Nitrate levels in the tank. However, you claim to be dosing 4 teaspoons of KNO3 per week, which is actually on the very low side anyway, but is made critically low because of the strong lighting. Even so, it is well worth investigating methods of improving flow distribution.

If adding more filters is not practical then you can add several "wavemakers" such as Koralia. they ca be attached to the back of the tank pointing forward and that will help move the water and distribute nutrients/CO2 to the plants more evenly.

Cheers,


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## Edvet (23 Apr 2018)

In this case i would stop with the CO2 and go low tech. 
First i would do a 48 hour total blackout ( after a thourough clean and water change and add a full dose of EI)
Then i would lessen the light and or add a lot of floaters. You have but a few plants not needing the hi tech CO2 route. And they look like low light plants.
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm


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## ian_m (23 Apr 2018)

Mrwim94 said:


> on refill day (50% water change) I add the following:
> 
> 26,3 grams of potassium nitrate
> 2,1 grams of potassium phosphate
> ...


Also you need to dose daily not in one dump. The trace elements will react with the macros, causing deficiencies. You need to dose 1/3 the amount macro water change day, two days after that and again two days after that with micro dosed on in between days.

If it is blue/green algae, this can be caused by low nitrates as pointed out by ceg4048, probably because you are dosing weekly rather than daily, thus nitrates are running out.


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## Mrwim94 (23 Apr 2018)

Hey guys,

Thank you for all the quick and meaningfull help, really appreciate it. Tommorow I will respond to some of the questions asked.

Kind regards, Willem.


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## Mrwim94 (30 Apr 2018)

Hey guys,

A belated update from the tank.

Last time I forgot to mention we also have a Tunze nanostream 6025 in the tank, with a supposed capacity of 4500 L/h.

Tuesday last week we did the following:

- Dimmed the lights to 30% with 8 hours of light.
- dosed the ferts in 5 days instead of 2 days from then on.

Last weekend we changed the following to the tank:

- Changed the hardscape to ensure a better flow in the tank.
- Added more plants to the tank:
3 x cryptocoryne walkerii
1 x Echinodorus argentinensis
2 x Echinodorus paniculatus (amazone)
1 x Microsorium pteropus (Java fern)
1 x Anubias coffeefolia
2 x Echinodorus magdalenensis
2 x Echinodorus vesuvius
250 cc of Taxiphyllum barbieri

That is the status of the tank for now, all of your tips were as welcome, but we had to make decisions in what was doable at the time.
Feel free to comment.

ps. Later on this week I will post some pictures of the renewed tank.

Kind regards,

Willem


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