# Algae but not sure what type :/



## Lukes (20 Jan 2018)

Hello people! 

I have a aquarium which has been running for a few years now! But recently I have started getting some algae i think it’s green spot but it also has fine hairs on it
I have not really had a problem with algae before but the past few months I’ve not had much time to keep on top of things been keeping up on water changes but no plant trimming or regular dosing of fertiliser and I’ve been trying to dose fertiliser as I used too and things don’t seem to be getting better, I’m not sure if I’ve tried to combat the green spot algae with phosphates and now it’s turning into hair algae! Or is this just a severe green spot algae any advice is appreciated thank you for viewing


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## ceg4048 (20 Jan 2018)

Hi,
    Keep in mind that GSA is caused by any combination of poor PO4 + poor CO2. If you only focus on PO4 then you have only a 50-50 chance of resolving the issue.
Any form of filamentous algae is caused by poor CO2. It's likely that you have both GSA and some form of filamentous.

Remove all damaged leaves immediately and review your lighting.
You have not stated whether this is a carbon enriched tank or not. If so then review your injection/application methods as well as your timing.

Cheers,


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## Lukes (20 Jan 2018)

Hey, yeah I’ve trimmed all algae covered leaves, 
I am using a fire extinguisher and a JBL reactor, 
I have now also reduced my lighting from 80% down to 50% to see if this makes any difference 
Thanks!


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## ceg4048 (21 Jan 2018)

Hi,
    OK, it was a good move on your part to reduce the light intensity. By far, excessive light is the most common reason for algal blooms. Thanks also for confirming that you are injecting gas.
For gas users, there are a variety of ways to fail: 
1. The injection rate may be insufficient.
2. The distribution of the water that is supposed to be saturated with gas can be poor.
3. The timing of the gas ON/OFF sequence can be poor.

 There can be any combination of these faults. So the first step is to determine the behavior of the gas by taking sample pH readings. Have a look at my post https://ukaps.org/forum/threads/getting-the-best-co2-circulation-in-a-trigon-190.51389/#post-506927

I refer to this measurement exercise as the "monitoring of the pH profile".
This will provide a clue as to which of those three faults I listed  is/are present.

Ideally, for water that has a relatively low-to-middling alkalinity, say 4dKH to 7dKH, we try to drive the pH to drop by 1 unit from the time we turn the gas on till the time the lights go on. If the alkalinity of the water is much higher, the the pH drop will probably be less than 1 unit, but in any case that is a general goal.

I'm not really sure about your reactor and it's effectiveness. Perhaps you can explain how it is installed or perhaps you can provide a photo of the installation?
When CO2 faults occur, one has to closely examine all three aspects of the injection technique to determine if each has been optimized. I assume this is an external reactor?

Also, perhaps you can share information/photos about the tank size and type of lighting as well as the configuration of the filter outlet(s). This is critical in understanding what changes to make.

If you are able to perform the pH profile and get back to us with that information we can dive deeper.


Cheers,


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## Lukes (21 Jan 2018)

Hello again, 

Okay firstly the reactor is a spiral type thing where the bubbles slowly rise to the top of the spiral getting smaller as the rise

I have a co2 checker towards the bottom left of the tank (as far away from the reactor as possible) 
As for flow I just have a fluval 306 and no circulation pumps

I have drilled a few holes into the outlet so it blows directly onto the co2 reactor as well as blowing away from it. if that makes any sense? 

The tank is a fluval 125L with 2 Tri-Spec lights on top, lightly stocked with fish 

Lighting is on for roughly 7 hours and co2 is on a hour before and a hour and a half before the lights go off has been this way for the duration of the tank set up 
My PH is 6.7 according to the drop checker which is saying around 20mg/l of co2? 










This next one is a picture from about 10 months ago as far as I can tell I’ve not really changed anything I do 






Many thanks again.


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## ceg4048 (22 Jan 2018)

Lukes said:


> My PH is 6.7 according to the drop checker which is saying around 20mg/l of co2?


Hi,
    This is another assumption folks make which is almost never true. As I mention in my previous post, please perform a pH profile in order to assess what's happening.

As I always say, tanks are often victims of their own success. As the plant mass increases, they demand more CO2 and their physical mass blocks flow. As the tank matures, along with the added plant mass, there is more detritus being produced and the filter requires more cleaning. The flow output of the filter decreases dramatically.

Those in-tank diffusers are not really efficient. What you can try to remove the bazooka, or whatever that contraption is and try to insert the gas line into the intake so that the filter swallows the gas. What might also be better is to use a wood airstone or ceramic disk to ensure that finer bubbles enter the filter intake. This technique has it's pitfalls as sometimes it causes cavitation at the impeller and the result is a noisy or burping filter. To reduce this effect and to improve the flow rate through the filter you can remove about 50% of your filter media and that will reduce drag and help to push the water through. If your filter has a lot of those silly noodles then I would remove those and just use a coarse foam in it's place. Noodles are specifically designed to reduce the flow rate so that suspended matter falls out of solution and is trapped.

Also I see a lot of roots in that second photo. You should trim those roost away and give the tank a general trim if there are messy roots or sick leaves in other areas. These all physically block the flow and reduce distribution of the gas.

Cheers,


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