Algae problem.

[Wilksy]

I'm 16 days into my new planted tank, spec below:

Aquascaper 600
Oase Thermo 600 set to 25°C
D-D Dosing Pump - dosing 3 x 3ml TNC complete every 8 hrs
In-line CO2 dosing - 2hrs before lights on & off 1hr before lights off
Twinstar 600SA Light - on for 6 hrs per day at 60% 15min ramp up/down
Twinstar M5 on the number two setting./
Seneye Reef

I did 50% water changes every day for the first 14 days and have now reduced that to 50% every other day, I'm using tap water and an Evolution Aqua in-line Dechlorinator Carbon Filter.

I've noticed a small amount of algae forming on the gravel and on the rock, which I remove with a toothbrush etc.

The lily pipe outlet is about 1/3 away from the back of the tank and high enough to have a reasonable ripple effect on the surface without battering the plants.

I would like a bit of advice at this stage on what I can do now rather than have a bigger problem later, I have some ADA Phyton Git on order with AG which hopefully will be with me shortly.

There are no fish or shrimp in the tank yet.

Attached picture taken last night.

 

[Wilksy]

Right my algae problem is now getting worse and I'm a little perplexed in what to do, the algae is Blue Green now and forms very quickly once removed (every day) last night there was some brown hair like algae in the background which was easily removed with a toothbrush. I have a feeling the tank is running away from me as I have lost plants that were glued to the rocks namely Bucephalandra.

Any suggestions what I can do? Picture below was taken Wednesday night after water change/cleaning up.

 

[Zeus.]

Move your DC to the bottom right of tank near the front and see what colour it changes?

If it doesnt change to the same colour as the DC does present you have fluctuating [CO2]

I do think the flow would be better with the lily pipe intake and output at the front right hand corner and not teh back right hand corner, but move the DC first before moving the lily pipes 😉

 

[papa_c]

Looking at the colour of the drop checker, to my eyes it is blue which indicates more co2 is needed. Can't see any live stock so i would wind the co2 up quite a lot.

I would also drop the temp to about 21c. The higher the temp the harder it is to get co2 into the water column.

 

[Wilksy]

Thanks for the replies, i've moved the lily pipes (broke the inlet one so have ordered S/S ones) and sited the drop checker lower, it showed that there was not enough CO2 so I have increased the rate, the attached picture shows the drop checker a much greener appearance.

I will tell tonight if any progress has been made.

 

[Wilksy]

Ok an update on where I am at the moment, the green algae still appears every day and I am now getting a lot of brown algae on the plant leaves and what I can only describe as fine stands or brown algae on the stem plants which is easy to remove with a toothbrush.

I did a Nitrite and Nitrate test and have 0 Nitrite but 20+ Nitrate, I am currently doing 50% water changes every other day but to no avail, how can I bring the Nitrate down there is no livestock in the tank yet.

 

[Zeus.]

I am currently doing 50% water changes every other day

Have you check your local water suppliers water report ? the 50% WC itself could easily be adding 20ppm NO3

 

[Wilksy]

Looking at my water company report they state Nitrate at <3.793 mg/l which I don't know how to interoperate as ppm, can you advise please.

 

[Zeus.]

Nitrate at <3.793 mg/l

So <3.793 ppm NO3

70% WC equates to <2.66 ppm NO3 added in WC 😉

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Looking at my water company report they state Nitrate at <3.793 mg/l

That is interesting, I would have expected the level to be much higher, because of where your are located.

cheers Darrel

 

[Wilksy]

Attached is the water report from Anglian Water showing what our water is like, it is a hard water but I do have two tanks, one has no algae at all which is an established tank, and the other is my new aquascaper which has the algae problems, both use the same water.

 

[Zeus.]

Attached is the water report from Anglian Water showing what our water is like, it is a hard water but I do have two tanks, one has no algae at all which is an established tank, and the other is my new aquascaper which has the algae problems, both use the same water.

That water report is a little poor IMO as in the maximum column it has '<' so it doesnt even tell you what the maximum is in a 12 month period So how do they/you know they haven't exceeded the legal limit 🙄

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

as in the maximum column it has '<' so it doesnt even tell you what the maximum is in a 12 month period

You are right, there is definitely something quite strange in the report.

On the face of it those aren't sensible results for N: P: or K, and the conductivity is about 770 microS., so there are plenty of salts still present.

My guess is a <"phosphate and nitrate stripper at the water treatment plant">. These are quite unsual in the UK, and I can't imagine why they would supply solely NO3 stripped water, rather than a blended supply. From the Anglian Water link

The treated water from the NitreatTM plant typically has a nitrate level concentration of less than 5mg/l as NO3 and when blended with untreated water provides a final water with a nitrate level concentration below 43 mg/l as NO3.

I had a conversation with @Zeus. recently and his water is treated in this way, via an anion exchange resin, just to keep it under the 50mg/L limit.

cheers Darrel

 

[Wilksy]

Thanks, so in essence what is the Nitrate ppm of my tap water, I really need to get this situation under control.

 

[Zeus.]

Thanks, so in essence what is the Nitrate ppm of my tap water, I really need to get this situation under control.

<3.793 ppm NO3

So you cam assume that any tap water you add adds a little NO3 - you can work it out or my Fert calculator does the maths for you esp usefully if dong DIY ferts IMO/IME

 

[sparkyweasel]

Looking at my water company report they state Nitrate at <3.793 mg/l which I don't know how to interoperate as ppm, can you advise please.

mg/ and ppm are effectively the same, so the report says less than 3.793ppm.
Have you tried testing your tapwater?
But as your other tank has no problem, using the same water, I doubt if your tapwater is the cause of the problems in this tank. If it was mine, I would try to get it more established by floating an Indian Fern in it. A bunch of Elodea or Hornwort would also do, according to what's available. Then remove it when it's done its work.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

mg/L and ppm are effectively the same,

They are, mg/L and ppm are equivalents.

It is because water has a density of "1". This means that one mL (cm3) of water weighs one gram. There are 1000 milligrams in a gram, and 1000g in kilo, and one kilo of water has a volume 1000 cm3.

Once you know that you can just add up the powers of 10.

You've multiplied by a thousand twice, and a thousand can also be written (in scientific notation) as 1 x 10^3.

You've gone from a gram to a kilogram (1 x 10^3) and then by another thousand from grams to milligrams (1 x 10^3) again, add the powers together and you get 1 x 10^6, which can also be written as 1,000,000 or a million.

Under the same arrangement "micrograms per litre" (μg/L) (which is probably how the trace elements are recorded on your report) is the same as parts ber billion "ppb". In this case you have 1000 μg in a milligram, so another 10^3 and now you have 1 x 10^9 or 1 in 1,000,000,000 or (an American) billion.

cheers Darrel

 

[Wilksy]

I think I'm loosing the battle, the amount of brown algae is multiplying at an alarming rate plus the green slime is for ever returning the next day. Most of my plants look awful and last night I noticed that most of the Monte Carlo seems to be floating just above the substrate.

I am still doing 50%+ water changes every other day with a full clean up on a Saturday, my drop checker is much lower in the tank and is a very light green in colour and after a water change the amount of tiny bubbles on the plants (and parts of the tank) is huge.

Did another Nitrite and Nitrate test last night, Nitrite is fine Nitrate is high (as per my last post). In my other tank, which has no problems, the filter is a Juwel internal one and I have always run that with a carbon filter and a nitrate sponge, I have neither of these in my Oase 600 - I have ordered a set of carbon pre filters from Aquarium Gardens which should arrive shortly and am thinking of making some Nitrate sponges from my stock of Juwel ones.

I am also running my Aquascaper tank at a slightly lower temperature 24°C as opposed to 26/27°C in my Juwel.

I am feeling a little defeated at the moment, this is my first foray into a proper planted tank and it seems like money literally down the drain - help.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Did another Nitrite and Nitrate test last night, Nitrite is fine Nitrate is high (as per my last post). In my other tank, which has no problems, the filter is a Juwel internal one and I have always run that with a carbon filter and a nitrate sponge, I have neither of these in my Oase 600 - I have ordered a set of carbon pre filters from Aquarium Gardens which should arrive shortly and am thinking of making some Nitrate sponges from my stock of Juwel ones.

I know it is really frustrating, but I'm pretty sure high nitrate isn't your problem. Plants need quite a lot of nitrogen.

Personally I wouldn't base any decisions I made on the results of the nitrate tests. I've done a lot of water testing (in a lab. situation) and NO3- testing can be <"problematic, even in a lab">.

I'll cc in @jaypeecee because we have recently had a conversation, about a scientific paper, which looked at the accuracy of decision making in commercial aquaculture based on test kit results.

<"There are other approaches">. I use one where I assess plant health and nutrient status based on the health and colour of a floating plant, I called it the <"Duckweed Index">.

The advantage of a floating plant (I now use <"Amazon Frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum)"> as my "Duckweed") is that:

• it doesn't get algae on its leaves,
• it isn't CO2 limited
• and it gets first dibs on the light.

So any <"deficiencies in growth"> will relate to nutrient levels in the aquarium water.

cheers Darrel

 

[Fiske]

From my experience with an Oase 600 in an Aquascaper 600: Get more flow. Use a powerhead like eg. Aquaclear 20, which is cheap and adjustable. And since you don't have livestock yet, aim for a nice bright yellow in those dropcheckers.

Btw the brown algae are likely diatoms, completely normal in a new tank. It will go away.

I use a Twinstar 600S, not SA; if it's more powerful than S you have all the light you need for now...

Don't worry about nitrates. I live in a rural area, with hard water, and nitrates up the wazoo. Whatever problem you have, that's not it.

Did you seed the filter with a bit of gunk from the filter in your old tank?