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My mates willow tree was covered in moss & lichen (nearly like algae ?) when it was chopped down, so growing on the bark probably makes no difference

This is my lock down cacti after returning to work after 4 months... This was over 20 years old, 50p from Ikea (including pot), bought to work as my baby daughter kept putting her hand in it. She is 21 now.

Yes they can grow algae perfectly well when something is wrong in your tank. Both plants and algae need & use light, doesn't really matter if it comes from T8 tubes, light bulbs, T5 tubes, LED's etc, if tank has issues then algae will thrive instead on the plants. We need more information on...

Sorry to thought you were using RO in your tank. Mixing EI, cooled/warm boiled water is fine.

Ammonia and test kits are not as strictly necessary as a TDS pen. Would have thought RO should be 0 ppm TDS, maybe you still have an issue with your RO setup. However in absence of test kit just and further information you could just add dechlorinator, which should also remove ammonia, to RO...

Boiling RO will not make any difference. Looking up solubility's of KNO3 and KH2PO4 (242gr/1000ml & 22g/1000ml) you shouldn't be having any solubility issues. Measuring a dKH value of your RO is worrying, I suspect your RO water isn't, which could explain your tank issues and maybe your macro...

Never assume what is in your water, if you are using a water company report, it is for their test point on a particular day not your tap water. Altering to non EI dosing just leads to algae, oh as you have found. Adding extra Mg, assuming your water has Mg, which as Darrel has said seems...

1. You are not dosing EI. You have invented something else. Please dose EI, that includes MgSO4. 2. I would reduce lights to 5 hours or less for a while (month) till plants bed down. 3. If you have no livestock, dose some liquid carbon, possibly x5 or even x10 dose as that will wipe out algae...

I have single dosed X10 Excel before and can confirm is does wipe out green algae and BBA. However I have tough plants that do not appear to be affected by Excel and no sensitive fish or shrimps. Just be careful. Try spot dosing using a syringe (either Excel or hydrogen peroxide) first as a...

Insufficient magnesium, insufficient iron or lack of carbon source will all give symptoms like this.

Looks like GSA. Generally caused by: - Poor CO2 for your light levels. - Too much light for your CO2 levels. - Poor fertilisation levels. - Too long a lighting period for an immature tank. - Poor flow rate. - Dirty organic loaded water. Unfortunately you are attempting a half hearted high tech...

Hydrogen peroxide dripped on will kill it and any left over/missing the fungus will quickly decompose.

Or squirt with liquid carbon or hydrogen peroxide.

Too much light for the level of fertiliser you are providing. Flourish is micro nutrients only, you need to (if not already, via TNC) provide potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus and magnesium sources. Ignore values from tap water, as you have found this just leads to issues. With that volume of...

Why are you not dosing any phosphate ? Are you dosing micro nutrients in any form ? Really seems to be far far too much light for your CO2 levels.

Yes I automatically daily dose liquid carbon, in my opinion it does keep algae (mainly BBA) at bay. Allows a little more wriggle room (and food for plants) before things start going wrong in my tank. Often, mainly when I come back from holiday and have obvious BBA moving in due to lack of water...

I think the H2O2 would quickly react with any organics in the water and be quickly neutralised, before it had a chance to kill algae. I think you would end up with having added very expensive water and slightly reducing the organics. I have seen a water treatment system in a zoo (penguin pool)...

Reduce light for a week or two. Physically wipe off or get Otto's to scoff it.

Halfords sell it for car batteries and Boots for water to put in your iron.

Normal glass basically does not pass UV. Which is why UV equipment uses quartz glass. This is why the halogen desk lamps (and all halogen lamps) have a single glass sheet in front of the quartz halogen bulb. There were issues, years ago with cheap imported halogen desk lamps with no glass and...

You cant use a test kit to measure pH for CO2 drop. Too many interfering ions, you must use a pH meter. You algae issues are nothing to do with nitrate, I very much doubt you nitrate test kit is reading 160ppm, best to ignore. Alges is caused by fluctuating and poor distribution and flow of...

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...

I assume you mean nitrites ? High nitrates are not a problem for fish, where as nitrites even in low levels are quite toxic to fish.

New tank syndrome not silicates. Cause is far too much light in a cycling tank, allowing diatoms to take hold. I have had them twice. First when I set my tank up, got impatient after many weeks and turned reflectors round on my T8 tubes and with in a day or two diatoms everywhere. Cured by...

I used multiple layers of my DIY dust sheets..old blankets and sheets when I did my blackout. No condensation.

Light say 4-6 hours at reduced level for a couple of weeks and diatoms will not appear with a new tank. New tank with too much light symptoms. The diatoms will be scoffed in a matter of days by Otto's which is what I did. Just keep that light intensity and timing under control or else you will...

Is you water RO ? I have heard people having persistant cyano issues due to poor quality/poorly remineralised RO water.

Chronically poor CO2 levels and distribution, especially as your injection rate of the incredibly tiny amount of 2bps for a 450l tank seems way way way way too low (did I say way too low :rolleyes:). Also your CO2 injection time before lights on (4 hours) seems way too long, again symptoms of...

After returning from holiday this summer, where tank was not touched for 5 weeks in "holiday mode" (reduced light, reduced ferts etc), after returning to non holiday mode, I got BBA and slight BGA appearing, classic case of too much light too quickly :( I should know better. So spot dosing with...

In unpolluted water phosphate is quickly consumed by algae (and plants), which the algae is then eaten by the next life up the food chain before the algae gets a chance to be an issue. However in polluted water there often isn't the next life up the food chain, killed/not present due to...

Contrary to what the internet says phosphate does not cause algae. I ran with 80ppm phosphate after timer pump failure for a week once. No algae, no fish issues but no monster plant growth either just a waste of fertiliser. Algae is generally caused by poor plant health leading to plants dying...

This indicates you haven't got your CO2 correct. You need to maybe increase CO2 injection BUT provide a bit more surface agitation (lift lily pipe) or reduce CO2 BUT provide less surface agitation. You are trying to balance CO2 injection rate in vs CO2 surface loss rate. With a bit of...

Your drop checker should green verging yellow when lights come on not when they go off. You plants are dying, releasing organics, feeding the algae. Most likely due poor and/or varying CO2 levels as well as lack on NO3, due to you trusting a test kit. Having two light on periods wont help either.

I run an air pump over night and makes no difference to BBA or any other algae. What is does do is stop a surface film appearing (a sign of poor plant health :() and produces a differing flow pattern that lifts detritus into the water column to be take away by the filter and help degas away CO2.

You will eventually suffer Fe deficiency as the Fe chelate reacts with the PO4 and precipitates out. Been there, got tee shirt and deficient plants :(

More filtration is needed despite your powerheads. The juwel internal filters are not really adequate for use alone in a high tech tank. Something like jble1500 or 1900 at least is required. Reduce lighting period to say 4-5 hours maybe reduce light levels with foil rings on the tubes to give...

Reduce light intensity and time. Put foil strips across half your light to halve the intensity and run with say only 4 hours until it has settled in and cycled, say 8 weeks ? You are vaporising the plants with such high light, whilst they are settling in, and as they die they are releasing...

That will be the cause then. I was unable to keep broad leaf plants with loaches present, they just nibbled them to death.

Those holes in the leaves look like mechanical damage due to something eating them. My loaches used to leave small "U" shape cuts in the leaves of bigger plants.

Light too bright when setting up is the issue. You would normally wait a while after planting, say a month or two or more, before turning lights on full. The Juwel Helialux are very bright. Try reducing light levels & lighting period 8hr is very long. Was the filter/tank cycled before adding...

If you can remove the algae'd item from the tank eg spray bars, rocks etc then bleach is equally effective at algae killing and considerably cheaper then liquid carbon. Just rinse well with water afterwards and put back in tank. Tends to turn BBA to white which is then scoffed by the fish. If...

The best way to get rid of algae is to do a 3-4 day blackout. - Wrap tank in blankets to exclude all light. - Turn off food, lights, CO2, ferts etc. Then after 3-4 days most green algae will be dead and generally scoffed by the fish. You then need to fix the issue that causes the algae in the...

These are natural. They are generally just dyes (some made from beetroot, though some from natural crude oil) that block certain light frequencies and starve the algae.

Bleach (quite strong) is only suitable for hardscape etc, not suitable for plants. Diluted liquid carbon is best for algae on plants. Just 50% mix some in bottom of container and dip, slosh, brush the solution on the plants. I use a 2llitre round bottomed jug. Plonk plants back in tank, do 50%...

I have a Vision 180 as well. The supplied Juwel T5 lights are classified as high light, possibly verging on very high light if you have reflectors, thus you will need to control light, CO2, ferts and frequent water changes or else you will kill the plants, producing algae. All the pictures...

Remove plant from tank, try 50% solution and brush in for a couple of minutes and of put plant back. Too strong or two long will kill the leaves and too weak has no effect. You will need to experiment.

Iron will react with phosphate and precipitate out and become unavailable to plants, which is why you alternate day dose phosphate and iron. My anubias suffered from BBA. Treating leaves with diluted liquid carbon will kill the BBA. Lowering light by placing my anubias under my tanks bracing...

Far too much light for far too long !!!! Try a 3-4 day complete blackout. Turn lights off, cover tank in blankets for 3-4 days, no peeking, no fish feeding. That will generally kill most green algea. After 3-4 days clean up as much dead algae as you can, mechanically cleaning and/or removing...

As well as frequent water changes you will need decent filter flow and having light at the lower and of high tech will keep algae away.

Great way of reducing light levels. Most cheaper LED fixtures are significantly dimmer than T5 tubes.:D

I used to use a credit card stuck to a plastic stick to push the gravel/sand out the way before wiping with filter floss. Since my sick broke, just wipe/scrape carefully with filter floss. I use filter floss, as a large sheet for pond use cost me £2, I use it in my Juwel internal filter as...

I remove algae at substrate level using a bit of filter floss, making sure I don't pick up any sand or gravel to scratch the glass. As for removing from silicone, soak an area on a bit of kitchen towel in liquid carbon (or bleach or H2O2) and slide into the tank along the silicone. Can be done...

That is very very high level light. Your tank is 50US gallons and 90W gives about 2W / gallon so definitely high light region. This graph below will help you confirm you are high light. Your tank is 20" deep & two tubes & reflectors so I make that over 250PAR, so way high.

Diatoms are possibly caused by silicate in new tanks AND ammonia AND too much light. It will be scoffed by Ottos and some shrimps. However, reduce light level, I notice you have two very bright lights, reduce light time, frequent water changes using something like Prime (which will remove...

Might as well save a few pennies as plants can't make use of them without lights. Fish won't mind. I did a 4 day blackout on my tank, after moving to T5 tubes, and forgetting to lower the light levels. Fish were all fine after 4 days not being fed.

Your light and lighting period is way way way way way way too bright for when starting a tank, you will have an endless algae battle....oh you are. You are killing your plants with such high light levels (and possibly insufficient ferts if using CO2 as well) the plants are releasing organics...

Remove the GSA using a diluted solution (50% ?) of any liquid carbon. Leave on for a "tad" and put Anubias back in tank. You will need to experiment with strength and time with the liquid carbon, too weak and not a lot happens, too and strong the leaf suffers. If right dose the algae soon all...

You should reduce the light level for a while (a month ?), raise light, cover 1/2 in tape strips, use plastic diffuser etc, as algae is generally a sign of plants dying due to too much light for the level of fertilisers and carbon source you are supplying. Flourish Excel is a liquid carbon as...

Brilliant, excellent for you plants then. Contrary to the "popular truth", phosphate levels have nothing to do with algae, I have accidentally run with 80ppm phosphate (due to dosing pump failure) and it produce zero algae. Didn't produce better plants either which is a shame. Please don't rely...

Worth trying other fish shops as sometimes they stock bottles with 33% extra free. So despite fish shop being more expensive than online you get better value due to extra 33%.

???? Loads of places, most local fish shops... https://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/seachem-prime-500ml-p-105.html?zenid=cbb5bcacfe7a343945ea6f926b28e8f5 https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=seachem+prime http://www.swelluk.com/seachem-prime/

Ammonia kits are affected by dechlorinator, giving a false positive ie ammonia reading when in fact no ammonia is present, this is due to the reagents in the test kit breaking down the dechlorinator and releasing ammonia. You should not use hobby ammonia kits if you have ever used or are using...

Your 0.7W/litre is equivalent to 2.5W/Gal (US) which puts the tank into the high light zone (above 2W/Gal). Thus you will need spot on CO2 flow and distribution if you are not to suffer algae and plant issues. Mechanical damage to plants, other then fish nibbling, is a sure sign of poor CO2...

Not a particularly bright or efficient light, easily beaten by T5 lighting (this LED 75lm/W, T5 HO 90lm/W) as only using small LED's. However your algae issue will not be helped by such a bright light, illuminating part of the tank. Staghorn is often caused by low CO2 or poor CO2 distribution...

A high light level (with corresponding CO2 and ferts) produces a "bio load" from the plants as well, which is one of the reasons a 50% weekly water change is required with a high tech tank. However diatoms are generally a short term issue and will go away of their own accord as tank/filter...

Dose equivalent for the tank, so 5ml per 200litres.

Brown diatoms (as they appear to be) can caused by excess ammonia due to an immature filter and/or too small and overloaded filter for your light level. You haven't stated how old your tank is. I got diatoms when I went high tech, as I got impatient (after many weeks waiting for tank to mature)...

Or wiping/washing the leaves in diluted liquid carbon kills the algae. Don't use full strength or leave on too long or else it will kill the leaves.

If dosing EI your Mg levels should be in order of 2ppm. Throw your test kits away they are clearly wrong. You are showing why hobby grade test kits are completely hopelessly wrong. I doubt you have 1ppm NH3 as at this level your tank would be a veritable algae farm and all the fish would be...

I just use a square of filter floss to clean my glass. Bought a large sheet from local fish shop, for not much, and just cut up small squares of that. When too dirty just throw away and cut another square. Was originally bought as replacement for Juwel filter floss and to place under gravel to...

That is very high light and is responsible for the algae, especially once all the sources of nutrient (from substrate) have been exhausted. Try running with two tubes for say 4 hours a day for a while ? Try putting foil rings around the tubes to lower light level. Try dosing with liquid carbon...

What a load of bolls... T5 tubes degrade very little (compared to ye olde T8 tubes) , maybe 5 years down to 80% brightness. They want to sell you tubes. These are my T5 tubes, tube on right is 30 months old and one on left is 6 months old. Spot the difference. I suspect your algae to due to...

Something like this in your external filter outlet will do it. http://www.aquacadabra.com/tmc-vecton-v2-nano.html Must be sized according to filter flow as if flow is too fast the UV wont work effectively. Also must be not used with micro fertilisers as it will degrade the chelated elements.

Purigen removes nitrogenous organic compounds not inorganics like EI salts. I have run for ages with Purigen and not had any plant issues or algae issues, and have nice crystal clear water.

Switch CO2 two hours before lights on and off 1 hour before lights off. You will need to fiddle with spray bar "angling" and surface agitation and CO2 injection rate to try and get a steady CO2 level during the lights on period. Turning needle valve up raises CO2 level. Increasing surface...

Bingo you have spotted it. Reduce to one tube and maybe even reduce the level on the one tube (foil rings) and reduce time to say 4 hours until things settle down. The slowly over say a month increase the light levels. In the meantime, removed as much algae as possible mechanically, tooth...

I have used diluted liquid carbon to remove algae (mainly BBA) from plants, works well. I finally "dunked" the last plants during this weekends water change, after a minor BBA outbreak due to me over feeding (or fish getting picky and not eating some types of food) a couple of weeks ago. This...

The newer one is the one that says add 35 drops to checker and doesn't involve any tank water.

There are in fact two types of JBK drop checker kit, I have had both. The older one, you used tank water & indicator (initially dark yellow), but you needed know your KH & pH (using another JBL kit) to know what reading the CO2 was or just use 4dKH water, which is what I did. The new JBL kit is...

Yes, your two filters are not really enough to get good CO2 distribution, so you will likely suffer CO2 distribution issues. Remember to buy a quality power head ie Koralia, as so much better than cheaper model (but 3 times the price). I have had two cheap Chinese ones, cost £15-£20 each, but...

Your light level is far far too high and too long for a tank just starting, you will get monsterous algae growth, which I assume is not your intention. This table is a good start estimating light level, yours at 24" deep and 4 tubes is in the "too high" category (whoops). So turn off half (or...

Never was convinced my SAE actually touched the stuff, just completely ignored it algae wafers or not. They did scoff it when the BBA has been killed using liquid carbon, but never when BBA was alive.

How old is the setup, could be diatoms, quite common in a new setup if light is too high and on for too long. I got diatoms on my Vision 180 with T8 tubes as I was too impatient, and turned the reflectors round increasing light levels and increase on time too early (after a month) and...

A second filter is always nice, but expensive. Cheaper and easier to install is obviously another Koralia power head. Try moving your drop checker around, especially in the low flow areas and see what it says. I was really surprised that I could place my drop checker (attached to a stone by...

54W over 180l is a lot of light especially if you are having CO2 issues and especially as a new tank :eek:. To remove it, unfortunately you will have to cut it away including any plants attached to it. However you could try squirting either liquid carbon or hydrogen peroxide using a syringe on...

That's what I used to think...then lifetime of 2Kg FE's indicated otherwise.... This is grams per day CO2 consumption to get a green drop checker...I used about 20gr per day into 180litres to get a green/yellow drop checker.

If your pH isn't changing then CO2 is obviously not getting into the water. Roughly 30ppm CO2 will cause a pH drop of one unit. As said in post #9 http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/bba-problem-since.36240/#post-389140, you have done a pH profile and just proved what the plants are telling you...

CO2 leak...

Wow 96W over 180l is still quite high that's nearly 2W per Gal. No wonder you are suffering algae. So unless CO2 and fertz are spot on plants will suffer leaching organics into the water along with nutrient will form fantastic algae food. This is the issue not water hardness, not water nutrient...

I have accidentally add 80ppm PO4 (and 300ppm, NO3) due to a pump failure and didn't get GDA. I have 22' hard water and don't get GDA.

May do, but if you have sufficient and mature filters they will remove the ammonia pretty quickly so won't be an issue. If really worried add Prime or Amquel to the tank first as this will neutralise ammonia, if any gets released.

What you really need to do is make say 10cc with 1.6gr giving 10,000 ppm (assuming it dissolves, try 0.16gr). Then take 1cc of this to 9cc of water to give 1,000ppm...then repeat 1cc to 10cc to get 10ppm. I think my maths is right....

Use this to work out values. Remember to use RO or distilled water, don't want nitrates in tap water interfering. http://yanc.rotalabutterfly.com/ eg set tank size to 100litre, select DIY, select KNO3, select dry dosing, select "the result of my dose" and select 1gr. This will give 6.13ppm. If...

Try 3-4 day 100% black put. Wrap tank in blankets for 3-4 days with lights off. No feeding or peeking. That should kill the algae which can then be removed using say a tooth brush and water changes. Hydrogen peroxide will also kill algae and is less chemical than Excel (in fact all are...

Way way way too much light for way way way too long....get the idea. The light level for you level of CO2 and ferts is vaporising the plants causing them to die and leach organics into the water providing excellent food for algae. You must be very careful with LED lights as they can be very...

You have far far far far too much light on for far far far too much time. This level and length of light will kill the plants, leaching organics and feeding algae. You have CO2, but you haven't stated what fertiliser(s) you are using ? You probably need to fertilise (if not already) and reduce...

Interesting that it is dangerous to aquatic organisms yet is put in food as whitener and as a zinc supplement as well as being used for numerous medicinal applications.

My anubias got GSA when directly under the lights. Fixed by moving the anubias under the tank bracing bar so less light. You can remove/kill the GSA by wiping (out of the tank) the leaves with slightly diluted liquid carbon. Don't leave on too long or else it will kill the leaves. If not remove...

I got diatoms when starting my high tech tank up, despite rotating the reflectors on my T8 tubes round to keep light level low. Sometimes has almost starting appeared again after major plant shuffling. Couple of Otto's scoffed the lot in a day or two.

I think you will find the so called silicate removal compounds also remove phosphate, great for a marine tank, but get almost instantly exhausted in an EI dosed planted tank due to presence of high phosphate levels (potassium phosphate in EI).