My "beloved" 55g started out with a FEW hair algae and cloudiness. I was bothered but not concerned at first since the milky/ cloudiness is very common due to bacteria bloom in new tanks, same as the hair algae, very common.
So apart from the large w/c after the ick attach and Cardinals death, I kept up my regular w/c and left the algae matter alone. And the hair algae actually did subside some....
However what first was hair algae is now turning into 2-3 other types of algae (IMO would like to share pictures, but can attache any!?):
For one I think I'm dealing with blue-green smear algae around gravel areas. To me this type is really only kown to rep poor water quality but all my reading are great - So what's going wrong where?
I have spot algae all over the glass, however i *think* these are fairly common in planted tanks even if I never had this issue before (and don't now in the other planted tanks).
Now algae no3 which I can only call brush algae (dark green-black looking fuzz) is litterly taking OVER and coating ALL my plants (fast & slow growing, ALL) and it appears to rapidly increase within 24 hrs.
Now at first I started dialing the lights down some, which IMO only INCREASED the algae growth. When I first set up the tank, my plants were doing GREAT, growing real nice, no signs of nutrients deficit, nothing. After the ick attch, maybe few days later it appeared as if they slowed down, which I blamed on the ick meds. After the large w/c and adding the carbon to the filter when everybody died it looks as if the plants just came to a complete STOP (all plants) and that's when the hair algae subsided and these others took over in like 2 days now.
At any stage there was no significant Ammonia, NO2 or 3 spike (NO2 was 0.05 now 0.025, KH4 pH7.2) and like I said I dialed the lights down to be on 10hrs/day.
This is really killing my plants and I do NOT know what to do any more, I never had such a algae attach and all them being different types - What do they all have in common that apparently goes WRONG in this tank???
I am no fan of any chem's - But some places suggest use of copper to eliminate the matter??? I also found suggesting to give the plants a bleach-solution bath or use Hydrogen Peroxide in the tank???
This is really turning into my nightmare tank here and I am clueless by now what to do since the w/c and light obviously do not help...And honestly in all my yrs with planted tank I never ever had a tank this stubborn, so a dear friend suggested to come here for ideas/ help 🙂
So apart from the large w/c after the ick attach and Cardinals death, I kept up my regular w/c and left the algae matter alone. And the hair algae actually did subside some....
However what first was hair algae is now turning into 2-3 other types of algae (IMO would like to share pictures, but can attache any!?):
For one I think I'm dealing with blue-green smear algae around gravel areas. To me this type is really only kown to rep poor water quality but all my reading are great - So what's going wrong where?
I have spot algae all over the glass, however i *think* these are fairly common in planted tanks even if I never had this issue before (and don't now in the other planted tanks).
Now algae no3 which I can only call brush algae (dark green-black looking fuzz) is litterly taking OVER and coating ALL my plants (fast & slow growing, ALL) and it appears to rapidly increase within 24 hrs.
Now at first I started dialing the lights down some, which IMO only INCREASED the algae growth. When I first set up the tank, my plants were doing GREAT, growing real nice, no signs of nutrients deficit, nothing. After the ick attch, maybe few days later it appeared as if they slowed down, which I blamed on the ick meds. After the large w/c and adding the carbon to the filter when everybody died it looks as if the plants just came to a complete STOP (all plants) and that's when the hair algae subsided and these others took over in like 2 days now.
At any stage there was no significant Ammonia, NO2 or 3 spike (NO2 was 0.05 now 0.025, KH4 pH7.2) and like I said I dialed the lights down to be on 10hrs/day.
This is really killing my plants and I do NOT know what to do any more, I never had such a algae attach and all them being different types - What do they all have in common that apparently goes WRONG in this tank???
I am no fan of any chem's - But some places suggest use of copper to eliminate the matter??? I also found suggesting to give the plants a bleach-solution bath or use Hydrogen Peroxide in the tank???
This is really turning into my nightmare tank here and I am clueless by now what to do since the w/c and light obviously do not help...And honestly in all my yrs with planted tank I never ever had a tank this stubborn, so a dear friend suggested to come here for ideas/ help 🙂