Green Algae Spots on my Amazon Swords

[justissaayman]

Hello All

So I have been changing the dosage a little on my tank in the last whilst and also upping the water change amounts, but I noticed last night that I have little green spots of Algae on mostly my Amazon Swords.

Any ideas why and if so how to stop it?

I dont really clean the back glass as I leave it for the shrimp, snails and ancistris to go at.
3weeks ago I was dosing:
1ml Profito
1ml Easylife Carbo

I am now dosing:
0.75ml Profito
1.5ml Easylife Carbo

Lights stay on from 7:30am to approx 4pm when my wife gets home.

 

[ceg4048]

Hello,
Green Spot Algae (GSA) is caused by any combination of poor PO4 and poor CO2. Profito has no PO4, so the implication is that the PO4 levels is deficient. You have not identified how much light is being used, so the problem might be fixed by reducing the intensity, but fundamentally, if you are enriching CO2 you really need to add more NPK. There is little point in adding a trace only mix.

Cheers,

 

[justissaayman]

ceg, thanks loads for the reply but sorry for my ignorance I only understood half of it.

Lighting in the tank are two 18w bulbs which come stock with the AquaOne AR620 (think its t8) and just for total clarity sakes a Blue LED as a nightlight for my daughter which shines the entire night)

Its only started recently and the tank has been up and running since beginning April.

 

[ceg4048]

Hi mate,
I'm not sure which half you're having trouble with, but have a look at this Profito website:
ProFito — English

Can you see down in the middle of the page where they list their so-called "advantages"? Count down to bullet number 9 which states:
free of nitrates and phosphates.

Well, plants need lots of nitrates (NO3) and phosphates (PO4). When you add either EasyCarbo or CO2 gas injection then the plants need as much as 10X more NO3 and PO4.

So your choice is either to stop using EasyCarbo altogether, or to start adding lots of NO3 and PO4 in addition to the Profito. You can find these products either by buying a commercial NO3 and PO4 mix, which cost more, or you can buy the dry powders such as Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) or Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4).

Here is a good place to check for those powders => Ei Starter Kit

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

 

[justissaayman]

Thanks for explaining that. Ive just seen such good growth since I left the tank to its own for a little while.

I might stop the EasyCarbo for a month and see what it does, think its a good idea? and just continue with the Profito.

This entire tank will be moved into the AR850 once I move at the End of Aug and then I will be investing in a Solid CO2 FE system.

 

[ceg4048]

Hi,
Well, CO2 grows plants, so if you suddenly stop the EasyCarbo, you might find that they object. It would be very easy to trade one kind of algae for another. The growth rates will also slow down. If you'll choose to withdraw the carbon then do so very gradually, like 10% per week or so. It's also not a guarantee that the GSA will disappear, so you might wind up with 2 or three kinds of algae.

If you intend to change to a gas injection system then I don't think it wise to stop the liquid carbon because adding gas will increase the demand for nutrients even more than EasyCarbo does, so you really need to learn about nutrition and learn how to fix problems instead of abandoning it. I don't think that plan is wise at all. In fact I predict you will have even more problems once you start adding gas. CO2 is VERY complicated.

Cheers,

 

[justissaayman]

Ceg, to be honest, this is my daughters tank and I just want a easy tank where I can do my daily maintenance and be done with it. I dont mind switching over to the EL kits once the tank is in its new home.

 

[DRG93]

I had the same problem with Green Spot Algae but as soon as I switched to EI dosing and kept a stable CO2 injection of ~30ppm, the GSA disappeared.

Best of luck,
Dan

 

[justissaayman]

Thanks Loads Dan. Ill look into EL Dosing very soon. Just in the middle of a move so money is tight.