# Even more algae...



## SweetCheeksMum (Nov 3, 2013)

Ugh! So I'm back with more a:es. This time green hair algae I believe. I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what I'm doing wrong...

pH-7.2
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-10

10 gallon tank
Mortie and 2 oto's are the only fish in the tank
Heated to 76-78 (100w heater)
Has an air stone for the oto's
10 gallon filter (not sure of the brand)
Ferts- flourish and root tabs. I was dosing once a week until I noticed the algae. I haven't dosed in at least a week and a half. 
Conditioner- Prime and I have added stress coat when Mortie tore his tail.

I do 2 50% water changes a week, one just water, one substrate cleaning.
I always take out food Mortie doesn't eat with a Turkey baster and the oto's have plenty of brown algae so I haven't needed to add food for them lately.

I'm wondering of the small amount of sunlight that comes threw the light blocking curtain could be causing the issue? I'm thinking I'll try to tack up a towel under the part that's behind the tank.

Here's some pics of the algae 

























And the window with morning sun behind it... I'm wondering if this could be my issue?








And this picture... just to brighten your day, Mortie's 'what you doing to my tank?' Look 








If there's anything I forgot, let me know. Thanks in advanced!


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## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

Ahhhh so that is what is in my tank, Green hair algae. XD though I think I got mine from the java moss. as of how to get rid of it, not sure.. =/


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## SweetCheeksMum (Nov 3, 2013)

I'm not really sure where I got it from. It grows back so quickly. I read into flourish excel but read some scary things about people killing fish when using it. I figured a little algae is better then killing fish in the process of trying to rid my tank if it. I figured I better ask. Especially now that I'm trying to keep my brown algae lol 
Its terrible, I started out wanting to get rid of that until I got the oto's then I started purposely growing it to keep them fed lol!


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## rsskylight04 (Nov 9, 2013)

Algea problems are often due to high phosphates. The sun might also be an issue but with the dark curtain I would think that's not the main problem. You can starve algea out by keeping ammonia and nitrate low with water changes and growing lots of plants.
Good luck!


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## SweetCheeksMum (Nov 3, 2013)

Thank you. I was thinking about getting another plant anyway, so I'll give that a shot. I would think that would be dark enough too. It's one of those light/sound blocking curtains. It has two layers but some light makes it threw. I'm gonna add a towel to hopefully block the rest of the sun on the bottom half of the window. 
I'm doing 2 50% changes now. Do you suggest I do more percentage each time or add a 3rd 50% each week? 
I'm thinking when I resume dosing my fert, I'm going to try cutting the amount I put in in half.
I appreciate the reply


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## frankiefire (Feb 26, 2013)

How long are you leaving the tank lights on each day?


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## SweetCheeksMum (Nov 3, 2013)

I turn them on around 9:30-10a and off around 10 to 11p.


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## frankiefire (Feb 26, 2013)

I had problems with algea with my 20 gallon. I cut down the lighting to 8 hrs a day and started dosing excel. Took care of the problem and has never come back.


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## SweetCheeksMum (Nov 3, 2013)

I was thinking about trying excel. I think the stories I read about it killing fish were when it was 2 or 3 times the dose. The posts (on a different forum, i did a google search) I read said they were dosing higher to get rid of algae. 
I'm mostly scared for the oto's since I've read they are easy to kill.
Now if I were to try the excel, I wouldn't dose the regular flourish with it right? 
I just want to make sure I go about this the right way.
Edit: I'll start reducing my light time too, thanks


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## frankiefire (Feb 26, 2013)

You dose excel once daily(which I do), or once every other day. You still dose the fourish once a week. Remember it will take time to control algae. Patience is key. I also think your lights are on too long in my opinion. I would start by cutting the lights down to 10 hrs a day. A cheap timer is a great investment.  Oh, and I have an otto in my tank and he's doing fine with the dosing.


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## SweetCheeksMum (Nov 3, 2013)

Oh good! That's reassuring  I think I'll pick some up tomorrow.
I'll start doing only 10 hours a day.
I think that's my issue, I'm to impatient with the algae. I was the same way with the brown algae until I got my oto's.
Patience.... that's a good reminder!


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## rsskylight04 (Nov 9, 2013)

SweetCheeksMum said:


> Thank you. I was thinking about getting another plant anyway, so I'll give that a shot. I would think that would be dark enough too. It's one of those light/sound blocking curtains. It has two layers but some light makes it threw. I'm gonna add a towel to hopefully block the rest of the sun on the bottom half of the window.
> I'm doing 2 50% changes now. Do you suggest I do more percentage each time or add a 3rd 50% each week?
> I'm thinking when I resume dosing my fert, I'm going to try cutting the amount I put in in half.
> I appreciate the reply



Sounds like plenty of waterchange to keep excess nutrients from accumulating. Try anacharis for a fast-growing easy plant.


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## sandybottom (Nov 29, 2012)

in the second and third pic it looked like the beginning of cyano bacteria. reading on the barr report.com phosphates do not cause algae.if it is cyano it could be from a few things.there are a few ways to get rid of it or any other algae,but unless you find the imbalance that is causing it,it will just return.


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## rsskylight04 (Nov 9, 2013)

Don't mean to contradict or start argument but... there are many published reports that link phosphate and nitrate to accelerated algea growth. Not to say that's what's going on here.
Hope you find a solution to your problem.


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## kittenfish (Dec 1, 2013)

I agree that it looks like cyanobacteria, which actually likes low nitrates. What kind of lighting are you using? Are your plants healthy?


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## SweetCheeksMum (Nov 3, 2013)

I looked up cyanobacteria, and it does look similar to that too. I don't have much of in in there yet. The 3 pictures I posted were the only places it was. Well, I cleaned it off one of the marimo balls and filter sponge over the intake a few days ago. It coated them with a few air bubbles trapped under it. I probably should have taken a picture of it.
My light is a zoo med 18in 15w tb. 
My plants appear to be doing well. The Anubis nana has one new leaf since being in the 10 gal, the bigger leaves on the money wort are new. The more lacy looking leafs on the water wistiera are new. The swords have gotten taller and have a few more leafs. One of them has a baby that's growing more leaves as well. The java fern hasn't really grown much, but has attached itself to more rocks. 
























The water wisteria is closed up on top because I just flipped it on to feed Mortie breakfast and take a few pictures of the plants for you.


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## sandybottom (Nov 29, 2012)

rsskylight04 said:


> Don't mean to contradict or start argument but... there are many published reports that link phosphate and nitrate to accelerated algea growth. Not to say that's what's going on here.
> Hope you find a solution to your problem.


yup,the mind is the first thing to go. went back and reread.this is only for very heavily planted tanks.obviously this is not what we are dealing with.


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## rsskylight04 (Nov 9, 2013)

The tank is beautiful. Very nice ballance between plants wood and stones.


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## amphirion (Jan 15, 2014)

lighting is a major issue. 10 hours straight is still a lot. would be better to break in between: 4 hours on, 1 hour off, 5 hours on. this supposedly helps disrupt your algae's growth. 

also, try to find other nutrients that might be limiting your plant's growth and replenish them (more of a problem in high tech than low tech setups). as your plants start gaining biomass, they will start out competing the algae for the same resources. your tank still looks fairly underplanted, not to mention, anubias and java fern are slow growers so dont expect them to contribute much to limiting resources to algae.


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## SweetCheeksMum (Nov 3, 2013)

Thank you rssky 

I was thinking about getting one or two more plant Amphirion. My options are limited to what Petco or pet smart sells. Which really isn't much. I could try to get more of one I already have? Is there one that would be more beneficial then the others?
The light was only on for 8 hours yesterday. And was planning on only 8 today as well.
Are you suggesting I keep dosing my ferts rather then stop? Cause its been a week and a half to two weeks since I last dosed. I wasn't sure if dosing would feed the algae more.


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## amphirion (Jan 15, 2014)

any of the stemmed plants that petco has to offer will have a higher nutrient uptake rate than plants such as anubias and java fern. willow leaf hygro might be a good option. wisteria is also a good option, but you have that one already.

i think you are also taking the safe route with ferts. its is important to give your tank the exact nutrients necessary for optimal plant health rather than what they have plenty of already that is encouraging algae growth (N). Elevation in P, K, perhaps Fe, Mg, B, and Ca are also beneficial, but each also requires their own exact concentrations. this is why i avoid using all purpose/premixed fertilizers as I cannot control all the variables as opposed to having a known concentration of each element. 

adding CO2 helps keep algae levels and certain species of algae at bay also.


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## SweetCheeksMum (Nov 3, 2013)

I really appreciate the help. Thank you all.
So my plan is to keep my lighting to 8hrs a day. I blocked out the sun behind it. On my 3 days home I'll be sure to give the light a one hour break half way threw. I'll also hold off on ferts until I get it under control. I also will grab one or two more stem plants next week. I wanted to get them tonight but snow got in the way of that :/ *(I'm counting down the days til spring!!)*
There isn't much in there but I'm going to take it out by hand tonight. Tomorrow is my substrate cleaning and 50% water change. 
Hopefully with all this I'll get it under control.
Thanks again!


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## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

Ok I know a bit about all of this, first off I am looking at the sunlight as being one of the factors, second would be photoperiod/bulbs ie how old are the bulbs and whats the k rating on them, you might have answered this but i got bored with reading all the posts lol, 3rd you can use excel without any issues but I doubt it will help, it is more of a band-aid, in other words it will stop the algae but not fix the problem as to the why you have algae, and I am not to sure it will work on hair/thread algae and it would take a pretty serious overdosing of excel to kill fish I have dosed up to 4x the dose and yeah not a single fish died. the next thing is the plants you have and be it there is not really a ton of them, I doubt you need ferts, everyone loves their plants to grow fast it seems but if you are not planning on selling clippings whats the point? Weekly water changes of 10-15% will help keep most algaes in check, I wish I had the easier kinds of algae to deal with I have a fight with black bush algae in on of my tanks and it is almost always a lighting issue, believe me I have had to experiment with the lighting to get it gone every time I change a light fixture.....


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## SweetCheeksMum (Nov 3, 2013)

The light I have is 6500k I think? It a zoo med 18in 15w tb, super daylight. The light is a little less then a month old. I haven't has this 10 gallon running for a month yet. The plants, wood and about half the rocks came from my 5.5 gallon. I switched it over on Jan 22nd. I've been thinking about getting more plants since switching over since I have a lot more room now. I just haven't got around to it yet.
I agree, I was trying to make it grow fast. I wanted clippings to fill it in more, but I like the idea of letting them grow slower and finding another stem plant. Would the moneywort be considered a stem plant? I saw a purplish/maroon colored one that looked like it grew similar to the moneywort. I can't remember what it was called.


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## kittenfish (Dec 1, 2013)

Yes, moneywort is a stem plant. The other plant you mentioned might be ludwigia repens, which is also a fast grower.

Is that green spot algae on your java fern?


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## rsskylight04 (Nov 9, 2013)

I got the hygro in a tube from petco and it grew very well for me. I've already propogated cuttings after only 8 weeks. Also the echinodorus argentum rooted almost immediatly and is putting out new leaves. 

Something good about petco!


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## SweetCheeksMum (Nov 3, 2013)

Kittenfish- Yes I think that's what it was! Its so pretty. It said med light on it, so I wasn't sure I had enough light for it to grow well. 
I don't think that's another algae. It has what looks like damage to some of its leaves. The roots are also dark in color and some of the new little plants are growing off from some of the bigger leaves. I assume the roots being dark was typical of this plant since the new roots are dark as well. I've had it for at least 5 or 6w and it hasn't gotten worse or spread. I think its fine? Your making me second guess myself tho lol
rssky-I think I've seen that plant. I'll look into that one as well  Those tube and little packaged plants are the best thing about Petco and petsmart. They both have the same ones so I usually go to both of them (they are a half a mile apart, which is convenient) and see who has the best looking plants at the time.
One thing I've never seen is floaters. I wish they had a few or even one option to buy.


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## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

You can always add some floater plants, they can help because they take nutrients directly form the water collum, i would not do dukweed that stuff is hard to get rid of once you put it into a tank, but you can try cutting your light down to 8 hours a day, would help some as well


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