kermadum Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Hey team, Just wondering if anybody can help with my algae problem. It's not a major problem, just something irritating. I have a 4ft freshwater display tank, that used to house my discus, but at the moment is just a community tank with Tetras and Blue Eyes. I have a strange algae that has long annoyed me, but not enough to do anything much about. It grows only on smooth surfaced plants like my Anubias and a little on the glass of the aquarium. It's a sturdy algae, difficult to scrape off when it's on the glass, and is short and carpetlike, not long filaments. There's half a dozen bristlenose in there that don't seem to have any impact on it, nor do the couple of siamese flying foxes. I never have any trouble with any other algaes, just this one. I've attached a photo here of it making my anubias look terrible. Water parameters in the tank are normally 0 for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Ph hovers close to neutral, but usually slightly alkaline. Temp 27 degrees. Lighting is 3 fluorescent tubes, I can't recall exactly what they are off the top of my head, but I think one is White, and the other two are purpel-ish (UV or something). Does the length of time lights are on during the day influence algae growth? The lights had previously been on from 7am to 930pm. I've since cut that back to 8am to 730pm because I read somewhere that this time affects the plant and algae growth. It gets no direct sunlight, the room it's in gets very little direct sunlight, but is reasonably bright. If anyone has any thoughts it would be much appreciated. Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhong89 Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 lol.... I have those as well at the beginning of the setup, but I found they're slowly gone as the aquarium setup matures. But that could be just me and my 1 thousand bristlenoses... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kermadum Posted January 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Maybe I should get MORE bristlenose! I'd love it if it were as simple as maturing tank, but this tanks been setup for years. It's been an ongoing problem, but like I said, not something I've ever really looked in to, just lived with it. But would love to solve the mystery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletch Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 (edited) Mate, I have a pleco, one adult male peppermint and a pair of breeding normal bristlenose with babies and I STILL have this problem. My tank is very heavily planted as well though. I was told to cut down nutrient amount but noticed plants showing negative effect before algae. Needless to say, I live with it. Forgot a pair of royal whiptails as well. Would love to know how to get rid of it. Edited January 10, 2011 by Busman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 (edited) Adam I'm pretty sure thus stuff us referred to as black beard algae from info on a previous thread ages ago. It's notoriously difficult to destroy if I recall correctly. Light and nutrients are the key factors affecting algae growth. The more light and the more nutrients then the more prolific the algae. Try limit the light and any additional plant fertilizers. The plants may take a bit of a beating with this approach, but hopefully it will kill off the algae before it affects the plants. Ensure you're not overstocking the tank and not overfeeding the fish. Apart from this, it might come down to algaecides if it bothers you that much. Edited January 10, 2011 by paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhong89 Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 It doesn't look like the black algae... I thought it looks more like the spotted green algae that doesn't get off no matter what.... You know people say algae is caused by imbalance of nutrients and you can out grow it by giving the plants more nutrients to grow? Do you dose your tank with anything at all? I was also told if your tank is only anubias you're likely to get algae problems coz of the slow growth. Maybe add some fast growing plants if you have the light for them. And no don't get anymore bristlenose... I have a bare bottom tank for the bristlenoses and I have to clean the canister filter once a week to get rid of the poos that's accumulated in the filter and they say canister filter is only needed to be cleaned once every 2 or 3 months! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kermadum Posted January 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 It's not the same as the black algae I had once before. That was actually easy to get rid of by getting a few siamese flying foxes. Apparently not all the species of flying foxes eat it, but the siamese ones eat the black algae and when I got a few of those within a week they'd cleaned up it up. Though that's not to say what I was told was black algae then, wasn't something entirely different and just a fluke that it worked out according to plan. I give the tank Flourish Excel, though I have to admit, I'm fairly inconsistent with remembering, some weeks it gets the right dose, other weeks it gets nothing at all. There are lots of other plants in the tank (swords, crypts, riccia), but this algae only seems to grow on the anubias and the glass (ultra smooth surfaces) rough leaved plants it doesn't seem to grow on. Which is easy to only have rough leaved plants, but if I can solve it, then I get to keep my anubias as well. I might try cutting back the light even further, and try double dosing on the fertiliser, see if that has any impact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletch Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 @ Joan. Cleaning your filters that often could cause problems. My three footer has over sixty fish and I do my filter once every six to twelve mths. I monitor water and have no reason to do it more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 I'm the first to admit that I'm nit sure about the aquascaping side of things, but I'm pretty sure the consensus is to AVOID fertilisers of you have algae. It's the extra light and nutrients that lead to algal blooms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neffy Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 have you heard of glutaraldehyde, i saw a presentation at the vic fish meeting about it, supposed to kill any algae with no harm to fish because like joan said the plants simply out compete any algae http://www.aquagreen.com.au/plant_data/Dinosaur_Spit.html has it & more information It could be a starting point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhong89 Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 @ Neffy: I believe the glutaraldehyde was for black beard algae. I have found this article very helpful in algae control from the age of aquariums http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_algae.php Yeah, the idea of more nutrients is to out complete the algae with live plants. Flourish Excel is liquid carbon, it replaces the use of DIY CO2. Please keep in mind I'm still new to the plant keeping hobby but I've read that if you have fish in your tank there should always be enough nitrogen and phosphate for the plants while potassium could be the limiting factor or the other trace elements. I think the article explains a lot of it. @busman: lol... I'm still quite new to canister filters. But if I don't clean it there isn't a lot of flow through the filter; would that be a problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletch Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 I have cheap internal filter as well. I found the same as you with my canister and just monitored water, cleaned holes in spray bar, made sure hoses arent blocked with algae and persisted. Bacteria should break down the waste. I found I needed the internal for current more than anything and i clean this out every two weeks with water change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yanagi Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 I didn't read the whole thread, just replying. According to our plant guy, Anubias do get that algae when they get too much light. Move them to a more shaded spot or get some floating plants and see if that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holycow Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 is that black algae kind-of fuzzy in appearance? as someone mentioned before, it looks like black-beard algae. you could reduce the light photo-period that the tank receives, or you could black out the tank for a day or two. nutrients in the water and the spectrum of the lights that you're using will influence whether you have algae problems. also, manually remove the algae with a brush or spot application of excel or glutareldahyde has been recommended, but if you don't address the nutrients in the water and the emitted light spectrum, it's going to come back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kermadum Posted January 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Yans response gave the idea to just do a google search on "Anubias Algae"... I have no idea why this didn't occur to me in the first place, but for some reason that comment made it click. So I did and got lots of responses. This link suggests higher phosphates plus lower light will help to solve the issue (plus a few methods to remove it from affected plants). http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/algae/4751-anubias-attracts-algae-why-how-remove.html This one also suggests phosphates. I'm wondering if that could be something worth trying, and if so, how one does that. http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/algae/121-anubias-spot-algae-prevention-2.html This one suggests reducing nutrients and light... (reducing light seems to be a common thing, so I will do that) http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/general-aquarium-plants-discussions/38195-anubias-overgrown-algae-3.html This is just a useful thing for identifying different types of algae... http://www.otocinclus.com/articles/algae.html The Black Beard Algae in this looks like the black algae I had some time ago that the siamensis chomped through pretty easily. The Green spot algae looks more like the stuff I have in my tank.Oh and then this one says NO to phosphates... http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/watercare/a/phosphates.htm It's all so confusing!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yanagi Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Really? Higher phosphates being suggested?? They CAUSE algae.. Haven't looked at the links as I'm doing w/c and just waiting for a tank to fill while I waste precious time on the forum but.. I find that absolutely bizarre. Must remember to check those links out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kermadum Posted January 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 It was a fairly common suggestion running through the threads I was reading, and there were a few articles suggesting exactly what you're saying, so I'm no less confused than before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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