# algae every where



## Danio king (Feb 25, 2011)

I knew it was only a matter of time. i have a 55 gal tank with 3.9 wpg over it. it is planted with about 13 pots of HC (baby tears), some giant hair grass, a few very small crypt sprouts and 4 marimo moss balls. everything seemed fine and i was confident the algae would hold off until my Co2 diffuser was shipped but within the past 3 days the algae has taken off! on the glass, plants, substrate, everywhere! will manually removing as much as possible and adding Co2 along with water changes clear it up? or am i doomed to deal with this horrible outbreak forever??? any advice on how to deal with crap-tons of algae would be appreciated, thanks.


----------



## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

less light....


----------



## Mr. fish (Mar 8, 2011)

Way less light.. I think the max is 3WPG


----------



## Danio king (Feb 25, 2011)

well im running it on half that amount of light for 4 hours then adding the other so its 4 hours of 2 wpg and then 4 hours of 4 wpg. and i cant really just take away light because its one fixture. would adding more plants make a difference or is it just to much light to fix???


----------



## Mr. fish (Mar 8, 2011)

Danio king said:


> well im running it on half that amount of light for 4 hours then adding the other so its 4 hours of 2 wpg and then 4 hours of 4 wpg. and i cant really just take away light because its one fixture. would adding more plants make a difference or is it just to much light to fix???


Thats the main reason why you're getting so much algae in the first place.. Plants are based off of a balance... Everyday the same routine.. Once something is off set an algae bloom will start.. destroying everything. 3wpg I believe is all you need.. anything more is just overkill and really unnecessary. Adding more plants will do nothing.

I would try running 3wpg at 8-9 hours a day...


----------



## Danio king (Feb 25, 2011)

alright il try that, i guess i can just take a bulb out of the fixture. should i scrape as much algae off as i can or just let it die off?


----------



## Mr. fish (Mar 8, 2011)

I would scrape as much as I could, throw in workforce of snails and let them do their job intill its manageable


----------



## Danio king (Feb 25, 2011)

yeah that was my plan, add some nerite snails and cherry shrimp. then about 10 otocinclus and let it run its coarse.


----------



## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

Dont get shrimp for algae eating, there isnt a species out there that is reliable as an algae eater when there is other food in the tank. However yes deffinitely look into nerite snails.


----------



## Danio king (Feb 25, 2011)

i know shrimps wont eat a lot of algae i have them in a bunch of my other tanks they do graze lightly on it though and il take any algae maintenance i can get.


----------



## Danio king (Feb 25, 2011)

i never intended to add actual fish to the tank other than the oto's and maybe a few serpae tetras anyway its mainly a shrimp tank.


----------



## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

ahh ok. Very cool, id like to see some pictures once you have the algae under control.


----------



## Mr. fish (Mar 8, 2011)

I second that...


----------



## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Using de-ironized water may be a quick solution to the problem if I doesn't clear up soon, as there is no nitrate or phosphate after treatment


----------



## Christine270 (Oct 13, 2010)

Otto cats are awesome for algae cleanup. They are so small that adding a large amount of them doesn't really affect your ecosystem & they do a good job. I only have a 10 gallon & I've had problems with algae build-up but I have 5 Otto's & they keep it quite clean.


----------



## girth vader (Apr 24, 2006)

First step- 72 blackout. Cover it completely with a blanket. Your fish will be fine with no food for 3 days

Second step-Lower your lighting until you set up your CO2. Once you have your CO2 up and running and your PH down below 7 you can run as much light as you want.... You control agae with CO2 and Mac and Mic nutients. I have had timers crap out and leave the lights on for days when on vacay and no algae when I got back... you will have to find the balance, may take some time and a few outbreaks but eventually you'll know how much to feed your plants. Dont dose Macs and Mics on the same day, dose each every other day and on day 7 no ferts, and a 50% H2o change. That's your reset button.....

Don't use WPG, it's old and out dated and means squat. Use PUR for lighting.

Actually, read this, it's a good intro into lighting...
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html

Anyone getting into plants should read that article first. Then use your lighting knowledge and read up on dosing. I have followed Tom Barr for a couple decades and he's a great resource to use. His methods are cutting edge and produce some of the most fantastic tanks I've seen. And you can have in the tanks unlike Amano who kills more fish then pictures he produces.....

Cheers mang.


----------

