Algae removal

[jefftaylor]

I have a 30 gallon fw tank that has live plants in it i have had it running for 5 years now and i have a older sword plant that has started to grow algae on its leaves and i can not get rid of it. I also have a smaller sword that has no algae growth on it. I treat my water and do regular water changes but this is just starting to become a problem, any help will be greatly appreciated. I am pruning the really bad leaves right off and removing them from the tank. My tank has very minimal agae on the sides of the tank. I just repaced my lamp 1 month ago. SO i am not sure what is going on. I have auto cats and shrimp in the tank already.

 

[Pure]

Can you describe the algea,
how many WPG of light you have,
how many and what kind of fish you have,
how long the lights are on for,
ferts or CO2,
how often you feed the fish?

Altho I suspect it has somthing to do with the new light being to bright for the amount of plants you have thus opening the door for algae, but it is hard to even say that without a little more info.

 

[Lotus]

Is it green spot algae? Are you adding any substrate ferts? Have you measured your nitrates and phosphates? Did the algae appear before or after the new lightbulb?

 

[Pure]

Jinx Lotus, you owe me a coke..

 

[Lotus]

OK, I'll send you one

 

[jefftaylor]

it is 1 wpg. I also have green camboba in the tank and 2 oter plants that i cant remember the names of right now so i have atotal of 6 plants and the sword is big. I have 4 shrimp 2 auto cats, 3 dalmation mollies and 6 danios. My nitrates are inbetween 5 and 10 ppm. I add fertilizer to the tank with water changes, But i have just started to add it daily. Light are on for about 12 - 13 hours. I only feed the fish one time per day at night or 6 pm. The light that is in there is 6500k and it is a aqua glo brand. The algae was there before the new lamp but is seems to be getting worse. The algae is hairy in some spots and really black in others. The person at the lfs told me that the algae i had before i chaged the lamp was due to the lamp being worn out so i changed and no much has happened.

 

[Pure]

OK that sounds like beard algae, a very stubborn algae indeed, and IME with it the only way to get rid of it is: A. Strip the tank, bleach everything, and start over. B. Increase your lighting and the amount of plants you have. You don't have enough fast growing plants or a high enough light output for them to out compete this stuff.

At only 1 WPG your better off sticking to low light plants and limiting the amount of time your lights are on. 12 hrs is a bit excessive but with the plants you have it may be needed with only having 1WPG, just for them to live.

 

[Bunny13]

I had some beard algae in my tank for awhile and everything I read about it said it could only be removed by hand, that nothing would eat it. I went ahead and bought an apple snail (Pomacea bridgesii not a Pomacea canaliculata which would eat your plants) and he ate all the beard algae in my tank. I can't say for sure that this will work for anyone else but it worked for me.

So, if you want to try something else before you break down the tank I might try that. I would caution you though, make sure you get the right one, they can be hard to tell apart. Otherwise you might not have plants left after a couple days!