HELP!!! dying plants/cloudy water/excessive algae

[drseuss]

I am having a very difficult time with my plants, water and an excessive accumulation of algae. I have a 26 gal. freshwater tank with lots of plants. (Filter is an aquaclear, and I have 2 powerheads with cartridges attached for extra filtration).I am using flourite under the gravel, and a freshwater plant fertilizer, plus an occasional iron supplement. I bought a 55 watt light, as my last light was too dim and the plants were all dying. I keep it on about 10 hours a day. Well, the plants aren't doing too much better now, except that now the algae grows very quickly (both on the plants and on the walls of the tank). And the water becomes murky within 3 days of a 30 percent water change. Plants are also going yellow/brown, grasses are dissolving (maybe the reason for the cloudiness???). I've heard that a co2 system could help plant growth, but do I really need one just to keep the plants alive? What am I doing wrong??? Any help would be HUGELY appreciated!!

plants in my tank:
hygrophila polysperma
amazon sword
aponogeton ulvaceous
echinodorus osiris
java fern
hygrophila difformis (water wisteria)
valisnera americana (corkscrew)
long grasses

fish in my tank:
2 zebra angels
2 blue gourami
1 blue ram
2 blue rainbow
2 algae eating catfish
4 harlequin raspboras
4 zebra danios

 

[geKo]

Sounds to me that your over dosing on fertilizer. In order to have a nice tank you cant just say im gonna go buy the best light and the best fertilizer and excpect it to look the way you want. Not saying thats what your doing just a example that when you have a planted tank you must keep up with it.

Lets say you have 3wat per gallon of light and no Co2. That would be bad. The more light you have the more Co2 you will need.

In my 10gal i use a 36wat power compact jbj clamp on lamp with hagen Co2 and a iron fert once a month. My plants flourish under my setup. If i were to not give the right ammount of fert or to much my plants could die. I killed my micro-sword because i over dosed on fert and the leaves turned transparent and died off. Then a week later i had a major outbreak of algea and had to tear down my tank and clean it. I thought if i added all the types of fert out their my plants would grow like monsters but I have since learned and now only add fert 1 time every month!

The cloudy water could also be over dose of fertilizer but also could be many other things. because of your alage outbreak i would not be adding any fert untill it clears a little and untill then start doing daily water changes untill it clears!

 

[Orion]

To much ferts could very well be your problem. How much are you using and how offten are you using them?

I cant belive that the aponogeton ulvaceous isnt growing and dying off. I bought some as bulbs from my lfs last year and they flourished in a little 5 gallon with a 15 w bulb and no ferts or co2!!

When you say that your tank is cloudy, is it white or grey looking, or is it green? If it is green then it is an algae bloom. I would definatly cut back on the addition of ferts for a little while. You need to get your plants back on the healthy side so that they can out do the algae.

 

[dafishkilla]

go buy you some of them algae eater fish, put some plastic plants it, and viola,, problem solved !

 

[drseuss]

thanks for the replies...

haha, thanks dafishkilla, maybe I'll have to resort to the plastic plants, but not till i've killed off everything else...I was planning to get more algae eaters anyway

I'll give less fertilizer a shot. I have been using Kent Freshwater plant fert--1- 3 tsp. per week, plus a small amount of iron (1-1.5 mg) once every couple weeks (every other 25-30% water change). The cloudiness is kind of whitish/greyish, that's why i thought it might be the remnants of dissolved plants vs. algae bloom. The algae was more on the sides of the tank and the plants.

I'm also going to turn off the powerhead filter right above the aponogeton ulvaceous, just in case it was maybe the constant current that was affecting the top of the plant. It HAS actually been growing well, but it's just looking a little ragged and a bit brownish.

I might set the timer for 9 hours of light rather than 10, also.

Incidentally, the root systems of my grasses have been doing well....the corkscrew is growing little offshoots from under the gravel. I'm sure this must be a good sign. I'm thinking that if this is happening, the plant must be adapting to my tank, and maybe it'll grow in more healthy.

Thanks again for the responses.....

 

[steve535]

how about an air bubbler? that to would give you algae. aponogeton, swords, and the long grass are sensitive to fert,the vall shouldnt be bothered .

 

[drseuss]

An air bubbler? My powerhead filter shoots out air bubbles (I have it set on low though). Does this add to algae growth? Why?

 

[AmazonTankz]

An air bubbler wouild be bad as it lets out the only CO2 you might have in there.

 

[notavip]

if your still having problems with the white cloudiness, it could be several things. the same happend to my tank so i thought it was a bacterial bloom even though my tank was established. but nothing i did seemed to help. i did some major research and found it some interesting stuff. quite a few species of vals do whats called "biologic decalcification". if they aren't getting enough co2, they can biologically remove carbon from mineral particals in the water and make there own co2. the result is small particals of calcium floating in the water. the same can happen if you use water softening agents. my water is very hard so this happens often. your best bet to remove the haze is use a clarifier. i recommend "clarify" by seacem (a bit expensive but works great) or i'm currently using a clarifier made by mardel and it works great. (2.99)

 

[RedTurquoise]

Well, first off like being mentioned, you need to stop any surface agitation. This may be enough to supply sufficient C02 to the plants depending on the fish load. The plants will in turn supply 02 for the fish! Your plants sound like they are 'sufficating' from the lack of C02.

Next, your plants are also dying from lack of nutrients hence the leaves turning yellow and dissolving! You need to start fertilizing a couple times a week so your plants can receive the necessary nutrients and outcompete the algae. Algae is basicly a plant therefore anything good for plants will be good for algae. That is why it is necessary to supply the nutrients to the plants so they can use it up.

In your case now, the fert is being used up in a matter of a couple of days. The plants get their share but after the ferts are used up, they start dying again thus algae starts growing because algae can thrive in conditions where nutrients are very scarce (like fish waste, left over food, etc). Algae is caused from an imbalance in nutrients. Plants on the other hand can not survive under these conditions.

Therefore, you need to start fertilizing a couple times a week. Its like feeding a fish or yourself for that matter. Not once in a few weeks! From my experience in having algae outbreaks, starving the plants and aglae from ferts or light only made things worst. Once you start fertilizing more again, algae is back. You want the plants to outcompete the algae for nutrients.

In my planted 90G, I fertilize 3-4x a week using liquid fert and also nitrate. I also have flourite in my substrate and C02 injection. The plants are in great condition. Algae grows for a week or two, then disappears. I was also under the impression that fertilizing more than once a week would case massive algae growth. That was until I met the owner of www.aquabotanic.com and also subscribing to the aquatic plants digest (and the likes of Tom Barr, Scott Hieber, etc all plant experts). They quickly explained to me how wrong this myth of fertilizing less is. Of course, I tried it and it worked. Naturaly not over night!

I hth!