# Ready to quit over this insane algae please help



## [email protected] (May 14, 2020)

I really need help. My planted tank is entirely over run by string algae. I have removed my fish, reduced my one light down to 5 hours a day, did a 4 day blackout, CO2 is at lethal levels at all times, I am doing 35ml of H202 in a 40 gallon tank every day, and 6x the recommended dosage of algae fix and yet it thrives and grows. I'm ready to just scrap the tank and be done with all of this. I've been trying for over a year and nothing works. The tank is 40 gallons has stones, java moss, Phoenix moss, dwarf hairgrass, and baby dwarf tears. I planted enough to cover 60% of the tank hoping it would carpet but the algae came in so hard you cant see any of it anymore and I cant imagine they can grow or spread under a massively hard impossible to remove blanket of this stuff.


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## Blue Ridge Reef (Feb 10, 2008)

Reduce light intensity (rather than duration), stay on top of water changes. If the fish are all gone a 3x to 5x dose of Excel followed by a large (75% or so) water change after the algae turns white should have you at least in a place where you can start fresh.


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## Ddrizzle (Jan 30, 2019)

You have no fast growing plants. Are you aware of allelopathy? Plants produce chemicals that scientists think keep alage at bay. This only happens when faster goring plants are growing, or your slow growing plants fill up a large amount of the tank.

Besides that, if a 4 day blackout doesn't kill string algae then I would argue you didn't do a blackout, lol! This is a simple problem. You have too much light and nutrients to for your tank and plant setup.

Do a 5 day blackout (even light at one hour a day has worked for me). After that, only keep the light on for one or two hours until the algae STAYS away. This whole time, you need enough fertilizer to feed your plants to grow, but not way too much for algae to grow.


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## fishguy1978 (Mar 20, 2020)

Glass shrimp will eat string algi


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## [email protected] (May 14, 2020)

Maybe I did it wrong but for the blackout I wrapped my entire tank in a super thick blanket and unplugged the light. The light I have is a 6500k illumination 36" on a 40 gallon idk if that is too much the link to it is here

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F6XD2FH/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_fGCVEbF8ET2TY

I will say having been doing heavy doses of H202 and Algaefix the entire carpet of Algae has turned a super light brown might be green I'm color blind either way went from super dark to super light but I'm still seeing new growth (not nearly as much) and not totally sure how long once I kill it it'll take for that blanket to decay and go away. I have heard about the need for lots of plants to compete for the carbon the algae wants which is why I ordered $250 in plants and the entire tank is planted with only about an inch of space or less between each plant I would say 60-75% covered already. Just hoping to buy time for these to carpet. I have been considering shrimp but didn't think they could get rid of it as fast as chemicals. The other suggestions I will do some reading on and maybe try those.

Oh as far as nutrients the entire substrate is ada aquasoil. Idk if that is what is causing my problems.









So here are some pictures of progress I guess. I've been dosing h202 and algae fix like I mentioned for about 5 days now.

The center where the main water stream is from the filter cleared but that is about it after the blackout and dosing for 5 days in insane amounts.

Co2 setup and whole tank to get an idea of light


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## Deanna (Feb 15, 2017)

Hmmmm ...would you say your "algae" looks like these pictures: https://www.google.com/search?q=cyanobacteria+aquarium&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjR0oq_vLTpAhUjAN8KHeipBDYQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=cyanobacteria+aquarium&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzICCAAyAggAMgYIABAFEB4yBggAEAUQHjIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAIEB4yBggAEAgQHjIGCAAQCBAeMgYIABAIEB4yBggAEAgQHjoECAAQQzoECAAQHlCwIljrNGD_N2gAcAB4AIABlAGIAc4JkgEDMC45mAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWc&sclient=img&ei=h8-9XpHzE6OA_Abo05KwAw&bih=654&biw=1396&hl=en? I'm also seeing some bad goings-on below your substrate, through the glass.

In any case, check this page for solutions, but focus on the BGA (cyanobacteria) possibility: James' Planted Tank - Algae Guide.


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## Hujeta (Jan 26, 2020)

[email protected] said:


> Oh as far as nutrients the entire substrate is ada aquasoil. Idk if that is what is causing my problems.


Is is purely aquasoil or did you use sand or something as a bottom layer? By the looks of your pictures you have way too little plants (biomass) and especially fast-growing such as stem plants and it seems your adding too much products too (including CO2). It's a fine balance to start an Iwagumi-styled tank and to be quite blunt it seems you're a bit inexperienced. Not to worry, I've been there myself and can empathize with the frustration of algae bloom. Adding Excel to counter algae can be an effective short-term solution but it's not the lack of such product that is the root cause here. 

The goto recipe if I were in your shoes would be a few bundles of stem plants (you can remove them in a phased approach as a month or two have passed), make sure you have invertibrates grazing on algae (snails, shrimps), dial back CO2 until your drop checker is lime or forest green (give care to said shrimps) and a lean dosing regimen together with light cut back to medium intensity for a start of 4-5 hours and increase slowly, maybe 30 minutes biweekly. After such starting point be patient with any changes and allow 2 weeks before adjusting any of above components, unless you see algae growth accelerating heavily.

Edit: The scape itself is looking good! But I'm confused, have you really had this specific setup up and running for 1 year?? Looks more to be started a few weeks ago. If soil is not matured, it's probably leaching loads of nutrients and daily waterchanges and _no _ferts are recommended.


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## DaveKS (Apr 2, 2019)

Looks like Cyanobacteria to me also. 

Also what is light tan color in substrate showing through side glass that @Deanna pointed out? 

I’m also seeing large amounts of detritus in the deeper substrate layers in 4th pic.


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## Tuister (Jun 25, 2019)

I have used the nicrew light before and found that buying a dimmer helped mitigate issues. 

Here is a link: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=nicrew+dimmer&ref=nb_sb_noss_2 


Since you have no livestock, you may also consider a treatment: https://www.google.com/search?q=ult...=722&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=NeE_k-yoIz3E5M 
(even though you can treat this one with livestock - things are just easier without). 

Get the tank clean first, preserve all you can in terms of plants, then fix the root issues. 

Cheers.


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## Jah410 (Feb 11, 2019)

Yeah definitely looks like cyano, comes from too much nutrients in the water column. Kinda surprised peroxide didn't wipe it out at those doses but take a look at ultralife Blue green slime stain remover. I had a small but stubborn outbreak and this stuff melted it in days. Even though it says it's a stain remover, it wipes the stuff out.

After you get rid of it, make sure you remove excess organics from your tank (gunk/detritus). Maybe get a test kit and test for nitrate and phosphate. If you have extreme levels, you could consider adding some nitrate sink plants to help with the problem but generally, good maintainence, not overstocking, and not overfeeding will prevent this from happening.


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## [email protected] (May 14, 2020)

You guys are the best. Yes it is a year old. There was a sand path through it but the algae was flourishing in the sand so I removed as much as I could and planted over it. I only recently doubled the amount of plants into the tank. The dwarf tears had carpeted the top but a newly added fish went to town and I had to cut up what he uprooted and replant. Took out that fish and started over there. This is my first tank it's been a hell of a learning curve. Saw a video of aquascaping on insta and legit though plants, water, fish, how hard could it be. Now I laugh so I don't cry. Despite all of this I really love this and want to save it. I think I'll add much more plants till this all carpets and throw in algae killers once I am done trying some of the chemicals recommended here. This has restored my hope though so I'm going to get to work and thank you all so much!


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## DaveKS (Apr 2, 2019)

You also need to consider hard anaerobic activity in deeper substrate layers as cause.


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## [email protected] (May 14, 2020)

From the looks of it a lot of you are right and it seems to be cynobacteria and not what I thought. This would explain why my attacking it hasn't been working. I am attacking the wrong thing so I am going to address it as that for the time. DaveKS, as I am new I am not sure what you mean by hard anaerobic activity, could you explain?


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## Anon (Mar 16, 2014)

Hi [email protected]

Yes, there can be little doubt that this is Cyanobacteria. As you have already removed the fish, I think your best bet would be to strip the aquarium down completely and start again. I don't say that flippantly. I realize it's not what you would want to be hearing at this stage. But, it is almost impossible to remove/kill off all traces of Cyanobacteria once it has got into a tank. I'm speaking from bitter experience. I'm not on this forum as often as I'd like but I'm sure there are plenty of people here who will guide you every inch of the way out of this. Please don't be disheartened.

Anon


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## moke (Jan 4, 2020)

cycle your tank. your h2o2 dosing may be oxidizing your beneficial bacteria. if you added more aquasoil to cover your sand path, that's adding more nh3.


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## Ddrizzle (Jan 30, 2019)

The good thing about cyanobacteria/BGA is that it's the easiest algae to remove. Just go slow and remove it in sheets.

As for peroxide dosing, you may be hurting your already low plant growth if it's hindering the plants too.

Remember, this is all as simple as light + nutrients + co2. If you have algae, you must turn down the light to kill it. From there, you slowly turn the light back up week by week until you start getting algae again. At that point you know how much light you can safely work with. As your plants grow, the light duration and co2 can go up.

Something else to note is that iwagumis are harder to start because baby tears are hard mode. From what I see, your tank never actually started growing in the first place. That means no or little plants, which means more room for the algae to take over. There's a reason tanks aren't set to full blast light for 8 hours during the first couple months. High light duration in those times benefits the algae more than the plants as the algae catches up and starts growing full speed sooner.

GL and I still recommend another blackout right after you remove the sheets of BGA, with a big water change rounding it out. Do a water change every other day. After 5 days, start with one hour of full light only for a week, maybe two. If algae comes back during that time I'd be surprised, and you have bigger issues to figure out.


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## [email protected] (May 14, 2020)

Update: it was Cyanobacteria. It was either the H202 that finally got it or E.M. Erythromycin. Not sure what but it turned super light and I was able to pull it off after two weeks revealing a lot more grass. Seems a lot of my dwarf tears died and I'm hoping to bring the remaining back but we will see. Funny thing is after algae fix, H202, black outs, and everything else I poured in my moss I ordered recently managed to give birth to snails. Some guys have all the luck. I ordered 5 assasin snails to deal with them. Anyway I'll post an updated photo. I ordered several potted plants. I'm going to put them in till everything carpets then just remove them. I just want them to compete with the algae. I have suckerfish in and the snails to eat it up too but I don't want the snails getting out of hand.


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## [email protected] (May 14, 2020)

Photos of results after treatment.


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