# Is this Cladophora and should I freak out?



## saizzz (Mar 22, 2016)

My 30G ADA tank has been up and running for a few months. The plants, fish, and shrimp are all doing great. I'm using three Current Satellite Pro Plus lights, eight-hour photoperiod, Co2, and dosing ferts. I'm getting a bit of thread-like algae growing on the substrate and driftwood. It does not look like Staghorn and it does not appear to be growing on plant leaves. It is growing between my carpet of Monte Carlo, apparently clinging to the substrate below. 

First, does the attached photo look like Cladophora? The stuff isn't too difficult to remove but I wanted to find out if there is something that will help control it besides manual removal.

On the last water change, I didn't does Excel and it seemed to grow faster. Probably because we have phosphate added to our low TDS tap water. I've since discontinued dosing PO4. Appreciate any other suggestions or help.


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## KC1994 (May 19, 2016)

Up your co2 and manual removal.


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

any other algea growing or just this?


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## saizzz (Mar 22, 2016)

Monkeyruler90, I have a few spots of BBA but only on the driftwood. Other than that, not even much green spot algae. My CO2 indicator is lime so I don't want to push the CO2 levels higher. Here is a pick of the overall tank.


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## KC1994 (May 19, 2016)

saizzz said:


> Monkeyruler90, I have a few spots of BBA but only on the driftwood. Other than that, not even much green spot algae. My CO2 indicator is lime so I don't want to push the CO2 levels higher. Here is a pick of the overall tank.




Relying on a drop checker is why you have this algae. Clearly your big three in your tank are off to have this algae appear, 9/10 it comes down to co2 being too low.


Look at your tank and stop relying on the drop checker.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Unless you can baby sit your fish all day, don't just up your co2. Co2's ability to control algae is based on plant mass. If your co2 levels are good it's more likely the amount of light you started with and the organics that need to be processed in the setup. 

Initially you should never start with 8 hours of light especially in good light setups, since it takes a while to get the plants going and the bio-filter to process. The light simply drives algae to develop faster.


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## KC1994 (May 19, 2016)

houseofcards said:


> Unless you can baby sit your fish all day, don't just up your co2. Co2's ability to control algae is based on plant mass. If your co2 levels are good it's more likely the amount of light you started with and the organics that need to be processed in the setup.
> 
> Initially you should never start with 8 hours of light especially in good light setups, since it takes a while to get the plants going and the bio-filter to process. The light simply drives algae to develop faster.




I know where you are coming from, but I've started with 10hrs a day using Aquasky over a mini s and have no algae whatsoever since I started my tank, no fish deaths, and amazing plant growth.


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## easternlethal (Feb 13, 2016)

If everything used to work well and you have not changed anything and suddenly you get algae especially so near the substrate then the other variable you should look at is an excess buildup of nutrients that the monte carlo cannot use up, especially ammonia. Directing flow towards their area to flush that away should help, as will reducing organics. Increasing co2 to boost photosynthesis also works because you have more plant mass and that will increase nutrient uptake. But that's not the only solution and this type of algae also uses co2. 

Have you been overfeeding? Is there bare substrate nearby that has been collecting detritus? Is the monte carlo overgrowing and the lower layers are dying?


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

KC1994 said:


> I know where you are coming from, but I've started with 10hrs a day using Aquasky over a mini s and have no algae whatsoever since I started my tank, no fish deaths, and amazing plant growth.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Can I see a pic of your Mini S?

Bump:


easternlethal said:


> If everything used to work well and you have not changed anything and suddenly you get algae especially so near the substrate then the other variable you should look at is an excess buildup of nutrients that the monte carlo cannot use up, especially ammonia. Directing flow towards their area to flush that away should help, as will reducing organics.
> 
> Have you been overfeeding? Is there bare substrate nearby that has been collecting detritus? Is the monte carlo overgrowing and the lower layers are dying?


I'm with you on the "reducing Organics" pretty much all my posts are about organics. Light plays a major role in how fast algae develops from unprocessed organics. This tank is only 3 months old. When you start a tank there is very little to process the organics. There is an immature bio-filter and plants that haven't really kicked in yet, so it's more controllable by controlling light. The algae especially BBA takes a while to develop.


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## saizzz (Mar 22, 2016)

I have about 18 neon tetras and a juvenile bushy nose pleco. The latter was a recent addition to the tank and I've been dropping in a 1/2 algae wafer for him every other night. It's possible the additional food for the pleco contributed to the algae growth. I'm also going to count my nerite snails to be sure one didn't die in the tank. I'll also reduce the photo period / Co2 to six hours and see how things go. Thanks for the input everyone.


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## saizzz (Mar 22, 2016)

Mystery solved. I found a dead Nerite today while performing maintenance. That probably resulted in an ammonia spike that fueled a Clado bloom. Not sure what took out the Nerite but suspect the Assassin snails recently added might be to blame. Anyway, it already looks like things are returning to balance.


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