# Controlling algae in co2 setup



## MasonDom (Oct 8, 2016)

First.. What are your parameters and what does your clean-up crew look like?


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## LeyWanderer (May 20, 2016)

pH is between 7.4-7.6. Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are all at 0. 
I have only two Oto cats. They cleaned all the diatoms off my plant leaves but the algae is growing too rapidly. I clean it by hand but it's back within a few days. I just want to balance it somehow.

here is a pic of the tank


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## MasonDom (Oct 8, 2016)

As for the diatoms,those are completely normal. If your tank is somewhat new they will continue to show up for a couple months. After a little while your tank should balance out and oto cats should catch up with it. Now I do still get a little in my tank even though mine is 6 months old but it is dealt with every maintanence day and is barely noticeable. In terms of other algae, your photoperiod and co2 seems perfect but your nitrates do not, plants need a bit of nitrates in the water column. Due to the lack of nitrates in the tank, your plants may be getting out competed by other algaes. What does your feet dosing schedule look like? ... By the way, beautiful tank


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## Emrah (Sep 18, 2016)

This article will help you.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

LeyWanderer said:


> pH is between 7.4-7.6. Ammonia, nitrites and *nitrates are all at 0*.


Are you dosing? Are you testing co2? What is your PH out of the tap?


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## LeyWanderer (May 20, 2016)

MasonDom said:


> As for the diatoms,those are completely normal. If your tank is somewhat new they will continue to show up for a couple months. After a little while your tank should balance out and oto cats should catch up with it. Now I do still get a little in my tank even though mine is 6 months old but it is dealt with every maintanence day and is barely noticeable. In terms of other algae, your photoperiod and co2 seems perfect but your nitrates do not, plants need a bit of nitrates in the water column. Due to the lack of nitrates in the tank, your plants may be getting out competed by other algaes. What does your feet dosing schedule look like? ... By the way, beautiful tank


Hmmm.. I didn't realize no nitrates was an issue. How do I increase nitrates? I have root tabs in the substrate. I was dosing flourish and excel but I haven't been lately because it seems to make the algae worse. ugh I just want it to go away ?



houseofcards said:


> LeyWanderer said:
> 
> 
> > pH is between 7.4-7.6. Ammonia, nitrites and *nitrates are all at 0*.
> ...


I was dosing flourish and excel but have stopped recently as it was making the algae issue worse. I have a drop checker that is meant to read the co2 levels but I don't know if it's accurate. I can test tap water, do I need to let it aerate before testing? I know before I added co2 injection the pH in my tank was crazy high, like 8.2. Since co2 it's dropped considerably to 7.4-7.6


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

The first thing needed to avoid algae is ample healthy growing plants in the tank. To achieve that you have to supply what the plants need to grow in good health, as well as having plenty of them in the tank. What they need, in the form of nutrients, is nitrogen, in the form of nitrates, like potassium nitrate (KNO3), potassium, in a simple inorganic salt, like potassium nitrate, phosphorus, in a simple inorganic salt, like mono potassium phosphate (KH2PO4), and a mix of the trace elements needed by plants, which Flourish Comprehensive is. So, you need to dose those compounds, and they are cheap from numerous internet stores. Then, you need an adequate supply of carbon, preferably in the form of CO2. See http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/11-fertilizers-water-parameters/21944-_dosing-regimes_.html for one method for doing that dosing.


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## PortalMasteryRy (Oct 16, 2012)

Hoppy said:


> The first thing needed to avoid algae is ample healthy growing plants in the tank. To achieve that you have to supply what the plants need to grow in good health, as well as having plenty of them in the tank.


This is the best advice that you can get.

The biggest mistake a lot of people make is they get fixated on algae or combating algae that they pretty much spent their entire time on algae. Most of the time this leads to frustration that ends up causing people to seek more drastic solutions that usually only serve as a temporary fix. While sudden water changes, total blackouts, 1-2 punch, excel dosing and other anti-algae methods can help fight algae back, almost all of them act as a band-aid solution to the problem. Putting focus on growing your plants is the true algae solution. 

If you have algae problems then look closely at your plants. They will tell you what is wrong and as soon as you sort out your plant issues then you'd surprised how algae will just slow die out and stop growing. When this happens then you can remove whatever algae you see. 


Good light + abundant CO2 + good water chemistry = happy and healthy algae free plants =)


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## IUnknown (Feb 5, 2003)

Also figure out what your par at the substrate might be. Highest setting might not be what you want. You want to balance the light with fertz.


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## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

It's probably somewhere close to 80 par depending on the depth. Fluvals info states [email protected]" and [email protected], it's a strong light.


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## Kevta (Apr 3, 2016)

LeyWanderer said:


> pH is between 7.4-7.6. Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are all at 0.
> I have only two Oto cats. They cleaned all the diatoms off my plant leaves but the algae is growing too rapidly. I clean it by hand but it's back within a few days. I just want to balance it somehow.
> 
> here is a pic of the tank


I think the way to get rid of brown algae is to get your plant proper nutrient so they will grow a little faster and the brown algae will slow down. To clean all the brown algae that are currently covering everything in your tank try this trick that I discovered, basically just put 1 Chinese algae eater in your 29-gallon tank. Chinese algae eater is the fish that every guide online warn you not to get because when they get bigger they will stop eating algae and start sucking on your fish slime coat but I discovered that at the young age they are wonderful at cleaning brown algae. Basically, they cleaned my 20-gallon tank covered in algae in 3 days. Don't expect them to clean it spotless though. When you don't need them anymore just donate them to your LFS or something, they are quite cheap.


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