# Unknown Algae and Cause of Algae Growth



## Highseq (Jul 26, 2017)

Thats a lot of algae. And several different types too. Right off the bat I can see hair algae, green spot algae, BBA.

First off how much of the ferts are you dosing and have you changed your dosing regiment lately? Have you changed anything lately (different ferts, light, fish, etc.)? 

Do you have any test kits and if so could you get a reading of your nitrate, phosphate, and GH/KH?


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## Aquatastic (Jun 25, 2015)

I recently changed the lightning about a month ago but the algae has been an issue before then. Prior to the LEDs I had two 6500k spiral CFL bulbs over the tank. After switching to the LEDs the plants do seem to be doing better but algae is still the same.

The endlers were out in there about two weeks ago and the increased bioload doas not seem to be causing the issue since the algae was already a problem, although I could be wrong.

Unfortunately I currently am all out of my water chemistry testing kit and am not sure at what levels my parameters currently stand









Also, fert dosing has been the same the last five months: 1/8th tsp. macros and 1/16th tsp. micro.


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## Highseq (Jul 26, 2017)

How often do you do a water change and what %

Bump: Also are you dosing 1/8 tsp of each macro?


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## Aquatastic (Jun 25, 2015)

I do about 50% water change per week...sometimes I do them as two 25% changes. 
Each macro is dosed at 1/8th tsp.


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## Highseq (Jul 26, 2017)

Aquatastic said:


> I do about 50% water change per week...sometimes I do them as two 25% changes.
> Each macro is dosed at 1/8th tsp.


Well this is almost undoubtedly your problem. Where did you read to dose that much?

EI dosing Directions from GLA, the barr report, and aquatic plant central:


10- 20 Gallon Aquariums
+/- 1/8 tsp KN03 (N) 3x a week 
+/- 1/32 tsp KH2P04 (P) 3x a week
+/- 1/32 tsp (2ml) Trace Elements 3x a week
50% weekly water change

You can see that for KNO3 it says you can dose 1/8tsp (which is still on the high end since you have a 10 gal), but for potassium monophosphate you should only be dosing 1/32 of a tsp. I'm not sure if you are also dosing KSO4 but if you are, 1/8 tsp is also too much. Just as an example of how much over EI guidelines you are: The EI method aims to dose about 9ppm phosphate per week if you follow the above guidelines (which is still too high for your 10 gal imo). Your dose per week is adding 39ppm phosphate per week. Because I know that your plants are using only a small fraction of this, and you do weekly 50% water changes, that means that you actual levels of accumulation could be as high as 70ppm phosphate! Good ranges for phosphate are generally accepted to be 1-3ppm!

Furthermore, EI is designed for High light, CO2 injected systems. Your plants aren't using anywhere close to this much of the ferts with your light and no CO2. The algae love it though. If you like we can work out new dosing amounts. Let me know what your thoughts are.


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## Aquatastic (Jun 25, 2015)

To be honest I don't remember how I got to such high amounts of phosphate dosing. I think it was because my anubias and pennywort had pinholes developing (potassium deficiency I believe) and that's why it eventually got to really high doses. 

I would love any help, guidance, and advice on how to care for my tanks. I've seen pictures on the low tech forum of some very beautiful planted tanks and would love for my tank to look like that one day.

I also have a five gallon tank that is a horrible mess with string algae and cyanobacteria growing everywhere. I don't fertilize that tank but I believe lack of water movement and inadequate lighting is what is causing the mess. All it has at the moment is a female betta but the blue green algae is completely out of control and choking the plants.


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## Highseq (Jul 26, 2017)

Aquatastic said:


> To be honest I don't remember how I got to such high amounts of phosphate dosing. I think it was because my anubias and pennywort had pinholes developing (potassium deficiency I believe) and that's why it eventually got to really high doses.
> 
> I would love any help, guidance, and advice on how to care for my tanks. I've seen pictures on the low tech forum of some very beautiful planted tanks and would love for my tank to look like that one day.
> 
> I also have a five gallon tank that is a horrible mess with string algae and cyanobacteria growing everywhere. I don't fertilize that tank but I believe lack of water movement and inadequate lighting is what is causing the mess. All it has at the moment is a female betta but the blue green algae is completely out of control and choking the plants.


Do you happen to have a scale or only tea/table spoons?


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## Surf (Jun 13, 2017)

> I also have a five gallon tank that is a horrible mess with string algae and cyanobacteria growing everywhere. I don't fertilize that tank but I believe lack of water movement and inadequate lighting is what is causing the mess.


Common advice I see is water improvement and light. However in my small 5 gallon it was never light or flow. I played around with different filters and pumps to find a good flow and it made no difference. I put my light on a dimmer and went from 100% to only about 5% and it made no difference. In my case it was a nutrient deficiency in the fertilzier. My first fertilizer didn't have copper and I got algae. My second was low on nitrogen. and on it went. 

Part of my problem was that I was using RO water. Tap water typically has some things plants need while RO has none. The other was that some fertilizers just didn't have enough of some nutrients. Second is that I have found is that most fertilizers generally don't have sulfur, Calcium, and chlorine (typically plentiful in tap water) and I eventually found I also had deficiencies in those. And lastly if you have too much of some nutrients plant growth may slow down due to nutrient toxicity. 

So from my own experience I generally put a lot more emphasis on fertilizer dosing and making sure all nutrients are covered.


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## Aquatastic (Jun 25, 2015)

I have a kitchen scale that measures ounces and grams. Don't have anything that measures in smaller quantities.

________________________________________

The only fertilizers I have available are KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO and Plantex CSM+B. I don't dose the five gallon with them but do use dechlorinated tap water when doing water changes. Should I dose this tank? Are the fertilizers I have complete or am I missing any?


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## Highseq (Jul 26, 2017)

Aquatastic said:


> I have a kitchen scale that measures ounces and grams. Don't have anything that measures in smaller quantities.
> 
> ________________________________________
> 
> The only fertilizers I have available are KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO and Plantex CSM+B. I don't dose the five gallon with them but do use dechlorinated tap water when doing water changes. Should I dose this tank? Are the fertilizers I have complete or am I missing any?


Since you have a low light non CO2 injected tank I would try the pps pro dosing. It may still be too much but its a big step down from the ranges you were in and may help with the algae problems. 

Here is a link to the instructions. Its a daily dosing plan but you can treat it like EI and instead dose the whole weeks amount in 3 doses over the course of the week. 

PPS suggests dosing MGSO4 but you can (and many people do) omit this.

Our PPS-Pro Fertilizer Pack ? Just Mix & Dose ? Planted Tank Blog


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## Surf (Jun 13, 2017)

> The only fertilizers I have available are KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO and Plantex CSM+B. I don't dose the five gallon with them but do use dechlorinated tap water when doing water changes. Should I dose this tank? Are the fertilizers I have complete or am I missing any?


Note that this mix of fertilizer is still deficient in Calcium and chlorine. Your tap water might have that but without a detailed water analysis done by a lab it is impossible to know. You are adding sulfur which is good. I would suggest adding Calcium chloride to the above. Add only enough to increase the tank hardness by one or two degrees GH.

Source of calcium chloride I use:CALCIUM CHLORIDE : Loudwolf, High Purities, Low Prices


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## jellopuddinpop (Dec 12, 2016)

Aquatastic said:


> Unfortunately I currently am all out of my water chemistry testing kit and am not sure at what levels my parameters currently stand
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This is a major issue, and one that you should fix ASAP. If you’re going to be dosing fertilizers, you need to be able to tell Nitrates, Phosphates, Gh, Kh, and Ph.

Here are a few bullet points, and then I’ll tell you what I would do in your situation…
-	Your tank is a low tech tank, which means that if you were dosing at standard EI levels, you’re already dosing about 3x too much fertilizers
-	You’re adding both dry fertilizers and Osmocote, so in essence, you’re double dosing here. Stop with the Osmocote.
-	Your plant mass is relatively low. Standard EI is assuming a very high plant mass, which basically means 70% or more of the substrate is planted. This is yet another way you’re overdosing. 
-	I would say when you combine all of these things, you’re probably adding 10x the amount of ferts you actually need for your tank, and that’s if you followed the actual dosing guidelines. The fact that you’re dosing 4x the recommended dose of Phophates and 4x the recommended dose of Potassium, and we’re completely off the tracks.

Recommendations (in this order)
-	Get some test kits!
-	Don’t add any more ferts to the tank!
-	Reduce the lighting over the tank by 50%. If the light doesn’t have a dimmer, put a piece of window screen between the tank and the light, or raise it up a bit. You didn’t say how many hours / day your light is on, but it should be no more than 6-8.
-	Do daily 50% water changes until your Nitrates are below 20ppm or so (read: color is orange, not red)
-	Take the plants out and give them a good H2O2 dip, then replant. 
-	The H2O2 is going to cause a lot of Algae die-off, so keep up with the 50% water changes. I would also clean your filter media at least every month.
-	Once your nitrates are below 20ppm, you can start dosing again. I would HIGHLY recommend pre-mixing the fertilizers with RO water and dosing that way. It’s easier to get a stable dose, and it’s easier to dose smaller amounts. You can find calculators at rotala butterfly or nilocg.
-	I would shoot for no more than 1/3 standard EI dosing, and I would also add Excel / Metricide14 for a carbon source.

With the amount of algae you have, you’re going to experience some die off from your plants. Ride it out, and remove any dead or dying leaves. Once you get this under control, you should start seeing new, healthy growth.

Bump:


Surf said:


> Note that this mix of fertilizer is still deficient in Calcium and chlorine. Your tap water might have that but without a detailed water analysis done by a lab it is impossible to know. You are adding sulfur which is good. I would suggest adding Calcium chloride to the above. Add only enough to increase the tank hardness by one or two degrees GH.
> 
> Source of calcium chloride I use:CALCIUM CHLORIDE : Loudwolf, High Purities, Low Prices


C'mon man, he's already overdosing the tank in multiple different ways. Suggesting he add an additional chemical to buffer his water for some reason, and suggesting that will solve all of his problems is not good advice.


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