# Algae During Dry Start (DSM) w/Pictures



## thornomad (Mar 7, 2013)

Hi there - am starting my first tank and could use some advice. Have some HC planted in a 40B as a dry start while I get the rest of my equipment ready. Am two weeks into the dry start.

I think I may have had the water level in the substrate a little too high (since corrected) because I have some green algae. I've since lowered the water level and left the saran wrap off partially to lower the humidity (down to the 70s now) to try and help.

Should I do more to combat it than try and dry it out? 

Of course it doesn't look nice but is it harmful to the growth of the HC?

I've read various posts with a lot of different opinions on what to do ... I guess I am just wondering if it is more than aesthetics at this point I should be worried about ... Thanks!


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

I am not expert on dsm and I haven't dsm HC yet but I believe the principals are the same across the board. Your risking drying out your plants by lowing the humidity since your still in the beginning stages of your dsm. If there is no condensate on the tank walls, its not humid enough. The substrate just needs to stay moist and the plants misted daily. By lowering the water level you more thank likely corrected the issue. From what I have seen some algae growth is normal but won't hang around if I am not mistaking. On my dwarf grass dsm I got some white fuzz in spots but that is it. It went away after I allowed the water level to evaporate a little.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

flight50 said:


> Your risking drying out your plants by lowing the humidity since your still in the beginning stages of your dsm. If there is no condensate on the tank walls, its not humid enough.


This is a common misconception. When I had condensate on the walls of my tank with my first DSM, I got mold and it killed all of my HC. People said it was too humid and needed more air. With the second DSM attempt, I misted daily, kept a loose lid with gaps and holes, and no condensate on the tank walls. The HC grew great. The leaves were dry, other than from when I misted once per day. The tank needs to have air exchange.



> The substrate just needs to stay moist and the plants misted daily. By lowering the water level you more thank likely corrected the issue. From what I have seen some algae growth is normal but won't hang around if I am not mistaking. On my dwarf grass dsm I got some white fuzz in spots but that is it. It went away after I allowed the water level to evaporate a little.


I agree with this (other than I have no algae in DSM experience), and watch out for white fuzz, it's mold.


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## thornomad (Mar 7, 2013)

AnotherHobby said:


> and watch out for white fuzz, it's mold.


Okay - will do. I have read varying opinions on the humidity levels ... but from an observational standpoint, I really think it was when I raised the water level in the substrate that the algae exploded. Hopefully keeping it lower and the humidity lower will help.

I will keep an eye out for mold. It sounds like the algae isn't as much to worry about then ... will be watching it closely.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

To elaborate a little more. I use the Glad press and seal. I have two corners opened, opposite ends. Maybe about a 1.5x1.5x2 triangle opening. I am doing this setup test in my garage in Texas so it may have alot to do with my tank conditions. Actually I have a thread about my test here. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=415914&highlight=

I haven't updated it lately but I think I will get to it tonight for comparison. But when my garage was averaging 90-95 degrees since I set it up, I got mad condensate and it kept things very moist. I only got that mold in 3-4 spots in which was 3-4 days after the setup. I had the saran wrap completely sealing the entire tank and I only removed it during the night to air out. Before the lights came back on in the morning, I would recover it to hold the humidity. Now I don't remove the cover at night. I think my setup is adapting to the conditions now. The temps have dropped so the condensate leveled dropped.


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## thornomad (Mar 7, 2013)

flight50 said:


> To elaborate a little more. I use the Glad press and seal. I have two corners opened, opposite ends. Maybe about a 1.5x1.5x2 triangle opening. I am doing this setup test in my garage in Texas so it may have alot to do with my tank conditions. Actually I have a thread about my test here. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=415914&highlight=


Those kind of controlled studies are right up my alley. I wish I had more time for that at present. Am hoping the Algae stays where it is and have an eye out for the mold. Am glad the the leaves look green and there is definitely been some growth ... so that's good.

Thanks!


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## Aganor (Oct 6, 2013)

In my case the soil is always moist (ada new amazonia) and the top of the tank is all open so no excess humidity in here, and still i have this damn mold killing and sucking all the energy out of my HC!!

Does H202 help in this case?

when i spray the water i see all the threads and fuzzes of the mold and its disturbing


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## kubiztzar (Sep 4, 2013)

somewhere I read about similar dsm/HC project where algae was growing on the substrate in between the HC and the guy solved the issue by (1) reducing greatly the amount of water in the substrate, (2) keeping a corner of the wrapped tank open 24/7 and (3) diluting fraction amount of Excel with primed water into a small spray bottle and misting directly onto the algae infected areas every day or so until clear (he did not spray this Excel mix onto the HC). Hard to say if one or the other or a combination of all of the above together solved the problem but the results were clear.

Have done a lot of reading/research on dsm lately and seems to me the most frequent problems with typical dsm set-up arise from: too much water in the substrate, misting too much/too often(one guy mentioned only misting 2 or 3 times a week and having excellent results), too much humidity/condensate, not enough venting, not enough patience...


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## Aganor (Oct 6, 2013)

on all that i think my problem would be venting since there is none inside the tank..

The soil is moist and not saturated, i didnt mist everyday and i dont even have any cover lol

but to vent the tank will be the challenge :/


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

for a dsm, the substrate should not be flooded by any means. In our potted plants, there are drain holes where our tanks do not. daily misting only to have a fine coating of water on the plants is sufficient. tank should be sealed there after, then nightly, have the top open to vent and allow new oxygen to fill the tank. this only take a few seconds to do, then reseal.

there is too much moisture in that tank which is allowing algae to develop when the tank light is off.

DSM is supposed to make growing hc easier but it seems you are having a challenge. drain the substrate water out and keep the tank sealed with celophane. increase the photo period to 8 hours if this helps. I run 6 hours and have no algae issues.

if the algae is established and wont go away, spray with a diluted solution of excel or h2o2.


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## Aganor (Oct 6, 2013)

In my case its not algae but fungus, 
the substrate is not saturated and desont have any stagnant pools,
i dont cover the top, having it always uncovered, and the HC leaves are most of the time dry with the soil moist, so the roots are moist too as supposed,

and still the fungus propagate through the substrate with fine fuzz threads and evolves to a glomerate of threads on the bottom of the HC..

Seems the H2O2 sprays are not working since yestersday night, so my only option seems to remove the HC that dies from the fungus and disrupting the fungus threads the most i can..

For me the DSM is being a pain only because of this fungus


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## Jalopy (Aug 11, 2013)

I ended up with about half an inch of water towards the end of my DSM. No algae and no mold. I just made sure it was aired out everyday. You can see my journal in the link below. I even used Saran wrap on the rocks to make sure the moss and pellia don't dry out.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk


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