# horrible algae



## ferrarikid (Dec 7, 2006)

Ok so here is my story...
My dad got surgery on Tuesday so all I have really had time to do with my tanks is feed the fish:icon_eek: 
So anyways I finally got a chance to look at my tank for a while today and noticed that I have Green water algae(Don't know the real name), hair algae, some sort of fluffy brown algae too... haha I feel retarded(no offense) and my tank looks like sh!t...
ANY suggestions will help....
I am already planning on blacking out the tank for a few days...
Anything else i should try...?
Thanks!
P.S. I forget to mention that the tank is 55gallon, 3.2wpg/8hrs a day, D.I.Y. 2 liter Co2, I dose Florish Once (Sometimes twice) a week


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I might as well be the first to tell you: 3.2 watts per gallon it high light intensity, requiring a consistent dosing of all of the needed fertilizers, making sure none are ever limiting, using pressurized CO2 to avoid the big swings in ppm of CO2 that DIY systems have, and maintaing good cleanliness, good circulation of water in the tank, and a quick reaction to any algae problems that start up. The best thing you can do is cut back on the light until you have about 2 watts per gallon, for only 8 hours or less a day, until you can devote the attention needed to keep up with a high light tank.


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## ferrarikid (Dec 7, 2006)

Ok.... I figured out how to get my tank right at 2wpg... I will make all my changes tomorrow... and I may even consider cutting the co2 off... as for getting the current algae undercontrol should the black out for 2-3days work to get rid of most of it...? 
COnstructive Critisism always helps!
Thanks!
f.kid


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## fresh_lynny (Mar 9, 2006)

Ferrari...you will have to vigilantly clean out all visible algae....cut back aggressively your plants, do water changes...the more the better. Then I suggest lowering your lighting. You doing flourish a couple times in a high tech tank is only providing a very small piece of the puzzle.....traces.... Your plants are starving...and when your plants do poorly, every else gets a chance to get a leg up because there is no active competition anymore....your plants need to be fed in the form of Potassium, Nitrates, Phosphates. I am sorry about your dad's surgery and hope he is doing ok...but had you had enough CO2 for your lighting, and a good macro/micro dosing schedule in place, letting it go for several days would not have made a hill of beans difference...you were already on this path whether you neglect for a few days or not. You can do a blackout, it can't hurt, but you need to clean off as much as you can....several days of double dosing Flourish EXCEL will not hurt your cause either, then prune, and do water changes...Once that is done and most visible algae is gone, you will have to work to strike a balance, and there is enough info on this board alone to figure out how to get there....


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## ferrarikid (Dec 7, 2006)

Ok.... So I need to do waterchanges? and prune my plnats..? Why do I need to prune my plants, none of them are really prune-able... They are all still pretty small, not taking over, does the pruning cause new growth or something... Sorry I just am more of a newb than I thought...
Thanks


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

If it's just green water, do a WC, feed your fish, then black it out for 3-4 days, no peeking. Or you can get a diatomaceous earth filter (ie: Magnum HOT 250, Magnum 350, Vortex) or a UV sterilizer.

If it's more than just GW, prune anything that has algae on it.


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## ferrarikid (Dec 7, 2006)

Oh ok, Cool thanks for the clairification... I will do the black out tomorrow thru wednesday... and should I prune before or after I black 'er out?


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## Sammie7 (Dec 3, 2006)

I think they meant you should prune the leaves that are covered in algae. Preferably before the black out. I think.


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## fresh_lynny (Mar 9, 2006)

Prune beforehand...and I wasn't talking about pruning for Green water....you mentioned you had BBA and hair algae too...you need to manually remove all you can. With this many afflictions, it is evident that you have issues that would have them all coming back....You have to get to the core of the problem....lighting...CO2 ferts


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## ferrarikid (Dec 7, 2006)

Ok, well I cut my lighting back to 2wpg and did about a 50% wc yesterday and will do another one tomorrow...
what should I do next... I have held off on doing the blackout and I took a brillow pad pot scrubber to the glass yesterday and got ALL the algae off my glass... not too many of the plants have algae on them and the ones that do are pretty covered...Could I just rub it off with my fingers so I dont have to prune them down to nothing or up root them...? The water is about 65% clearer today than it was yesterday and I have already started to notice some lower light plants starting to look even healthier and happier....


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## Sammie7 (Dec 3, 2006)

You should never use a brillo pad in your aquarium. Too many unknowns with built in soaps or chemicals. If you don't prune harshly now you might just have to go through this whole experience again.


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## ferrarikid (Dec 7, 2006)

Ok so just get rid of all traces of any algae what so ever...


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## Sammie7 (Dec 3, 2006)

If you can be absolutely sure that no algae is on any of the leaves it might be ok. But there are little bits of it all over. You are only seeing the build up of it on certain leaves. I believe they say that Flourish excel can be used to spot treat algae. Not sure which kind though, so you might want to look it up. If you rub it off the leaves in the tank water you will just spread it around. Are you cleaning your filter pad? The algae may be collecting and growing there. You should clean you whole filter, as the algae grows everywhere on it. In my tank it builds up on the intake tube and the water outlet


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## ferrarikid (Dec 7, 2006)

Ok here is an update...
I have had the tank blacked out since about 7:00 pm Monday night, and I am not planning on uncovering it until Friday morning at the earliest...
So after I uncover it what should I do...?
I will cut the lighting time down to about 8hrs a day and ahould I still add Florish weekly? 
Thanks


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Do a WC after the blackout.

Cut lighting to 6 hours. Dose Excel. Plant heavily. Don't stir up the substrate.

You might want to consider an Excel OD for the BGA and other algae you have.


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

Sometimes GW comes back, even after a diatom filtration. I had a running battle with GW once on a tank for a few months and I own a diatom filter. You can rent diatom filters usually at a decent LFS pretty cheap. The other for sure cure for GW is to run a UV clarifier like the Coralife turbo twist. UV light will kill the free floating green water algae after being exposed to ultra violet light inside the unit... If you have a friend who owns one, maybe you could borrow one and run it hang on back style with a power head.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Oh man, don't tell me that. I just cleared all my GW with a Magnum 350 w/ diatom powder...

*crosses finger*

I've bumped up the CO2 and dose regularly as before. Photoperiod is a little shorter now, so I hope it doesn't come back.


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## ferrarikid (Dec 7, 2006)

Alright, so here is my plan... I might uncover the tank tonight... get rid of any remaining traces of algae that I may have missed and do a nice big WC ...
I may get on petsmart.com in the near future and buy a uvsterilizer since I heard they were cheap on there...
Wish me luck...


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## leftyfb (Jan 7, 2007)

I had GW for about 2 months .. tried blacking the tank out for a week and different "Clear water" solutions. Nothing worked. The 9W UV sanitizer from Petsmart.com cleared the GW from the tank in less than 48 hours. Not only that, the water is now clearer than it ever was before. It's now 2 weeks later and after a small ick spell, i'm going to turn the UV off for a week and see if the GW comes back.


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