# Help! Algae bloom during fishless cycling



## SkyLight (Feb 5, 2018)

I am setting up a 90G planted tank - my first serious tank - and am about a month into fishless cycling. I probably have another 2-3 weeks to go before the cycling completes, but I have been hit by an algae bloom that I am struggling to control and would love your advice on.

I have a several plants planted, and a large piece of driftwood, on sand substrate. Large parts of the sand have tured green with algae. the driftwood also has algae growing on it and I can even see the green stuff on Anubias roots and leaves. The glass walls are not quite green yet, but there are small parts where I can see the green showing up. I do pwc every week and given the bloom, for the last 2-3 weeks I've been doing 75% water changes. 

I add flourish excel once every 2-3 days. My photo period is set to ~6 hours and runs in the night. The aquarium doesn't get direct sun light. I do not have CO2. 

What can I do? Help please... I've already got the photo period to as little as 6 hrs, and certainly want to keep my plants alive. Since I am cycling, I cannot introduce and algae eating fish yet. What other options do I have?


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

the first weeks and months are the rocky stages. 

your method looks good. keep it up and once the tank stabilizes it should get better. 

hang in there for the take off. once you get into orbit itll be smooth sailing.


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## mgeorges (Feb 1, 2017)

SkyLight said:


> I am setting up a 90G planted tank - my first serious tank - and am about a month into fishless cycling. I probably have another 2-3 weeks to go before the cycling completes, but I have been hit by an algae bloom that I am struggling to control and would love your advice on.
> 
> I have a several plants planted, and a large piece of driftwood, on sand substrate. Large parts of the sand have tured green with algae. the driftwood also has algae growing on it and I can even see the green stuff on Anubias roots and leaves. The glass walls are not quite green yet, but there are small parts where I can see the green showing up. I do pwc every week and given the bloom, for the last 2-3 weeks I've been doing 75% water changes.
> 
> ...


I don't see any fertilizer mentioned, are you using any? If not, you need to start. Your plants won't thrive without ferts, allowing the algae to thrive instead. 
I had the same issues upon startup of a sand bottom tank. My nice white sand was quickly green. Cut my light cycle down to 5 hours, lowered the intensity, and added Malaysian Trumpet Snails and a couple nerites. I think the MTS was the best thing for the aquarium, creating turnover in the sand and clearing detritus while munching on the algae. They can survive a cycling tank without issue. 
My sand has returned to close to its original color with a hint of non-algae related browning, no more green algae. 

For fertilizers, look into a good regimen like EI or PPS-Pro. I think buying dry ferts and rolling your own vs a pre-mixed AIO will be the way to go for your larger tank. You could look into Thrive or similar all-in-ones, but you'll find that to be far more costly in the long run.


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## SkyLight (Feb 5, 2018)

Thanks! Cant beat this forum in terms of great and speedy responses!

In terms of fertilizers, I sprinkled some osmocote plus on the tank bottom before adding sand to it. I am starting to see a few of those rise up to the sand surface. I didn;t really know how many pellets to put, so I just sprinkled some quite randomly. In addition, once in a while I add some Seachem Flourish to the tank. 

I would be fine to get started with some additional ferts. I am a newbie so I don't understand "EI or PPS-PRO" and a search on amazon wasn't too helpful. I also don't know what "rolling your own" means either. Can you point me to a good reference please?


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## mgeorges (Feb 1, 2017)

SkyLight said:


> Thanks! Cant beat this forum in terms of great and speedy responses!
> 
> In terms of fertilizers, I sprinkled some osmocote plus on the tank bottom before adding sand to it. I am starting to see a few of those rise up to the sand surface. I didn;t really know how many pellets to put, so I just sprinkled some quite randomly. In addition, once in a while I add some Seachem Flourish to the tank.
> 
> I would be fine to get started with some additional ferts. I am a newbie so I don't understand "EI or PPS-PRO" and a search on amazon wasn't too helpful. I also don't know what "rolling your own" means either. Can you point me to a good reference please?


Yeah, you really want to fertilize the water column. Osmocote is fine as a supplemental root fertilizer, but additional fertilizer is really needed. 

Check out greenleafaquariums.com (refered to as GLA) or nilcog.com
Both sites have the PPS-Pro and EI fertilizer packages. GLA has instructions on dosing both EI and PPS-Pro. Both are viable, but EI would probably be easier. EI stands for Estimative Index, PPS stands for Perpetual Preservation System.

What I mean by "rolling your own" is simply that you purchase the macros (NPK - Nitrate,Phosphate,Potassium) and micros to do your own mixes versus buying an AIO that's already pre-made. I like the ability to tweak and tune things, that's a lot easier with individual salts. PPS-Pro is what I use on my shrimp tank - you mix a set amount of macros into one container, and then a set amount of micros into another, and you'll dose those together daily. If you buy this stuff pre-mixed, the cost goes up a lot.


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## SkyLight (Feb 5, 2018)

mgeorges said:


> Yeah, you really want to fertilize the water column. Osmocote is fine as a supplemental root fertilizer, but additional fertilizer is really needed.
> 
> Check out greenleafaquariums.com (refered to as GLA) or nilcog.com
> Both sites have the PPS-Pro and EI fertilizer packages. GLA has instructions on dosing both EI and PPS-Pro. Both are viable, but EI would probably be easier. EI stands for Estimative Index, PPS stands for Perpetual Preservation System.
> ...


I checked the GLA website - the instructions state that these ferts work mainly with CO2 systems in place as well - I currently have "easy" plants that dont require CO2, and I kept it that way as a newbie, not wanting to set up a system I would not yet know how to keep up. I am already adding Seachem Flourish for trace elements to the water column. I'll keep looking for any other ways to get the other ferts in the water column - any easier options out there especially for easy plants like Anubias, vals.


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## mgeorges (Feb 1, 2017)

SkyLight said:


> I checked the GLA website - the instructions state that these ferts work mainly with CO2 systems in place as well - I currently have "easy" plants that dont require CO2, and I kept it that way as a newbie, not wanting to set up a system I would not yet know how to keep up. I am already adding Seachem Flourish for trace elements to the water column. I'll keep looking for any other ways to get the other ferts in the water column - any easier options out there especially for easy plants like Anubias, vals.


Disregard the statements that the ferts are mainly for CO2 systems, they work just find in low tech with some minor tweaking/leaning them out. I dose PPS-Pro 1 ml/10 gallons daily for both micros and macros in a low tech tank with slow growing plants with very good success. You absolutely MUST provide adequate macros and micros or your plants will not thrive, leaving algae room to get a foothold and take off. You just have to adjust your dosing accordingly, dosing lower amounts. Just because you have "easy" plants doesn't mean they're going to do fine with neglect. PPS-Pro is super easy, just mix the ferts into a 500 ml bottle with distilled or RO(DI) water and you're ready to rock. It provides lower daily amounts than EI dosing would and is a great option for low tech. EI and PPS-Pro are both tried and tested dosing methods with documented success - stick with one of them and you'll be off to a great start. Once you get more experience, then the fun begins and you can start tweaking things as you see fit.


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## SkyLight (Feb 5, 2018)

Thanks. 

Any other suggestions on how to control the green algae? I just bought 3 nerite snails... but I know they alone will hardly make a difference in a 90G tank...


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## cbachmann (Aug 6, 2013)

SkyLight said:


> Thanks.
> 
> Any other suggestions on how to control the green algae? I just bought 3 nerite snails... but I know they alone will hardly make a difference in a 90G tank...


The number one piece of advice I can offer is learn to live with it 

Once your plants start hitting their stride, youll notice a significant reduction in algae growth. Also, you might consider adding some fast growing stem plants/floaters if you dont have any yet.


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## SkyLight (Feb 5, 2018)

Wanted to provide you all an update:

So I added 7 nerite snails, 4 Otos and 4 Amano shrimp. And the change is REMARKABLE! Most of the green algae on my large driftwood pieces has vanished! There were large green patches on the sand substrate that have been devoured! The water is still kinda green, but I've also added purigen just yesterday, so I gotta wait and see if that helps any. Besides, I'll do another large water change (60-70%) this weekend ... hopefully that will start to get the greenish tinge in the water away as well. 

I tell you - this cleaning crew is nothing short of amazing. If you have algae blooms, try this too! I got the advice on this forum at: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/26-planted-tank-faq/110422-methods-algae-control.html

Now I do have another problem - snail poop everywhere! It looks oh so ugly on my white sand substrate. But thats something that I can easily vacuum out, so I am not worried. Once the algae is under control, I can likely sell these beautiful snails to someone else who needs them more than me, or hopefully return them to my LFS for some shop credit!


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