# Sudden green algae bloom on plants



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

turn off your lights and read these
http://www.plantedtank.net/articles.php?d


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## Dave B (Jun 27, 2007)

OK, I'm inexperienced, but I'm not an idiot. Of course I've read those.

More direct question: Is correcting the problem likely to get results quickly enough to save those badly affected leaves, or am I better off just cutting off the worst ones since green spot is so tough to get rid of? The anubias in the center of the tank has two leaves that are completely covered.

I'm not particularly worried about the tank being overrun with GSA, as the presence is a direct result of me messing with what was working, just what to do with the stuff I ruined in the meantime.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

It's obvious that your lights are too strong and you have no CO2. That's why it's important to read those articles... And reread.

Lower your lights and photoperiod until you can get CO2 or just leave your lights low permanently if you're not going to introduce CO2 or excel.

What green algae are you talking about? Blue Green? or hair/fuzz?
If it's BGA, you can just manually remove. With hair/fuzz, they do go away if you fix your issues. Or you can just cut off the leaves.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

IMO you should try spot-treating the least affected plants with dilute Excel, and just pruning the most affected- as long as the prune job doesn't decimate the plant, this should actually help trigger the plants to grow new leaves and also help in the algae war.

GL and keep us posted! :thumbsup:


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## Lee (Feb 13, 2007)

how much light do you have?


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## Dave B (Jun 27, 2007)

I have one of the Coralife 4x65 units but only use 130 of it since running both would be ridiculous. When I get CO2 and get comfortable with it I was going to have a short photo period with all of it on, but for now the back bulbs are unplugged.



> as long as the prune job doesn't decimate the plant, this should actually help trigger the plants to grow new leaves and also help in the algae war.


OK, this is kind of what I was hoping. I have no hesitation doing this with swords but guess I sort of panicked when it came to the anubias, just since they're smaller and the one that is most affected is right in the front and center of the tank.



> What green algae are you talking about? Blue Green? or hair/fuzz?


Standard dust/spot. It just accumulated very quickly. I've actually never had BGA in this tank, only in my unplanted aggressive tank. It's odd because I've really sort of pushed the envelope in terms of amount of light and for months ran the lights for much longer than should be OK. I expected to get algae a long time ago, but this stuff really just popped up sort of all at once. Maybe it's just the days getting longer. The tank isn't near a window but the room does light up a bit even with the curtains drawn. And it's been a lot less dreary here lately. Meanwhile the aggressive tank rarely has lights on at all (since so many are nocturnal) and it has BGA and more green dust algae than the planted tank.


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## Lee (Feb 13, 2007)

That’s 2.4 w/gal. Don’t go over 2 without co2. If you don’t have many plants go 1.5.


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## Lee (Feb 13, 2007)

Some Amanos and otos will help also.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Dave B said:


> I have one of the Coralife 4x65 units but only use 130 of it since running both would be ridiculous. When I get CO2 and get comfortable with it I was going to have a short photo period with all of it on, but for now the back bulbs are unplugged.
> 
> Standard dust/spot. It just accumulated very quickly. I've actually never had BGA in this tank, only in my unplanted aggressive tank. It's odd because I've really sort of pushed the envelope in terms of amount of light and for months ran the lights for much longer than should be OK. I expected to get algae a long time ago, but this stuff really just popped up sort of all at once. Maybe it's just the days getting longer. The tank isn't near a window but the room does light up a bit even with the curtains drawn. And it's been a lot less dreary here lately. Meanwhile the aggressive tank rarely has lights on at all (since so many are nocturnal) and it has BGA and more green dust algae than the planted tank.


My guess is that's also the amount of time it took for your plants to uptake all the available macro/micronutrients, and so now they're struggling b/c they don't have all the building blocks they need even though that light is telling them they should grow... so algae is getting the upper hand.

www.RexGrigg.com is a great place to read up on setting up a more balanced tank to help your plants out-compete algae. Also a good place to buy cheap dry ferts.


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## Dave B (Jun 27, 2007)

> My guess is that's also the amount of time it took for your plants to uptake all the available macro/micronutrients, and so now they're struggling b/c they don't have all the building blocks they need even though that light is telling them they should grow... so algae is getting the upper hand.


I do dose ferts that I bought from Rex. I found EI to be too much for the plants that I have given the lack of CO2 so I reduced the dosage (in fact in the beginning I was just feeding the algae, which led to a mess of brown algae and cloudy water). I also have a pretty heavy bioload in there. What you describe is definitely what went on in my monster tank back before I got this one. It was completely low-tech and unresearched, just with some swords and anubias from the LFS, and they did well enough for a while before just being decimated by algae and lack of nutrients. What's pretty cool though is that long after I had given up on it I was able to dig up all that was left of the rhizomes etc when I started this tank and that has grown into about half of the current population.

Aside from the plants with the algae coatings, though, everything else is still growing well. I'm not getting any signals of nutrient deficiency.

I'm unemployed, which is the holdup with getting CO2. But my girlfriend has gotten really attached to the tank and the plants so maybe I can use this threat to get her to spring for the setup  I guess I got kind of lucky that this wasn't a problem long ago and was able to convince myself that I was OK despite defying logic. For now, I've cut my light time in half. I can't really reduce my wattage, since that's the setup I've got (I suppose by unscrewing a bulb I could go to 65w over half the tank, but that'd be kind of odd...) but I can control how long they're on. Maybe I'll just do a DIY CO2 setup temporarily. It's not ideal but it's gotta be better than nothing... right? 

(Oh, and I have a few otos, but the stock around here sucks, they never survive when I buy them. They're the only fish I've ever had trouble keeping alive. Got tired of wasting my money. I never notice them eating much green algae anyway.)


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## riverrat (Jul 14, 2005)

Dave B said:


> Hi,
> What I do want to ask, though, is if there's anything I can do to get rid of this carpet of algae on the anubias leaves quickly - like a solution I can dip it in or treat it with - so that the plants aren't killed off while the slower, more complete overall solution goes into effect.



Hey Dave,

Yes there is something you can do for anubias. Make a solution of close to 19:1 of water and bleach(preferably non scented ect...) pull the anubias out of tank and place into the solution for a half hour or so. Then rinse plants real well and soak in some water with a good amount of dechlorinator mixed in. Afterward take them out and inspected them trimming off any bad leaves and place back into the tank. Wallah!!! nice looking again.

Anubias is pretty strong and can take the bleach solution bath for a good period of time. Do not do this with more fragile plants for long periods. For those plants maybe a minute or two if that long.


Good luck,
Dave


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

I've been staying away from the bleach solution and the excel solution in your case.. They're quick fixes and does nothing to solve your problem. 
You have 2 options..
1. Lower your lights...
2. Do a DIY CO2 system... It works and sugar & yeast are pretty cheap.

or most likely, do both of the above.


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## Dave B (Jun 27, 2007)

I actually got some good news today and can probably swing CO2 if I can do it on the cheap. Now I just need to find some deals on used stuff. Probably smart to DIY in the meantime. Even if I just duplicate the setup for a 20g tank or something it's still better than nothing, right?

The bleach thing kind of scares me. Just seems bad for them. I guess I might try it though.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Hydrogen peroxide would be safer than bleach, and can be spot-treated directly in the tank if you need to; breaks down into simple water and O2...


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## riverrat (Jul 14, 2005)

I was just answering your main question.
Excel will not do it and I dont think hydrogen peroxide will take gsa off either.

There is no problem whatsoever using a solution of 19:1 of water and bleach on anubias. Anubias is called the plastic plant for a reason and a little bleach water solution bath will do nothing but clean off the gsa. Do not be afraid. 

If your worried keep an eye on them and check every five or ten minutes till clean the rinse well and soak in h2o + dechlor.

Yes you have a underlying problem......good co2 and phosphates will usually correct the problem.


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## BiscuitSlayer (Apr 1, 2005)

Dave B said:


> I do dose ferts that I bought from Rex. I found EI to be too much for the plants that I have given the lack of CO2 so I reduced the dosage (in fact in the beginning I was just feeding the algae, which led to a mess of brown algae and cloudy water).


I think you are right on the line as far as needing CO2 injection. You can probably get away with DIY using the yeast and sugar method. It will probably help you considerably.

Adding ferts to the water is not going to fuel the algae. I have tried this again and again under a number of circumstances, and the bottom line is that the ferts are not a cause of algae. Algae comes with deficincies. One way to cause a deficincy is to have fairly high light with no CO2.

GSA - Green Spot Algae is usually a sign of low phosphates.
GDA - Green Dust Algae is usually a sign of low CO2 (I consider a little to be normal)
BBA - Black Beard Algae is a sign of low CO2.
BGA - Blue Green Algae is a sign of low nitrates (unless it was spread from an alien source such as drift wood from an infected tank or plants that had some already).
Hair algae can come from low CO2. ( I have found other means of introduction).
Staghorn can come from low CO2.
Green water can come from amonia spikes.

In any event, if you go with spot dosing excel, bleach, hydrogen peroxide, etc. You will not fix the problem. You will just bandaide the issue temporarily.


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## Dave B (Jun 27, 2007)

Yep. I'm shopping for a CO2 setup and this weekend's project might be a temporary DIY setup. I'm just going to try the bleach thing to try to save a few leaves.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

hey, 
I've always had DIY CO2, and it's been working ok...
I'm going to take the jump and try out CO2 tanks. But I'm going the cheaper route. Look online for Beer CO2 regulators and I'll use a 20oz CO2 canister you can find at LOWES or at dick's sports. And you can find a needle valve for $3 at the hardware store.

grand total is maybe $80.

you might want a bigger CO2 tank though... I'm running it on a 10G or a 29G.

But the key to any CO2 is how to diffuse it..


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## BiscuitSlayer (Apr 1, 2005)

Dave B said:


> Yep. I'm shopping for a CO2 setup and this weekend's project might be a temporary DIY setup. I'm just going to try the bleach thing to try to save a few leaves.


I had the same thing happen to an amazon sword in my tank before I had my ferts and CO2 in order. I tried numerous things to get the algae in check and it was all excersizes in futility. Bumping your CO2 and upping your phosphates will have the biggest impact. You would think that the leaves are shot and unrecoverable unless you do something drastic. The fact of the matter is, if you adjust your parameters, it will correct itself with a little time.

My sword had a couple of leaves that were blackened with algae. After everything was in order, it receded on its own.


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