# Having major algae issues with fluval spec 5



## F3-RapalaAngler (Mar 17, 2016)

Ok so I have a fluval spec 5 that I recently added the finnex 16in planted plus light. Recently green algae has taken control. I have 3 nerite snails and 3 otocinclus to combat it and still losing the battle. The only other fish is a betta. It has anubias nana on driftwood, 3 Moss balls. One plant of lacy water sprite and one java fern which. Replaced the purple cabomba I had because the algae just took it down. 

Light normally is on 8 hours a day or so. I do 2 gallon water changes every 3 days. I have purigen rather than carbon in the filter as well. Ph is 7.0 no ammonia or nitrite and not sure on nitrate but it can't be more than 30ppm if that. What should I do? Would adding hornwort help? I've read that sucks up nutrients like crazy.


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## York1 (Dec 18, 2014)

Are you running any CO2? That is a lot of light for that tank.Also most of your plants are slow growing and do not need a lot of light.


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

F3-RapalaAngler said:


> Ok so I have a fluval spec 5 that I recently added the finnex 16in planted plus light. Recently green algae has taken control. I have 3 nerite snails and 3 otocinclus to combat it and still losing the battle. The only other fish is a betta. It has anubias nana on driftwood, 3 Moss balls. One plant of lacy water sprite and one java fern which. Replaced the purple cabomba I had because the algae just took it down.
> 
> Light normally is on 8 hours a day or so. I do 2 gallon water changes every 3 days. I have purigen rather than carbon in the filter as well. Ph is 7.0 no ammonia or nitrite and not sure on nitrate but it can't be more than 30ppm if that. What should I do? Would adding hornwort help? I've read that sucks up nutrients like crazy.


your light is too strong for a build like that. your light strength would be considered as HIGH light for a tank that size. 8 hours is a full shift for the plants. Theyre getting burned out. Algae is flourishing off the light. 

you could get away with 8 hours with the stock light. I would recommend doing 3-4 hours with the planted+ light. 

water change every 3 days is overkill. changing the water once every two weeks - month is more like it. if you change the water all the time, you're causing the plants to adapt to a new environment all the time, they can't get a time to catch up and take a breather, while the algae is flourishing because they can adapt to a new environment 100x better and faster than the real plants.


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## F3-RapalaAngler (Mar 17, 2016)

York1 said:


> Are you running any CO2? That is a lot of light for that tank.Also most of your plants are slow growing and do not need a lot of light.


I don't. I replaced the stock lamp because it's far to dim. You can't even see the colors in the fish with it. 

I've never ran c02 and don't want to. I have spent so much into this set up I just can't justify it


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## F3-RapalaAngler (Mar 17, 2016)

IntotheWRX said:


> F3-RapalaAngler said:
> 
> 
> > Ok so I have a fluval spec 5 that I recently added the finnex 16in planted plus light. Recently green algae has taken control. I have 3 nerite snails and 3 otocinclus to combat it and still losing the battle. The only other fish is a betta. It has anubias nana on driftwood, 3 Moss balls. One plant of lacy water sprite and one java fern which. Replaced the purple cabomba I had because the algae just took it down.
> ...


 are there different plants I could go with that would fix the issue?


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

Pearlweed


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Yes, get a bunch of fast growing plants like hornwort, you can also add floating plants to help dim the light. Also reduce light to 4-5 hours a day and either raise the light or place window screen between the light and top of your tank. This can be in place of floating plants.

Whatever you do also try to remove as much of the algae as possible and get a few water changes in, and keep up the 40-50% every 2-3 days.


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## MtAnimals (May 17, 2015)

I'm running the same setup,same tank,same light.I run the light on a 3 on,3 off and 3 on schedule.Some frogbit or water lettuce would help as a nutrient sink.

I had some algae in mine until I rebooted it with MGOCPM.I've also got some fast growers and dose ferts,1/3 EI macros once a week,and 1/3 EI micros twice a week.My 3 big water lettuce try to cover the surface once a week.

This is what's working for me.

Is the purple cabomba doing ok? The last time I tried it in a low tech tank it melted and was followed by an outbreak of BGA.

here's the thread:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/12-tank-journals/1135354-rebooted-spec-v-now-dirt.html


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## F3-RapalaAngler (Mar 17, 2016)

So no way to get around this without ferts and co2?


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## F3-RapalaAngler (Mar 17, 2016)

I modified the light with electrical tape. Would this work? It's dimmed the light a lot


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## MtAnimals (May 17, 2015)

F3-RapalaAngler said:


> So no way to get around this without ferts and co2?


I'm not using any co2.Just ferts and weekly 50% water change.I find I see algae if I miss a a water change.

the DIY liquid ferts from nilocg are cheap and easy.Plus,the plants need food as well as the livestock.

The EI package supplies 2 mixing bottles with EI dosing on the side,you just mix a packet in each with distilled or ro water,and the 15 or 20 dollar package will last you at least a year if not more,especially with doing fractional ei dosing.


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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

MtAnimals said:


> I'm not using any co2.Just ferts and weekly 50% water change.I find I see algae if I miss a a water change.
> 
> the DIY liquid ferts from nilocg are cheap and easy.Plus,the plants need food as well as the livestock.
> 
> The EI package supplies 2 mixing bottles with EI dosing on the side,you just mix a packet in each with distilled or ro water,and the 15 or 20 dollar package will last you at least a year if not more,especially with doing fractional ei dosing.




Agree 100%. He needs ferts. You can get the nilocG thrive which is even easier so all you need is a few pumps and are done. And all plants get what they need. Either way the plants need nutrients just like fish need food. 


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## F3-RapalaAngler (Mar 17, 2016)

Ok so I will get the ferts. What about the mods to the light I made?


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## FishRFriendz (Dec 21, 2016)

Such a shame paying for the best light, then can't have it on much to enjoy it. Maybe shoulda gone with a stingray.


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

F3-RapalaAngler said:


> I modified the light with electrical tape. Would this work? It's dimmed the light a lot


 No,remove the tape before it melt's from the heat and %^&# up your light fixture . 
Can buy window screen to fit over the tank and reduce intensity and floating plant's will help also (duckweed work's well)


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## F3-RapalaAngler (Mar 17, 2016)

Why would it melt? I only have it on the light part which from what I can tell doesent heat up.


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## F3-RapalaAngler (Mar 17, 2016)

I'm more concered with safety as far as the electrical tape goes. Not so much of the tape being stuck to the light permanently. Is that fine?


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

F3-RapalaAngler said:


> I modified the light with electrical tape. Would this work? It's dimmed the light a lot


lol ghetto fix, but it works. whatever you gotta do to lessen the light. 

The simplest way is to have your light turned on for shorter periods. 

But if you want to have the light on, you can lessen the light going to your plants but putting a glass/plastic lid. I heard glass cuts 50% of the power going down to your plants. 

having floating plants is great because it soaks up the light and bad stuff from the water.

is your tank still in the early stages? first couple months of set up? you're tank needs time to stabalize. I think the first 4-6 months are hard, but once you get past 6-8 months, your tank wont have algae growing crazy.


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## Redneck tenner (Aug 21, 2016)

IntotheWRX said:


> lol ghetto fix, but it works. whatever you gotta do to lessen the light.
> 
> The simplest way is to have your light turned on for shorter periods.
> 
> ...


Where have you been lately lol 

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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

******* tenner said:


> Where have you been lately lol
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


posted up in the BAY AREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA


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## [email protected] (Aug 19, 2016)

MtAnimals said:


> I'm not using any co2.Just ferts and weekly 50% water change.I find I see algae if I miss a a water change.
> 
> the DIY liquid ferts from nilocg are cheap and easy.Plus,the plants need food as well as the livestock.
> 
> The EI package supplies 2 mixing bottles with EI dosing on the side,you just mix a packet in each with distilled or ro water,and the 15 or 20 dollar package will last you at least a year if not more,especially with doing fractional ei dosing.


So you're dosing with nutrients and then removing them weekly? 

Stupid question, but wouldn't that be why the algae is cut down? What's the point of dosing then. There has to be a better way to regulate the nutrients?


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

the point of fifty percent water change is to remove access nutrients.


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## MtAnimals (May 17, 2015)

[email protected] said:


> So you're dosing with nutrients and then removing them weekly?
> 
> Stupid question, but wouldn't that be why the algae is cut down? What's the point of dosing then. There has to be a better way to regulate the nutrients?


You'll want to read up on the EI method.The 50% weekly w/c is to reset the tank.It's also very good for the fish,and good for cleaning up the water of any excess organics.

Algae doesn't come from nutrients in proportion to each other,it thrives on imbalances of one or another nutrient,including light.The idea is to provide enough nutrients in the right balance so that the plants will outcompete the algae.

For instance,if I put a bucket of water with no added nutrients,no plants outside in the sun,it becomes an algae farm.With our water,we get diatoms first,followed by green hair algae.I see this in my stock tanks,and dog water dishes.


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## [email protected] (Aug 19, 2016)

MtAnimals said:


> You'll want to read up on the EI method.The 50% weekly w/c is to reset the tank.It's also very good for the fish,and good for cleaning up the water of any excess organics.
> 
> Algae doesn't come from nutrients in proportion to each other,it thrives on imbalances of one or another nutrient,including light.The idea is to provide enough nutrients in the right balance so that the plants will outcompete the algae.
> 
> For instance,if I put a bucket of water with no added nutrients,no plants outside in the sun,it becomes an algae farm.With our water,we get diatoms first,followed by green hair algae.I see this in my stock tanks,and dog water dishes.


Thanks for this


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## Orohahn (Aug 27, 2009)

I wonder how it's going with the aglae war? I have a fluval spec v as well. It came with what I consider strong LED lights and have been battling algae for about a year until last week when something tipped. The only change was I add water lettuce and started dosing with liquid carbon again. I had a nerite snail that did a lot of work but it produced more waste than the filter could handle and the water was a mess after he joined the community. I've been shocked by the change. Everyday, since the water lettuce and dosing, the algae has diminished. The plants that have survived thus far a low light plants: anubias nana--which I shade, java windelov and a narrow leaf java fern. This little tank is now a year old. I wonder if it needed all that time despite my borrow good bacteria from other tanks. I do think that the lighting may be too strong for the water lettuce and am playing with how much time I can have the lights on. Before the water lettuce, lights were on twice a day for a few hours each. Now they're on 3 or 4 times a day for a couple hours each time in an attempt to starve the algae and nurture plants. 

3 CPDs
6 red phantom tetras


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## Kalyke (Dec 1, 2014)

I had a horrible amount of algea. I don't know what you think of snails, but I got some nerites (15 for a 75-gallon tank) and within a month, the tank, including all the leaves on the anubias plants were as clean as a whistle.


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## novv (Jun 14, 2012)

1) Put pothos plant in the back panel of spec. 2) add fast growing moss. Both will help absorb excess from water column. Liquid carbon will help too.


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## STS_1OO (Nov 28, 2012)

"Fast growing moss" sounds like an oxymoron. 

I had the spec 5 with a 10" finnex that sat 6" off the surface of the water (C02+EI dosing). Unfortunately, you're way too overpowered with at 16" unless you raise that light quite a bit

In any case, I do wish you a lot of luck. I love the Spec V!


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