# Algae growing on substrate



## ScottyDont (Mar 9, 2005)

get some ottos or some shrimps...


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## John P. (Apr 10, 2004)

Is this what yours looks like? This is Cladophora.


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## Jason Baliban (Mar 3, 2005)

I have cladophora....it think. I heard it is pretty hard to kill. Anyone have any luck killing it?


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## Azimuth (Feb 11, 2005)

I get the same thing on my tank. It grows on the substrate, and (if it's the same stuff) it grows in between the cobamba needles. It's easy to pull off the plants using a tweezers, but when I try and pull it off the Substrate it always brings a clump of rocks with it. I've been pulling it off almost daily, and every day it seams to come back. I've upped my Co2 to 30 PPM..my Nitrates are at about 10 and my phosphates are at 1...Iron might be a bit high. I haven't checked it lately. The stuff I have looks almost like a free growing thin root, and I have no idea how to get rid of it.


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## John P. (Apr 10, 2004)

The only thing that has lessened its pervasiveness in my tank is Flourish Excel. Nothing else (CO2 increase, ferts) does anything but aid its growth. The problem is that Cladophora responds like a plant, not an algae.


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## aquaverde (Apr 15, 2003)

Yep, Excel and manual removal is the optimum path.

All that's sane, anyway. If you start to lose your grip, there's The Bleach Protocol.


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## duck (Apr 22, 2004)

Looks like a bot of excel and manul removal.
Sure there is no other way.


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## cprroy73 (Nov 10, 2004)

Let it grow, Maybe it will turn into one of those neat algae balls


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## Hawkeye (Mar 22, 2005)

I have the same problem in one of my test tanks. a 15gal. I think the problem is an imbalance in CO2 and the amount of light. I've notice that increasing the ferts as in the EI method not only did I get more plant growth the algae grows faster too. But adding fast growing plants that cover the substrate the algae is being choked out. This has been the only thing that has work to slow it down so far. I am replacing the lights this weekend to see if that helps. I have 65w now and plan on reducing it down to 36w. I probably could make the 65w work if I could raise my CO2 levels but my DIY CO2 reactor/filter is push out all it can. We will see if this works. This the first time I have had this type of algae all thou I fell I have had every kind of algae know to man kind at one time or another.

Hawk


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## John P. (Apr 10, 2004)

"Algae Balls"--I think that's what caused my problem in the 1st place.


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## cprroy73 (Nov 10, 2004)

I think they call them Chladoflora "tribbles" so I am sure they are related in some way or another.


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## Stu (Feb 16, 2004)

"Algae Balls", often called Marimo balls, are _Cladophora aegagropila_


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