# Green Spot Algae?



## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Oh one more detail. Lights are on from 10 am to 9 PM, no break. Thinking about switching to 5/2/5 siesta


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## dbot (May 29, 2012)

Wow such a long photoperiod! What were your parameters prior to lowering your light? It may be the phosphates being <1 indeed.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Sigh, the photoperiod is long. I'm at work from 9-6 everyday. I lose an hour to traveling to work and back. The long photoperiod is so I can enjoy the tank when I get home. That's why I'm thinking about the siesta for a 10 hr photoperiod total.

Parameters have been pretty much the same. 10-20 PPM nitrate. Phosphates been fluctuating above and below 1 PPM. Seems like phosphate is used up pretty fast. I upped the KH/GH a few days ago from 2/4 to about 5/7. 

Not sure if it matters, but the tank is still cycling.

Drop checker is green using 4dkh solution and is placed below the return so as to now skew the results. I originally had it showing yellow, but dialed it down to green since the low ph (6.2ish) is slowing down the cycle.

Thinking about the following changes:

Raise light to 18 inches above substrate
Increase phosphate and K dosing
Increase CO2 levels to show yellow was dropchecker
5 on/ 2 off /5 on photoperiod


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## dbot (May 29, 2012)

So I'm just going to throw this out here...I'm definitely still new but I think I understand the basics:

I wouldn't try all of that at once! I'd have to guess that the initial lowering of the light fixture increased the demand on your new tank and because it's not quite stable yet caused some algae to bloom. Light seems to be the crazy part of the stability of your tank. A siesta might help prevent some algae growth and encourage regular plant growth. What I would do is maybe raise the light and decrease the photoperiod. The closer the light is...the more nutrients will be used and will cause and imbalance somewhere and let the algae grow. Easiest thing is to fix your light! 

Honestly looking at the pics and what I've seen on the forums it looks like Cyanobacteria to me.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

I agree with you. For a some stupid reason, I had originally lowered the light to prevent my plants from phototropicly growing towards the center, which I assumed to be a lighting problem. I appreciate the help. It's great to run changes in your tank with someone and have it explained. Thanks!

I had thought it was cyanobacteria too, but it's hard to remove and isn't slimy in texture.


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

I've had issues like that, and what worked for me was limiting the photoperiod (breaking it up is a good idea), and then heavy Excel dosing for at least 1 week. Worked wonders, and really, it wasn't too much work, haha


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Yes, I feel a little silly with an 11 hr photoperiod. If I was to break up the photoperiod, would I keep the CO2 on? I have very little if any surface agitation and I could run my CO2 higher. The reason I ask is because my CO2 and light are running off of one timer.


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## Say Car Ramrod (Oct 9, 2011)

Kehy said:


> I've had issues like that, and what worked for me was limiting the photoperiod (breaking it up is a good idea), and then heavy Excel dosing for at least 1 week. Worked wonders, and really, it wasn't too much work, haha


How heavy was your excel dosing. Double? Triple? 

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

Say Car Ramrod said:


> How heavy was your excel dosing. Double? Triple?
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk


Following the directions on the bottle. :hihi:
Normally I don't dose at all, but I did roughly the suggested doses every other day. Dose very heavy after large water changes (40%), and then lighter doses during the week. All this being null if you have shrimp or inverts though. Don't mix Excel and shrimp, shrimp don't like it. 

Here's my thread on how the Excel worked against algae:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=518833&highlight=


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## KribsDirect (Nov 15, 2013)

Kehy said:


> I've had issues like that, and what worked for me was limiting the photoperiod (breaking it up is a good idea), and then heavy Excel dosing for at least 1 week. Worked wonders, and really, it wasn't too much work, haha


 I had this problem on my Anubias Coffeefolia which was getting very high light. While battling my diatoms, I decreased my light and increased my Excel Co2 and the green spot problem has all but disappeared. Kehy looks to be "spot" on in my limited experience.


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## aquabruce (May 10, 2012)

If you're not around during the day just have the lights come on later. 8 hours is 8 hours.


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