# How do I kill this algae? Its ruined my planted tank.



## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

What kind of lights are you running?


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Seachem Excel. Reduce your photo period to 6 hours a day with a timer.


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## andrewjwatson (Jun 22, 2010)

I'm using 2 54w t-5 ho bulbs, i got rid of the rosate bulb and have a 6k and 6700k. This is on a 50 gallon.


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Thats alot of light for not having a source of Co2


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

Remove a bulb. That is a LOT of light for no co2 and lack of co2 is going to do nothing but cause problems. 

Excel spot treating(search for it) will help you.


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## captain_bu (Oct 20, 2007)

Agree your problem is too much light, no CO2, and no nutrients being fed to the plants. When plants are starving they become magnets for algae.


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## tuffgong (Apr 13, 2010)

I would spot treat with excel and maybe even do a three day black out. I had a very similar problem to yours running the same amount of light over a 55. I removed a bulb, spot treated the tank, and did a black out for 3 days and haven't seen a trace of algae since. Now I can run one bulb for 10-12 hrs a day if I choose and still not see any algae.


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## SgtPeppersLHC (Dec 9, 2010)

So by spot treating with excel, do you mean to take a plastic syringe and spray it on the affected areas?


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## Wwh2694 (Dec 14, 2010)

Yes... Like what everybody said. Spot treat it.


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## nikonD70s (Apr 6, 2008)

i actually like and want algae on the 2nd picture all over my rocks...would look nice. and like other have said....way to much light. maybe you can just use one instead of two bulbs?


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## barbarossa4122 (Jan 16, 2010)

I will raise the fixture 12"-16" above the tank. I run 108w t5ho with the fixture 12" above a 55g tank. No co2 yet, just Metricide 14 and the lights are on for 7 hrs. No algae so far. Good luck.


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

I agree too much light and not enough Co2. Also, are you dosing fertilizers? You actually don't want your plants to suck up all the available nutrients. Once they use up all of one nutrient, it limits plants growth, that allows the algae to grow. I had a problem with BBA (I think thats whats in your first pic) and so I tried to reduce my dosing amounts to limit available nutrients. This made it get much worse and the algae was growing faster than I could control it. I then switch to dosing more than was recommended and the algae pretty much went away.


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## barbarossa4122 (Jan 16, 2010)

Overdosing a bit it's not a bad idea, like Solid suggests.


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## ibanezfrelon (May 23, 2010)

> Its been half a year I've battled with this stuff


So, how exactly have you been fighting against it?
With this amount of light , the only fighting you can do is buy a good CO2 system, a few bags of ferts (KNO2, KH2PO4, CSM+B) and focus on plant growth.

Spot treatment makes no sence here in my opinion because the plants are too sunted and algae takes over every non growing leaves.
You can't spot treat the entire tank , right?:icon_bigg

I would remove the algae infected parts of the plants , maybe get some new plants.
But you have to FEED THE PLANTS or they will die!

If CO2 sys is not an option than use Excell or Easy carbo and shut down one light bulb


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

When algae is out of control, there are some basics you need to address.

#1 Remove as much algae as possible manually
#2 Decrease lighting, and/or increase CO2 and fertilizers

These two methods should be addressed simultaneously. For a major imbalance, this should do the trick. To "tweak" it, you can add Excel/Metricide and/or throw in some Otocinclus and/or Nerite snails, in addition to increasing CO2 and fertilizers that much more.


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## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/algae/20172-excel-treatment-bba-experiences.html
http://aquariumalgae.blogspot.com/
http://www.gpodio.com/h2o2.asp

I've use H2O2 to tackle BBA with , But you need to shut every thing off for an hour or 2 for it to work , I never lost a fish or plants an the next day it will turn white and die off.


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## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

Weird. BBA always turned red when I killed it.


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## andrewjwatson (Jun 22, 2010)

Sharkfood said:


> Weird. BBA always turned red when I killed it.


Yes, I just did a spot treatment with excel yesterday and some is turning red. I also know this stuff turns red when dying because i exposed some to air for a while to see what color it would turn, it turned red when put back in the water. I'll do more research on BBA, I'm a saltwater guy so I'm not up to date with all these acronyms ha ha.


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## MarkMc (Apr 27, 2007)

andrewjwatson said:


> Yes, I just did a spot treatment with excel yesterday and some is turning red. I also know this stuff turns red when dying because i exposed some to air for a while to see what color it would turn, it turned red when put back in the water. I'll do more research on BBA, I'm a saltwater guy so I'm not up to date with all these acronyms ha ha.


Carbon is the most important nutrient for higher plants. The more light the more carbon it needs. Plants just can't stop and say "ok, we've used up all the CO2 so let's shut down photosynthesis". That's why you see stunted,twisted new growth, holes in leaves, ect ect. On the other hand algae can thrive under such conditions. You have too much light for no compressed CO2 solution, plain and simple. Forget about researching BBA and spot treating it, it's only a temporary solution.


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## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

> I'm a saltwater guy so I'm not up to date with all these acronyms ha ha.


Yeah, it can be confusing. So much easier than writing everything out though.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Algae didn't ruin your tank. Sorry, but the finger is pointed your direction 

Provide what the plants need, lessen the lights and hopefully, the algae will lessen.


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