# Filmy Green Algae on Glass and plants



## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

I believe I had the same problem you're having. My tank was just setup within the past month or so and up until very recently, I was battling a big algae problem that didn't seem to be getting any better. I posted here for some advice and ended up increasing the CO2 to 30-40ppm, increasing the nitrates to 20-ish ppm, and turning down the lighting from 110w (5.5 wpg) to 55w (2.75 wpg). 
**You're lighting doesn't seem too high, like mine was. Your CO2 is about 36ppm before lights go out. ** Depending on how high your nitrates are (you should test for this, actually), your PO4 may be a tad low. Most people recommend a 10:1 ratio. If your nitrates are already adequate, or too high, dosing nitrates just helps algae.
The rest I'll leave for someone else to answer. I will say that if your algae is like mine ----> dark green/black and attaches to plant leaves, driftwood and glass(a little), it is fairly easy to remove. I just lightly run my fingers along the stem of the plant and that seems to remove 90% or more of it. Not too hard that you break the stem or damage leaves, of course. Its also a lot easier if you do this removal inside the tank and then just vacuum it out, rather than removing the plant and trying to accomplish this. Just my experience. Good luck.
-Ryan


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

How often do you dose?
Increase C02!
dosing P04 from a stock solution is probably not enough, are you using Fleet or KH2P04? if Fleet, double up on it, 2ml or even 3ml, if KH2P04 dose 1/16 to 1/8Tsp 3x a week.
but get that C02 up more....


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## FMZ (Jul 13, 2004)

Ringram, yes it does sound like the algae you have...i wonder what its called. Mine is just green in color

Woffenxxx, I have a stock solution I made in 237 mL bottle. 1 ml give me .25PPM in 30 Gallon

I dose 4 mL to get the phosphates to 1ppm. I also have a Salifert Phosphate test kit which is pretty accurate. 

How often do i dose?? How's everyday...one day micros and one day macros


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## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

you're dosing 4 mL of PO4 to get 1ppm? Wow, maybe I'm not dosing enough of that. I'm doing about 1 tsp / 20g every other day. Anyway, it doesn't seem that you're OD'ing, but perhaps underdosing a tad. Take what Wolfen said, its good advice. I wish someone could shed some light on whether you're dosing micros too hard. If so, I probably am also, as I'm dosing 4-5mL / 20g every other day....that's CSM+B(extra iron) 1 TB / 250mL solution. Anyway, good luck , once again


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## FMZ (Jul 13, 2004)

ringram said:


> you're dosing 4 mL of PO4 to get 1ppm? Wow, maybe I'm not dosing enough of that. I'm doing about 1 tsp / 20g every other day. Anyway, it doesn't seem that you're OD'ing, but perhaps underdosing a tad. Take what Wolfen said, its good advice. I wish someone could shed some light on whether you're dosing micros too hard. If so, I probably am also, as I'm dosing 4-5mL / 20g every other day....that's CSM+B(extra iron) 1 TB / 250mL solution. Anyway, good luck , once again



Yup this is how I made my solution (Followed Chucks Planted Calculator on my computer)

2 TSP of Mono Pot Phosphates in 237 mL bottle.

1 mL yield .25PPM

You said you're dosing 1 tsp / 20g every other day. I would make a solution...add 2 tsp Mono Pot. Phospahate in 250mL bottle

1 mL would give you 0.35PPM Phosphates roud:


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## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

Thanks for the advice. I'll try that. I'm dosing Phosphate via "Fleet", so I'm not quite sure what the concentration is compared to what you're using. I've checked out Chuck's calculator before, just haven't really taken the time to crunch the numbers. Just out of curiosity, does your tap(or R/O) water that you use for water changes contain anything, like PO4 or NO3? I found out that my tap water(and the bottled) both contain around 5ppm NO3...haven't checked for PO4 yet.


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## FMZ (Jul 13, 2004)

ringram said:


> Thanks for the advice. I'll try that. I'm dosing Phosphate via "Fleet", so I'm not quite sure what the concentration is compared to what you're using. I've checked out Chuck's calculator before, just haven't really taken the time to crunch the numbers. Just out of curiosity, does your tap(or R/O) water that you use for water changes contain anything, like PO4 or NO3? I found out that my tap water(and the bottled) both contain around 5ppm NO3...haven't checked for PO4 yet.


I just use plain old tap water
And my tapwater doesn't contain any PO4 or NO3

Do you have Mono Pot. Phosphates or do you just use fleet enema??


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## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

Well, Fleet enema has Mono Pot Phosphates as well as bi- already in it. I'm just not certain of the concentration...I can check when I get home. Its probably very similar, if not identical in concentration to what you're using.


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## Stu (Feb 16, 2004)

ringram said:


> I wish someone could shed some light on whether you're dosing micros too hard.


Well, I recently dosed Flourish at 2ml per day to my 80 litre tank and this is what happened...










I know Tom Barr has stated that overdosing iron does not promote algae, but this is what I noticed myself.


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## jart (Jan 17, 2003)

ringram said:


> Well, Fleet enema has Mono Pot Phosphates as well as bi- already in it. I'm just not certain of the concentration...I can check when I get home. Its probably very similar, if not identical in concentration to what you're using.


http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=15579


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## FMZ (Jul 13, 2004)

Here's how my 30G look like right now 

You can see the trail of snails eating it.


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## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

FMZ, I think your tank looks great! Snails really start to pull their weight, especially when they get larger...I have a couple decent-sized ones also. I put a picture that I took tonight at the bottom of this reply. Mind you, before last night, there was black film-like algae(like yours I think) on quite a few leaves, but it pulls off quite easily. The Wisteria grows too fast to get much algae, but the red temple isn't doing great and neither is the java fern(but new plantlets are coming up from the back of the dying leaves)... Looking good, just keep up the Co2 --- I upped mine and now its around 40-45ppm and the algae is slowly starting to go away. As you can see, the glosso "lawn" is still kind of hideous, but getting better as the algae goes away. Best of luck!
-Ryan


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## FMZ (Jul 13, 2004)

Stu said:


> Well, I recently dosed Flourish at 2ml per day to my 80 litre tank and this is what happened...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



This could be due to dosing Flourish...not necessarily Iron is the cause. 
If you were dosing Flourish Iron, then what you said could be true.


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## FMZ (Jul 13, 2004)

ringram said:


> FMZ, I think your tank looks great! Snails really start to pull their weight, especially when they get larger...I have a couple decent-sized ones also. I put a picture that I took tonight at the bottom of this reply. Mind you, before last night, there was black film-like algae(like yours I think) on quite a few leaves, but it pulls off quite easily. The Wisteria grows too fast to get much algae, but the red temple isn't doing great and neither is the java fern(but new plantlets are coming up from the back of the dying leaves)... Looking good, just keep up the Co2 --- I upped mine and now its around 40-45ppm and the algae is slowly starting to go away. As you can see, the glosso "lawn" is still kind of hideous, but getting better as the algae goes away. Best of luck!
> -Ryan


I like the look of your tank....if my CO2 doesn't help, i'll pick up Excel...heard it acts like an algecide.


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## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

I've heard that as well, about Excel. I have Flourish Excel and actually started dosing it...not too much, but ~2-3 mL every other day *along with* the normal micro and macro dosing. The algae is slowly clearing up....still have to remove some manually, but its better, so I don't know if the Excel helped it or not, but its probably worth a try.


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