# Algae is back again!!!



## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

I was away at a series of conferences and trips (at 3-4 days each) over the last few months and when I arrived home from the first I noticed there was more algae than usual on the glass. This didn't bother me because, as some of you know, I am a chronic glass scrubber, so it would never have had a chance to form. I simply wiped it off and headed off to my next trip. When I arrived home the algae on the glass (dust algae) was back but so was some slime type algae. I did the same thing- scrubbed the glass, then vacuumed the slime algae up, then headed off backpacking. I came home to a tank overridden with slime and completely covered glass. 

My question is how do I get rid of algae that is released into the water when I scrub it? It just simply reforms on the glass. 

The slime algae pushed me to the point of getting rid of all plants (it had suffocated most of them) and now I'm still trying to keep up with getting it off the substrate. I will be reconstructing it as a S. American cichlid tank with lots of rock work. I have added an additional filter to help keep the tank as clean as possible. I have performed a series of water changes (about 50% first followed by two 30%). 

I am considering a blackout such as I did during my last algal emergency. 

Oh, and there is absolutely no cloudiness in the water whatsoever. It is pristine


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Sorry to hear your problem is back. The slimy algae is cyanobacteria or what people call blue green algae or BGA (it stinks right?). You can use antibiotics or a total blackout to get rid of it. But something fundamentally wrong is triggering the BGA. What's your nitrates at? This tank is planted right? There are two ways to trigger BGA. One is too much organic accumulation and the other, believe it or not, is zero nitrates from a high light heavily planted tank. I've experienced both.

Clean the algae and gravel vac to get as much organics out as possible. When everything is stabilized a bit clean your filters too (don't kill off the bio). Check your nitrates and lighting levels (for planted, nitrates should be between 10 and 30 ppm and light should be no more than 8 - 10 hours a day). I seem to recall giving you some plants, so I'm sure your tank is planted.


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

The tank waaasss heavily planted 

Could be either really. When I arrived home on one occasion I noticed a few less equas than before (my amano shrimp don't like them) and found their bodies and dished them out. I hadn't managed consistent water changes over that period of time (about two months) so very possible there was some leaf debris and poo build-up. 

As for light, I keep it interrupted still so it's on for 9 hours a day with a break but they are powerful and I had the tank very heavily planted to give adequate hiding spaces for the various species I keep.

I have filter floss in that I have been changing out every few days. I do not rinse any part of the filter. I will do the blackout first. I'm not a fan of antibiotics (who da guessed, lol).

I most certainly did buy plants from you


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Ok, in that case, cut the light back to 6 hours or less. If you don't have the plant mass, excess light is going to cause you one algae problem after another. What lights are you running (type, wattage) and what size tank is this again? (Sorry, all the old info was lost in the crash).

Oh, now I remember, you came for the E. tenellus.


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

I run the Hagen GLO double 54W T5s and it's a 55G long. 

Yuppers  lol


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

That shouldn't be too excessive in that tank. I'd definitely cut the hours back until you get more plants in there. You're dosing Metricide/Excel or running CO2?


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

Dosing with excel. Weird thing is in this tank I dose with excel and in my 26G which is significantly more planted I do not put anything into it and it has no CO2 and it's in perfect balance.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

SophieThomas said:


> Dosing with excel. Weird thing is in this tank I dose with excel and in my 26G which is significantly more planted I do not put anything into it and it has no CO2 and it's in perfect balance.


The problem is finding the balance. It's easier to find balance with lower lights. If you have lower light, everything is easier. In my high light 20 gallon, every time I go on a business trip, the plants are overgrown to a jungle and there is BBA because the plants block the CO2 circulation. Once I prune it and clean it up, it's good until I go away again. That's the price we pay for higher light setups.


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

Note taken, lol. Since pulling the plants out (about 4 days) and siphoning like crazy I'm hoping the lights won't throw the tank off too much. I'm trying to find a nice hardy, cichlid friendly plant to put in there. Any suggestions?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

SophieThomas said:


> Note taken, lol. Since pulling the plants out (about 4 days) and siphoning like crazy I'm hoping the lights won't throw the tank off too much. I'm trying to find a nice hardy, cichlid friendly plant to put in there. Any suggestions?


Java fern. Anubias. I have tons of it in my 125. Not sure if you recall, but I had an Oscar in this tank at one point even. Now I have a 10" Chocolate, the JD, and 2 EBJD's in there. Swordplants are also good with cichlids usually as they have deep roots.


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

Isn't the java fern Asian? The swords never really took off in my tank. They stayed about 5" which looked kind goofy along side the E. tenellus. 

I remember the oscar  I'd love to see some pics of the Chocolate if you have any posted.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

I'll PM you with the pics and other info so I don't mess up your thread.


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