What algae am I fighting?

[AmyLynn]

I want to say diatoms... But not really sure. :help:

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[MCHRKiller]

Spot algae...very common in low tech setups and on slow growers. Giving your plants an Excel dip for around a minute and taking your thumb nail to scrape off what you can helps for the leaves. Just attack that glass with a razorblade. It can also be causes from low levels of phosphate and a photo period which is too long.

[AmyLynn]

I can do the excel dip when I pull everything down to move. Have been very very very very bad about dosing excel. And I definitely wondered if that wasn't part of the cause. (blush)

Lights are on from 9am to 1pm then from 3pm to 8pm so 9 hours total time.

I've wondered about phosphates. I'm on well water and I don't think it's something they test for. Thought about buying a test, but if I'm moving in 10 days it didn't make sense for now.

Am I going to be happier with the 75g if I go ahead and up the lights and do CO2?

[MCHRKiller]

With a broken photo period I doubt it is the lighting...probably just phosphate. But honestly for anubias...its rare for them not to have an effected leaf or two. Mine have some, its just something I take care of from time to time and deal with.

CO2 doesnt have much of a role in spot algae. As far as you being happier with a pressurized high light tank...that is subjective. The higher the light and CO2 you go...the more upkeep the tank becomes. A medium light tank with CO2 is probably about the best bet. You will still need to devote to a good fert schedule and invest more time to it than a low tech, algae can also really take off in these tanks if they arnt balanced properly. Things go wrong slower in a low tech. It also depends on the type of plants your looking to keep, a load of ferns and such probably wouldnt see that much benefit from it. Then it also depends on just what you are looking to accomplish with the tank itself :11:

[AmyLynn]

So, hopefully if I clean the plants up while I have them out of the tank and then get more religious about dosing ferts I can eradicate this nasty stuff????

Will have to do more thinking on the CO2.

Thanks muchas again!

[Brhino]

How long has the tank been set up? I had GSA show up in my planted 75g about a month after I set it up. I scraped it, it came back, I scraped it again, and so on... after a month or so of that, it doesn't seem to be coming back. I did some reading trying to figure out the cause, and I've seen other people report that it's sometimes a phase a new planted tank goes through.

[MCHRKiller]

You can get it under control, some nerites would probably do wonders for helping as well. Your water after the move will be totally different so youll just have to play it by ear to see how things go.

The 3x54 setup you had mentioned earlier would put you into medium light and make good use of CO2. You could also probably do a large DIY setup for the tank using some large jugs.

[AmyLynn]

Brhino... Tank has been planted since Feb of 2010.. I think I've been fighting this now for about 3-4 months.

Jenn... Can't get Nerites unless I get rid of all of the assassins. LOL I needed them to get rid of the pond snails that were taking over. Although I've been noticing a lot of empty assassin shells. I thought I was feeding them enough with the couple of wafers, but maybe not.

[MCHRKiller]

I have heard the Assassins do not bother Nerites...however if they are hungry enough Im sure theyd still go for a Nerite. May be worth a shot in the future if you find you dont need the Assassins anymore.

[AmyLynn]

Maybe I can trade the assassins at one of the stores in Denver when I get there. Nerites would be cool.