New to planted tanks, some algae issues

[openbook]

Hey guy's,
I'm getting a brown thread algae growing out of the top of my big bunch of java moss. I also have some black beard algae on my anubias and java fern.
The brown thread stuff grows so fast I'm not sure if I need to just toss the java moss and try and correct the conditions before using java moss again.

My API test kits don't read any nitrate or phosphate. Although I read on the algae primer the phosphate test kit are not accurate enough to read trace ammounts. I will pick up some phosphate remover sometime and try it out.

My lighting isn't too strong it's an odyssea t-5 with 4 54 watt 6500k lights, not sure if the bulbs it came with are high quality because the fixture was so cheap. It's been in use since july on a timer for 8 hours per day. No sunlight in the room.

Tank is a 90 gallon so it's just over 2 watts light per gallon. I chose plants with low light requirements and they are all thriving and looking nice.

Not wanting to dabble with co2 yet, but have 2 bottles of seachem prime, I've been sporadic in using that. I've also used some plant fertilizer a couple times since july, nothing with phosphates though.

Stock is 6 columbian tetras, 6 serpae tetras, 3 bleeding heart tetras, 12 neon tetras, 2 corries, 1 glass cat, 2 rubber nose plecos and 1 chineese algae eater.

I'm going to try using the prime more often and get some phosphate remover. Maybe get rid of the java moss since the algae in it is out of hand.

[KittyKat]

Hi,

The brown thread stuff grows so fast I'm not sure if I need to just toss the java moss and try and correct the conditions before using java moss again.
It is quite difficult to de-algae mosses, so this might be the easiest option.

My API test kits don't read any nitrate […]
How well do you shake the bottle number 2? The contents are essentially a solid which you shake to suspend in the liquid, so it is important to prepare the bottle well and to shake the test tubes well too. I suggest you try vigorously shaking the reagent bottle upside down for about 5 minutes non-stop, then try again.

[…] not sure if the bulbs it came with are high quality because the fixture was so cheap.
The cost of the bulbs doesn't really matter. There is little difference even between bulbs from a hardware store and "aquarium bulbs", and good quality bulbs by Philips, Osram, etc, seem to last at least as long, if not longer, than aquarium bulbs.

Tank is a 90 gallon so it's just over 2 watts [of T5] light per gallon. I chose plants with low light requirements and they are all thriving and looking nice.
If your tank is under 24 inches tall, I'd call this "high lighting" myself. From what I have seen, in short tanks, this is enough to grow most plants, the limiting factors being nutrients.

but have 2 bottles of seachem prime, I've been sporadic in using that.
Prime is a dechlorinator, you should be dosing this every time you water change so chlorine and chloramine don't harm your fish and/or kill off the filter.

Stock is 6 columbian tetras, 6 serpae tetras, 3 bleeding heart tetras, 12 neon tetras, 2 corries, 1 glass cat, 2 rubber nose plecos and 1 chineese algae eater.
I recommend that you immediately work on increading all the shoaling species (tetras, Corys, glass cats) to at least 6 fish per species and work on getting them up to 10-15 in the near future. It is not fair on the fish that you keep them in such small numbers, especially since you have the space to keep more. If you want to know more about my reasoning, read [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

Back to the algae problem, my normal solution would be to recommend adding some floating plants, more fast growing stem plants and, if you really want to use fertilisers, either dose regularly or use root tabs instead. (Random) fertiliser dosing and few plants encourage algae. Not using dechlorinator may also encourage algae because if you harm the filter bacteria, they will not be able to process ammonia and ammonia is very readily used by algae.

[openbook]

Wow lots of answers, thanks.

Tank is 30" tall. I mistakenly said seachem prime but I meant flourish excel. The algae primer thread said using that will get rid of the black brush.

I had 6 bleeding hearts originally but only 3 made it through quarantine, I'm not sure if I want more they seem like fin nippers. I do enjoy having groups of 6 and watching them shoal.

2 years ago I had 4 glass cats, 3 would hang together under a rock and 1 stayed by himself. The 1 I have now is an interesting guy. He stays under a log all day and comes out at night, however, every day when I open up the canopy to feed the fish he comes right out to the feeding ring and gobbles up food. Hopefully if I do get more glass cats he will teach the others that behavior because glass cats are very finicky eaters. Just not aggressive enough at all.

I'm selling some stuff at the fish club auction this saturday and hope to pick up some more plants. If I had time I would print out a list of plants that are easy to care for. But I would be happy scoring some big sword plants.

Will read your link you posted. Thanks!

[Trillianne]

That algae is a pain in the behind imo.

If you have the room (or you decide to swap the CAE) a true Siamese Algae Eater will make short work of it... even on your moss. I affectionately call my pair the lawnmower men for how well they handled mine.

[KittyKat]

Tank is 30" tall.
With that depth, it is closer to low lighting, so you're right to think of it as so! Are you having trouble growing stem plants towards the bottom of the tank? That is usually a good indicator of what will do well and what won't.

Tanks over 24" are usually not recommended for most Corys because they need to reach the surface to breath, so if you haven't done so already, have a look at their behaviour when breathing (for example, see if they're struggling to reach the top).

I mistakenly said seachem prime but I meant flourish excel. The algae primer thread said using that will get rid of the black brush.
Be careful because quite a strong dose of this is needed to get rid of the algae if you are dosing the tank directly (or so I have read). It might be a better idea to apply it directly to the algae with a paint brush or a spray, at full concentration, but use a total of what you would be putting into the water anyway for each session. So, if you normally done x ml, apply the same x ml directly to plants and ornaments.

I had 6 bleeding hearts originally but only 3 made it through quarantine, I'm not sure if I want more they seem like fin nippers. I do enjoy having groups of 6 and watching them shoal.
They are nippers because there are only 3 of them. Once you have a larger group (closer to 10 or so), the nipping will normally completely disappear because they would be too busy trying to impress each other. This behaviour is also visible in most other tall bodied tetras, such as serpae, for example.

2 years ago I had 4 glass cats, 3 would hang together under a rock and 1 stayed by himself.
Were all 4 the same species? There are maybe 5 or more species which look almost identical and they won't school between different species, but they look so close to each other that it's common to receive a mix of two or more when they arrive from the wholesalers. You are lucky that yours is so bold on its own.

I'm selling some stuff at the fish club auction this saturday and hope to pick up some more plants. If I had time I would print out a list of plants that are easy to care for. But I would be happy scoring some big sword plants.
Anubias, green Hygrophilas, standard shaped Crypts are all good. Be careful with the swords because they are very greedy plants: a tank up to 4 ft long can usually only support one large sword (for example, an Amazon sword) without targeted fertilisation, although it is possible to have more in larger tanks or a mix of smaller swords any tank.

If you have the room (or you decide to swap the CAE) a true Siamese Algae Eater will make short work of it... even on your moss. I affectionately call my pair the lawnmower men for how well they handled mine.
Yes, if your tank is 4 ft of longer, a school of 8-10 Crossocheilus oblongus/siamensis (it is unclear if these are the same species or not) would be a great alternative to the aggressive and large Gyrinocheilus aymonieri that you currently have. I picked up some new fish from a breeder at the start of this week, who had about 15 "Siamese algae eaters" in an 8 ft tank, the school was very beautiful and rather entertaining to watch.

[Trillianne]

You do not have to do a whole school of SAE. While yes they do well as a school, they also will do fine on their own or as a pair.

[skullduggery1]

Great recomendation on a solution,Trillianne.thumbs2: Siamese algae eaters are the way to go for most algae,especially hair forms.

[openbook]

Thanks trilli and KitKat will keep my eye out for those species at the auction tomorrow.

I do occasionally see a cory dart up to the top and then dart back down, never knew what they were doing.

The CAE is a workhorse also, but hasn't tried the thread algae. I have so much it would take an army to eat it all.

[Trillianne]

Honestly I resorted to SAEs on my tank when I had issues. I tried to balance treating the algae and keeping Val's alive... killed off most of my Vals. :[

The SAEs are voracious in eating the thread algae... you can literally watch them mow it down right off the plants.

[Lady Hobbs]

Brown algae is nothing new and it will go away on it's own once nutrients are balanced out. With BBA, I simply cut it off. Even if you do kill the algae, that part of the plant no longer looks good anyway so I eliminate it to start with.

I lost some fish due to dosing with Excel so when I use it now (hardly never) I am very careful with it. I dose only as recommended. Perhaps it may not kill the algae quite as fast, it does arrest further growth to what you now have and it does die off altho somewhat more slowly. But I, too, would go with the SAE's.........not CAE's.

Obviously, a tank full of plants can use up ferts faster than a lightly planted tank full of slow growers. Perhaps you need to cut back on the ferts for a bit. I see no need for a phosphate removing sponge unless you know what your numbers are.

[Alasse]

I had BBA in my new tank (inadvertantly added wood that had it on). 1 dose of excel, at recommended levels, and it has gone, not just dead, gone completely. The RTBS grazed on it also, so i think he helped with clean up.

I dose excel every 2-3 days and have absolutely no signs of algae in the tank

Sporadic use wont fix the algae, if you use it, use it as directed and regularly

[openbook]

Will skip the ferts, I don't know if I even needed them. Picked up 4 big crypts, 2 big hygrophila and about 20 brazillian microsword. All for the low or maybe high price of 21.00 at the auction.
The moss I stuck in another tank for now with lower lighting just to see if the algae goes away. The tank looks nice without the big gob of moss with algae in it.

[KittyKat]

Why don't you black out the moss for a week or two, that should severly dent the algae and, in my experience, the moss shouldn't suffer much.

[openbook]

Java moss looking really good after 2 days in a low light tank. I'm really liking the look of my planted tank without the huge moss ball in it. I might just leave it out.