Algae and light issue

SomeDudeAtHome

So I was told it doesn't add anything to the water but it suppose to remove chlorine, iron, and any other mineral deposits. I'm going to try and find it online for more information.

In the first picture I was trying to get a shot of the sword but it's a little out of focus. If you look carefully you can see think green algae looks almost like moss on it. That's the stuff that turns black eventually.

I try to get the Water Sprite to float over the Vals but the output of the filter pushes them all to one side of the tank and I haven't figured out a way to get them to stay put on that side.


Found it...

http://www.filtersfast.com/Pentek-RF...FUFo4AodxjhRZA

Byron

Could you bypass this unit for fish tank water?

SomeDudeAtHome

I'm sure I could there's a couple of valves above it. Could this be the cause of algae in both tanks? And would the sudden change in water chemistry mess with the fish at all?

Byron

I don't know, but I am always skeptical when I check into a product and they don't tell me how it works. It removes chlorine, iron, rust, and whatever, but how? I don't know if some other substance is being added, or if there is some sort of RO membrane, or... .

Can you compare the GH and pH of the tap water before it goes through this process, then after? And then what is the pH in the tank?

SomeDudeAtHome

I will try and get some readings within the next couple days. I just took a look at the bottom of the leaves since you pointed out they become brown down there then the algae takes over and I'd say 75% of them are dieing. Here's a picture...




Now with root tabs around the plants, flourish and weekly water changes could the water chemistry really be that off or is there something else going on? I guess that could be the source of the algae unfortunatley it's just another problem not an answer haha.

Stormfish

I'm going to go all low-tech here. Why not overdose on Flourish Excel? I battled a number of kinds of algae since starting up my current tank and two things won the battle: daily doses of Flourish Excel, and aggressive water changes (i.e., 25% twice a week via gravel vacuuming). All the fuzzy algae in my tank is now gone.

Byron

The sword does appear to be dying, I have had this occur with a new plant. Make sure the crown is not buried (it is fine in the photo, but perhaps previously such as in the pot from the nursery/store it was buried). If the roots are fine, new leaves will emerge from the centre of the crown.

So at this stage, I wold not fuss too much. We all have the tendency with fish and plant problems to want to "do something" and this usually translates into dumping this or that in the tank as a cure-all. Patience is indeed a virtue.

Which brings me to the Excel issue. It is true that Excel will often (but not always) kill some algae, and brush algae seems susceptible. Seachem themselves state they are not sure why and they also do not recommend using Excel for this purpose since it may cause other issues. This is the answer taken from their FAQ in response to why Excel killed the algae:

A: This is a known side effect of Flourish Excel that may sometimes occur. It has been reported to us by other consumers, however it does not occur under all conditions therefore we do not promote it or sell it for that purpose.

Some plants will melt with Excel. It contains a chemical which if memory serves me someone found out to be formaldehyde [interestingly, my search just now at Seachem turned up no mention of what exactly is in Excel, but they do mention formaldehyde in an answer to why Excel killed Anacharis]. In large doses it will kill fish. Seachem say Excel becomes inert after 24 hours, so as a carbon supplement it would have to be used daily to provide a continuous organic (supposedly) source of carbon. Given the chemical properties, this is not wise in my view.

Spot dosing algae using Excel full strength with an eyedropper--but out of the water--is said to kill the algae. I would not recommend pulling out all the plants for this, the effect of the chemicals might well kill the plant too.

Byron.

Nemo the Clownfish

Byron,

I read here somewhere that algae prospers/disappears according to a kind of equation. I'd be very interested in hearing your understanding of that process. I think it has to do with the limiting nature of plant "nutrients" and that if a plant is limited by a lack in one of its "nutrients", algae may grow.

By the way, I took your suggestion of putting a backing on my new 10 gallon tank which is very cllose to a window, and within a weekly partial water change or two and the corresponding drop in nitrate and with the help of a few small snails who hopped a ride on one of my plants, the algae has completely receded.

Byron

This is as I would expect, as it is the "balance" issue [what you refer to as equation i suspect] which i will briefly explain.

With live plants, the goal is to encourage the plants to photosynthesize and keep algae minimal. We make a lot to do about algae, but it is not the "disaster" some consider it to be. With live plants we want to control it because if it grows on the plant leaves it will suffocate them and eventually kill the plant. Without plants, algae is a blessing, as it performs much the same role in using nutrients and producing oxygen--after all, algae was the first source of oxygen on the face of the earth millions of years ago.

The balance is crucial. Plants can only photosynthesize when they have sufficient light intensity and 17 specific nutrients. If all these are present, plants will photosynthesize full out, as fast as they can. As soon as one essential component of this balance is no longer available, photosynthesis slows and may even stop altogether. This is known as the limiting factor to plant growth, or Liebig's Law of Minimum since Leibig was the botanist who first described it. In planted tanks we aim for light to be our limiting factor; this is because algae can use any light to increase, and when plants are limited by some nutrient, say carbon (CO2), the light cannot be used by the plants and algae steps in to take advantage.

So any increase in algae is almost always due to light being greater--in intensity or duration--than the plants can use in balance with the nutrients.

Byron.

SomeDudeAtHome

So it took me a while but I finally got around to testing the water without the conditioner on it.

Ammonia= 0-.25
NitrIte= 0
NitrAte= 0
pH= 7.6-7.8
gh= 125.3
kh= 5

If I remember right that's no different than with the conditioner on. I did run the water for a few minutes to work the old water out of the pipes. Also the hot water tank holds a lot of old water but with the cold water it's being mixed in atleast. Our hot water tank holds 50g so I wasn't going to stand there and wait for 50g to go through. question is should I bother going through the trouble of turning it off and running the water everytime?