# alege??



## tireman357 (Jun 11, 2008)

Help with alege
I have a show tank in my lobby. Its a very nice tank but because of the window i get a ton of alege (sp) I put a window shad and try to keep the sun light to a minimum but I am still getting a ton. I had RBP so I had to take my pleco out and there really is no fish you can put in there. I also have live plants so I have to be careful of what I put in the water. On the glass I can use my alege scraper but on the plants and rocks I dont know how to clean them. I am sure with all of you owning P's someone has had this problem and figured it out. Help Please

Thanks in advance

J.C.

Go Broncos!!!


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## Retaks (Apr 6, 2008)

Alot of people have Plecos in with their Ps.


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## blacklabel (Feb 12, 2007)

tireman357 said:


> Help with alege
> I have a show tank in my lobby. Its a very nice tank but because of the window i get a ton of alege (sp) I put a window shad and try to keep the sun light to a minimum but I am still getting a ton. I had RBP so I had to take my pleco out and there really is no fish you can put in there. I also have live plants so I have to be careful of what I put in the water. On the glass I can use my alege scraper but on the plants and rocks I dont know how to clean them. I am sure with all of you owning P's someone has had this problem and figured it out. Help Please
> 
> Thanks in advance
> ...


im new to planted tanks, but i believe flourish excel will help the algae as well as give your plants a little co2. besides blocking the window and using excel, just get as much of it out as you can. what kind of lights do you have on the tank? do you dose anything? also, if you could identify what type of algae it is, that would point you in the right direction of getting rid of it.


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## tireman357 (Jun 11, 2008)

BlackLabel said:


> Help with alege
> I have a show tank in my lobby. Its a very nice tank but because of the window i get a ton of alege (sp) I put a window shad and try to keep the sun light to a minimum but I am still getting a ton. I had RBP so I had to take my pleco out and there really is no fish you can put in there. I also have live plants so I have to be careful of what I put in the water. On the glass I can use my alege scraper but on the plants and rocks I dont know how to clean them. I am sure with all of you owning P's someone has had this problem and figured it out. Help Please
> 
> Thanks in advance
> ...


im new to planted tanks, but i believe flourish excel will help the algae as well as give your plants a little co2. besides blocking the window and using excel, just get as much of it out as you can. what kind of lights do you have on the tank? do you dose anything? also, if you could identify what type of algae it is, that would point you in the right direction of getting rid of it.
[/quote]
It is a dark green algae probley a 16th of a inch thick. I just have to clean it off when I do my water changes. I have a 48" twin tube florecent light. I give them Seachem flourish excel plant food and I dont know what you mean by dose????


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## tireman357 (Jun 11, 2008)

tireman357 said:


> Help with alege
> I have a show tank in my lobby. Its a very nice tank but because of the window i get a ton of alege (sp) I put a window shad and try to keep the sun light to a minimum but I am still getting a ton. I had RBP so I had to take my pleco out and there really is no fish you can put in there. I also have live plants so I have to be careful of what I put in the water. On the glass I can use my alege scraper but on the plants and rocks I dont know how to clean them. I am sure with all of you owning P's someone has had this problem and figured it out. Help Please
> 
> Thanks in advance
> ...


im new to planted tanks, but i believe flourish excel will help the algae as well as give your plants a little co2. besides blocking the window and using excel, just get as much of it out as you can. what kind of lights do you have on the tank? do you dose anything? also, if you could identify what type of algae it is, that would point you in the right direction of getting rid of it.
[/quote]
It is a dark green algae probley a 16th of a inch thick. I just have to clean it off when I do my water changes. I have a 48" twin tube florecent light. I give them Seachem flourish excel plant food and I dont know what you mean by dose????
[/quote]
Here I took a couple of shots


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

Algae usually shows up when there is an imbalance of light, nutrients and carbon source. I am assuming you add Flourish comprehensive and not Excel? If so, stop that because you dont have enough light to dose fertilizers. What size tank do you have, a 90, 75 or 55 gallon? Those twin tube lights are just enough to grow low light plants but dont have much light to do any thing else.


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## tireman357 (Jun 11, 2008)

maknwar said:


> Algae usually shows up when there is an imbalance of light, nutrients and carbon source. I am assuming you add Flourish comprehensive and not Excel? If so, stop that because you dont have enough light to dose fertilizers. What size tank do you have, a 90, 75 or 55 gallon? Those twin tube lights are just enough to grow low light plants but dont have much light to do any thing else.


No I am using excel that what my fish shop said to use. I will stop today. Its a 75 gal what is the difference between comprehensive and excel??? I down graded on my lights because I read that P's do not like alot of light. Is this true??


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

Flourish comprehensive is a fertilizer, and Excel is a liquid carbon source. I would continue to use the Excel, following the directions for now. P's dont like light but they will adjust if you have high lighting. If you have both tubes running on your light, you should have about 1 watt per gallon. You really should have more than that but I dont know if thats your problem. I would assume that the sun light is your biggest factor, which is going to be an algae creator. Make sure the tank doesnt get any sun light, and please post what kind of light bulbs you are using. Also, can you please post what your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are? Also, how often do you change your water?


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## tireman357 (Jun 11, 2008)

maknwar said:


> Flourish comprehensive is a fertilizer, and Excel is a liquid carbon source. I would continue to use the Excel, following the directions for now. P's dont like light but they will adjust if you have high lighting. If you have both tubes running on your light, you should have about 1 watt per gallon. You really should have more than that but I dont know if thats your problem. I would assume that the sun light is your biggest factor, which is going to be an algae creator. Make sure the tank doesnt get any sun light, and please post what kind of light bulbs you are using. Also, can you please post what your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are? Also, how often do you change your water?


I will have to find out what kind of bulbs they are. I check my levels every other day they seem great. AM --0 PH--6.6--NITIRTE .-0 to .25 and nitrate almost O. MY light is a 48" Twin tube floresant, the bulbs are just like the ones that your house would take but they are made for plants, sodium somthing. Hope this helps. I have been doing some searches on google and it may be a red algae. It is slimy it stinks and it is mat like and covers the plant leaves. What do you think? I do weekly water changes about 1/4 tank it a 75gal.

Thank you all so much for the help

Go Broncos!!!!


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## EZmoney (May 13, 2004)

Welcome to the site!

You have already received some pretty sound advice from others. In regards to your algae on the decorations problem, I would suggest lightly wiping the rocks and other hardscape with a clean papertowel when performing tank maintenance. I would also do the same for the live plants, but only when really necessary so as to not disturb their root systems. This may seem tedious, but I'm not aware of any other way to remove it once it appears.

Also, while it is true that plecos will eat algae as part of their diet, it is a common misconception that they are an effective means for controlling algae growth in an aquarium.


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

Go to walmart and buy some 6500k daylight bulbs. Not sure if your bulbs are the correct kind or not. Oh yea, how long have you had the tank set up and how when did the algae show up? Did you have plants in it for a while and did the algae just now show up or has it always been there since you set it up. If so, I would guess its the bulbs and lighting. If it just showed up after having been set up for a while, then something else is going on. Also how long is the light per day?


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## blacklabel (Feb 12, 2007)

Type of algae Cause Solution 
Black Beard Algae (BBA) Low CO2 Add CO2, trim, spot treat with Excel 
Blue Green Algae (BGA) Low nitrate Blackout + add nitrate 
Cladophora Low nitrate + Low CO2 Add nitrate, add CO2 
Diatoms Excess silicates, Low light Wait, add catfish, use RO water/sponge 
Green Dust Algae (GDA) Spores Wait out life cycle, remove + WC 
Green Spot Algae (GSA) Low phosphate + Low CO2? Add phosphate, possibly add more CO2 
Green Water (GW) Ammonia + high light Reduce light, Wait, Small WC, UV filter 
Hair Algae Excess nutrients, silicates WC, Excel, feed less, is something limited? 
Hydra Stowaway in live food Use cleaner live food, flubendazole, H2O2 
Milky Water Bacteria bloom Wait out, protect filter, add fish slowly 
Staghorn Ammonia + low CO2 Remove, WC, protect filter, Excel 
String Algae Excess nutrients WC + get biofilter working


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

If the tank is in sunlight and cannot be moved i would spend 100-200$ to get a uv sterilizer that will eliminate free floating algae.
I would srape what you can now then get a decent sized uv sterilizer to prevent future algae blooms


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## delegat (Mar 22, 2007)

i use an old toothbrush and gently scrape the algae off the plants. but i'm sick and tired of algae and got some little brown snails. had them before in a smaller tank and never had any algae, plus i started using co2. good luck


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## Ahmed (Jun 23, 2007)

I think the main culprit are your flourecent tubes!


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