Fighting algae

Hi

I would like to contribute a process I picked up from Tom Barr. He calls it the "Many Little Hammers" process. Often folks struggle with changing this parameter and then that parameter in order to get rid of their algae problems. This is a simple method. It will work for most hobbyists.

Hammer #1
Look at what species is in the tank. If you an identify the algae, you are halfway there. Sometimes tanks have more than one algae. This usually indicates negligence. So identify it, and fix the most probable cause, as listed here:
BBA=> CO2 issue
Staghorn=> probably NH4 related, you uprooted and moved lots of plants, did not do a water change soon after
BGA=> likely bottomed out the NO3, or have not cleaned the filter etc in a a while
GW=> NH4 related, much like staghorn, but higher light required to induce.
Green hair algae, branched=> lack of dosing, low CO2
Softer greens=> too much light/not enough CO2 and a little NH4
Diatoms=> normal for new tank, get some otto's

The above are what Tom calls "worst offenders". There may be other causes, but generally, check these out first.

Hammer #2
Herbivores. Generally, the icing on the cake, but SAE's, otos, snails, mollies, rosey barbs, Amano shrimp are very effective and each herbivore has a trade off; there are few herbivores that do everything. In SA we can't buy/trade shrimp legally yet. It may change. Stay away from plecos in a planted tank. They will eventually destroy your plants. Even ancistrus.

Hammer #3
Blackouts: fairly effective and highly effective on BGA (cyanobacteria) and GW

Hammer #4
Excel, it's the only thing that kills algae and grows plants. If it does not grow a plant, do not add it. That is a good rule to follow. Generally, folks have algae due to CO2/carbon uptake issues, this corrects that and kills the algae, later you can fix and tweak the CO2 gas.

Hammer #5
Elbow grease, manually picking, preening, fluffing, trimming, pruning off infected leaves. Cleaning everything. Take all equipment out of the tank and bleach it outside the tank. This can be safely done if correct procedures are followed. Ask if you need to know how. This applies to rocks, wood etc, anything non living you can get at and remove, rinse, add dechloro, return to the tank. Don't take the gravel out to bleach. Clean the filter, and then lightly vacuum the substrate. Do large water changes (50-80%).

So a combination method:
1. Add herbivores
2. Blackout the tank for 3 days while treating. Any more is pointless.
3. Do daily large water changes
4. Double dose Excel for 3 days, single dose thereafter
5. Correct environmental issue
6. Dose after each water change
7. Manually stay on top of things and clean the tank, wipe glass etc, keep it clean.
8. If you inject CO2, crank it since you have added all the other nutrients of interest. CO2 will be the only variable that will induce algae at this point.
9. Reduce the light if possible (1.5-2.5 w/gal range). High light drives uptake of nutrients and CO2; if there is not enough, algae will grow everytime. Reducing the light will slow things down. Later, after the issues have been corrected, you may add more light. You may also reduce the duration from say 10 hours to 6 for a few days also.

The main idea is to stop new algae growth. Once you do that, you have it beaten. Then you can start to trim and prune away old algae infected leaves. New leaves will form quickly if the plants are happy.

I would stay away from things like H2O2 spot treatments. Although there has been many reports of success, there has also been some horror stories.

Once you got the system under control, you need to be sure you stay on top of things. With lower light it is easier to balance nutrients and CO2. If you inject CO2, you can now crank it up and slowly increase the light. Ensure you slowly increase dosing too.

You want to be at the point where you have a tiny little bit of GSA on the glass. GSA grows in conditions different to other algae. GSA can be induced with low PO4 and high NO3. Most other serial offenders, like BBA, GDA, BGA (cyano) and diatoms are induced by high PO4 and low NO3. The only exception is BBA, which can bloom in high PO4 and high NO3. But BBA is most likely caused by light vs CO2 imbalance, with CO2 either too low or fluctuating too much.

GSA can be controlled easily. Is does not attack plants and can be scraped off the glass weekly when you do your water changes. If you have lots of GSA, your NO3 is too high and the next thing that will follow will be BBA. You need to either dose less KNO3 or do more frequent or larger water changes. Only a tiny little bit of GSA. That's the aim.

This post is a work in progress. I just typed it up very quickly. I will edit as time goes on.

Regards
Lauré

 

Very, very interesting and helpfull reading Laure. Thanks a stack for this. Gonna copy it to a word document for future reference if you don't mind.

 

Hammer #4
Excel, it's the only thing that kills algae and grows plants. If it does not grow a plant, do not add it. That is a good rule to follow. Generally, folks have algae due to CO2/carbon uptake issues, this corrects that and kills the algae, later you can fix and tweak the CO2 gas.

I thought Excel was a spreadsheet

 

lol. That's probably why your avatar says "OLD FART" :bigsmile:

 

:rofl:

 

Good summary Laure - thanks.

To add to this - I think one should never stop adding your trace elements (micro nutrients). Since your plant growth needs these to out compete the algae.

 

+1

 

Awesome read this!

I had a strange type of brown thread algae. Double dosed Excel, 3 day lights out and upped the flow in the tank and within a week, it was gone.

 

Never stop adding your trace elements (micro nutrients)

Ok some help here please what kind of micro nutrients should I be adding?

 

Glad you got it sorted mate. Often people have a "strange type" of algae. Many of us battle to identify the exact species and hence cannot effectively fight the bastards. So then we should do as you did - attack it from many angles and hopefully it goes away. Now the real challenge is to find out what caused the environmental imbalance in the first place...

 

Acually, the common protocol when treating algae is to discontinue dosing altogether. During a 3-day blackout your plants won't need additional trace elements other than what is already there. They have large reserves, in any case.

Algae does not have these reserves, and if your particular algae problem is caused by a trace element imbalance, then not dosing traces during the treatment period will correct that issue, along with the water changes. And this strategy will hit the algae hard as they are then not getting their food source.

Furthermore, should you, for example, discover that you have excess iron in the water, which could contribute to certain types of algae, then you should adjust your trace dosing accordingly when you resume the dosing schedule.

Hi Slagter

Brown filamentous algae has been attributed to high levels of SO4. Are you using EI method of dosing? Speak to Prof Dirk and let him explain to you the issues that can arrise when there are these elevated levels of SO4 in an aquarium. I recently followed a thread on another forum where this exact topic was brought up.

But then again, I stand by my earlier statements that we, inexperienced and average hobbyists, often battle trying to correct this parameter and then that parameter, based on what the web tells us is the cause of our algae problems. So instead, from now on I fight it using Tom Barr's "many hammers" method. Takes a bit of time, some patience, elbow grease and common sense, but it works.

 

I'm sure it was some sort of imbalance. The tank was supposed to be a south american biotope and I have struggled with that algae from setting up the tank. It killed off all of my sword plants, of which I had many in the tank. It binds to the actual leaves of the plants and is extremely difficult to remove. One would actually have to scrape it off!!

I have been dosing Flourish, Flourish Trace and Flourish Excell. I am now starting with Co2. I have never had Co2 in a tank before, and my new regulator should be arriving this week sometime. Then, I am going to try some more delicate plants. I have been speaking to Gus, and he has helped me out so much in the past few weeks/months.

I'm certain that there was a hectic imbalance in my tank. But I'm not sure what that was. I have been doing the regular water changes, but only since upping the flow in the tank, has it casued a MAJOR dent in the algae growth. There are no traces of it left in the tank itself.

I will always try different approaches on my tanks. I have found that one thing will work on one tank, but not on another. It is strange. I absolutely agree with Tom Barrs methods.

So my tank will now have 300watts of lighting, supplied by 2 150watt MH lights, Co2, and I will continue my dosing regime. Lets see if I can now get some Glosso to grow nicely. Then I want to try my hand at some HC. If that takes off, I will be setting up an HC propogation tank in my fish room.

It is always good to have fellow fish keepers advice and help when things go bad. Thanks Laure.

 

thanks for the article it was a good read and I have learned a few thing

 

@slagter - glad I could provide some useful information. Let's hope your HC takes off and then you can supply to the rest of us!

 

You may be on to something here. I think I will edit my first post and include a section on water flow increase. We all know algae like slow moving stagnant water. Particularly BGA (cyanobacteria). They like oxygen-depleted water. Increasing the flow will probably increase the O2 distribution in the water. Cyanobacteria produce O2 as part of its photosynthesizing action. There are some accounts of people stating that when they put a powerhead on the infected area, the BGA goes away. Could it be that BGA is sensitive to it's own metabolic waste product, like most organisms are?

Many people have been successful at treating algae and particularly BGA and BBA with oxidizers such as hydrogen peroxide and potassium permanganate. But a word of caution here: these chemicals are unselective and can seriously damage your fish's gills and possibly your biological filter. I am not suggesting that these be used in fighting algae. Avoid going down that road.

 

I do not like using chemicals in any of my tanks. It makes me very nervous. I'd prefer to do things naturally from the start and if the results are not to my liking, I'll rather strip the tank down and start again, than induce chemicals into the tank.

I have actually started this particular tank twice in 6 months. I'll post pics of it at a later stage.

 

Admins - why can't I edit my first post?

 

hi Laure. I have had the same problem and have heard that you only have the ability to edit for a certain time period. Once this time is over, no more editing.

 

I see. But I really need to edit the first post. As the idea here is to create a library of simple tools for the aquarist to use in fighting algae. As people contribute to the thread, I would like to keep editing the first post to reflect additional tools which can be used.

 

Hey Laure - send a PM to Rory and he can sort you out....