hello peeps,

For those of you with long memories, you might recall that I had previously been battling with the dreaded Blue/green algae. I thought I had it sorted and with a great deal of patience I managed to beat it into submission. But I now seem to have stronger and more determined adversary. And I've got to admit - it's REALLY getting me down.

Now, there is this black algae growing on the plants and background. It is incredibly difficult to remove and is ruining the plants. I'm having to work three times as hard each water change to get the tank back to normal.

I don't suppose anyone happens to have anything else up their sleeves I could try? I am losing the will....

Cheers,
Fizz

EDIT// Just to add, for those people who buy or would buy clown loaches as algae eaters - they don't seem particularly bothered about algae at all! At least not in my tank!

How irritating! Going back to basics (but I'm afraid algae control isn't something I've really got much knowledge of) what is the phosphate and nitrate reading for your tap water?

I'll have to get back to you with that one Suey - I know my tap nitrate is pretty high but will need to re-test. Do I need to leave the water to stand overnight- or is that just for testing tap water PH?

I do mix my tap water with RO each time I do a water change so hopefully that should dilute any really unsavoury levels of phosphate and nitrate.

I'll get back to you, cheers Suey

EDIT// I have Rowphos in my filter which helped sort out the Blue green algae. My tank phosphate reading is 0ppm now.

Don't need to stand water for nitrAte reading. Do tap and tank test & post?
When was your last PO4 reading taken, rowaphos can suddenly get used up?

As far as I know it is only PH you need to leave it to stand for. What substrate do you have? I was told that some can leach silicates which can cause algae problems for a while until things settle down. I had black algae in a planted fry tank for a while but unfortunately the fry didn't last as long as the algae so I never got to see what happened - the algae did reduce over time though, tank was set up for about 6 months. How long are the lights on for?

EDIT - crossed posts with Cathie

Oh Fizz, that's rubbish. I have no idea what to suggest.

I've reduced my lighting to 6 hours (in 3 x 2 hour blocks) to keep my hair algae down and am becoming a dab hand with a toothbrush but I know you do all that already.

I'm going to google it to find out more.

Chin up

Another thought - how many live plants do you have? Maybe some sacrificial bunches of elodea could be employed to use up excess nutrients?

Found this

black/brush algae

From what I've just found out, seems biggest part of the problem is because it's so tricky to remove the roots are left behind and it just carries on growing from there.

HTH

Yeah - that's the stuff. It looks more like the last picture on that page. I've literally been chopping the leaves off the plants. I've now pulled up and removed all my amazon swords. The only plants I have remaining are Crypto Wendtii, Vallis (not the curly one), hornwort and a couple of big moss balls. The algae ruined all my java fern I thought that stuff was indestructable!

Good idea about the elodea - I have an order due from plants alive and have ordered some more 'easy to keep' plants such as hornwort and eldodea to see if it helps.

I'll get back to you with the water results - having an easy day today (read that as long lie in )

Cheers
Fizz

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Righto - here are my current water readings.

Tank:

Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm

Nitrate 20 - 30ppm it wasn't 40ppm but it was slightly darker than 20ppm

PH 7.2
GH 8 drops
KH 7 drops (can't find my conversion table)

Phosphate: 0.03ppm I had previously got this down to 0ppm

Tapwater:

Phosphate 2ppm
Nitrate 20ppm


So - I have renewed the Rowaphos in my filter today. Hopefully that will help with the phosphate reading.

I am thinking of doing an extra water change this week (mid-week) of around 10-20% to see if that brings down the nitrates.

Thanks again for your help. Thanks SarahF for the info on beard algae - I have been reading up on it and it seems a bit of a nightmare to get rid of.

Fizz