Algae bloom caused by liquid fert

[Tuxanio]

Has anyone ever experienced an algae bloom days after adding liquid fert? 
It had happened twice to me in my older tank with a kit light.

Do you think it’s an issue with plants not being able to absorb the nutrients because of the lighting? 
I ordered two Finnex stingrays 2’s for my 20 gallons so we’ll see if it happens again. According to the site they should provide Medium/High lighting to a 20 gal.
 

[KBOzzie59]

On 6/14/2021 at 6:06 AM, Tuxanio said:

Has anyone ever experienced an algae bloom days after adding liquid fert? 

Nope.

What is the nitrate level before/after you add it?

 

[Tuxanio]

On 6/14/2021 at 10:21 AM, KBOzzie59 said:

Nope.

What is the nitrate level before/after you add it?

 

First time I was dosing every few days because had 0 ppm nitrates, then the bloom happened.

Second time it happened after just one one dose at 0 ppm nitrates.

[KBOzzie59]

0 PPM after dosing?  What test method are you using?

[Tuxanio]

On 6/14/2021 at 10:26 AM, KBOzzie59 said:

0 PPM after dosing?  What test method are you using?

Forgot to add that I’ve never had over 20 ppm nitrates after dosing, I used the tetra strips at the highest I saw it go after testing was 15~

[KBOzzie59]

What fertilizer?

What is your bio-load?

[Tuxanio]

On 6/14/2021 at 10:31 AM, KBOzzie59 said:

What fertilizer?

What is your bio-load?

Happened with both seachem flourish comprehensive and easy green.

I have 5 dalmation guppies and 1 nerite snail

 

[KBOzzie59]

How many hours of light?  Any sunlight reaching the tank?  What kit light?

[Tuxanio]

On 6/14/2021 at 10:37 AM, KBOzzie59 said:

How many hours of light?  Any sunlight reaching the tank?  What kit light?

10 hours on a Topfin 20g kit light 

[Andy's Fish Den]

I would say that its the light causing the algae bloom. Lights that come in the kits are notorious for not being good for plants. Algae is much better at using poor lighting conditions to grow, so with the combination of the not good lighting and adding liquid fertilizer, just made perfect conditions for the algae to go crazy. 

[Tuxanio]

On 6/14/2021 at 1:18 PM, Andy's Fish Den said:

I would say that its the light causing the algae bloom. Lights that come in the kits are notorious for not being good for plants. Algae is much better at using poor lighting conditions to grow, so with the combination of the not good lighting and adding liquid fertilizer, just made perfect conditions for the algae to go crazy. 

Ah ok, so in theory my new lights should remedy this 🤔

[Andy's Fish Den]

On 6/14/2021 at 1:23 PM, Tuxanio said:

Ah ok, so in theory my new lights should remedy this 🤔

yes, in theory. 

[Mmiller2001]

It's usually a lack of CO2 with too much light. 

[Remi de Groot]

You have to find the right balance between light, co2 and fert. A disbalance gives algue. The highest factor now is light. So start there and don't change anything yet on the co2 and fert as from what you are doing now.

10 hours can easily be reduced. Try going to 8 hours first (or even lower), before spending money on a New light. See if that makes a different. Keep an eye on your plants how they are doing.

[Tuxanio]

On 6/15/2021 at 9:46 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

It's usually a lack of CO2 with too much light. 

 

On 6/15/2021 at 8:10 PM, Remlicht89 said:

You have to find the right balance between light, co2 and fert. A disbalance gives algue. The highest factor now is light. So start there and don't change anything yet on the co2 and fert as from what you are doing now.

10 hours can easily be reduced. Try going to 8 hours first (or even lower), before spending money on a New light. See if that makes a different. Keep an eye on your plants how they are doing.

I should mention the tank that had green water a few times had other issues too. I'm going to tear it down this week once my order of plants arrive but this is good information. I should also note the second tank I set up (actually planned out this time with 12+ plants and a more appropriate amount of substrate) a few weeks ago did not produce green water after easy green.

[Remi de Groot]

I always start my new thanks with 6 hours of light and work my way up by 30 minutes every 2 weeks. That way it's easier to find a good balance between light and algae.

[Tuxanio]

update:  got green water again but I was feeding fry(had 3 petsmart guppies that died, last of them died after giving birth to 18 fry) worth it I think. they really put on weigh and size within weeks. water is very green but i am much feeding less now, it should gradually clear right?

 

[Ben P.]

For me it works best to just monitor nitrates.  If you feed heavily like I do, likely your nitrates are high enough that you don't need fertilizer at all, and adding it could and will make an algae bloom.  I stopped using fertilizer altogether because I feed heavily enough to keep nitrates between 10 and 20 all the time anyways.  But also yes, the lights you are using don't help, just be careful with lights because plant lights are traditionally overpowered in a 20 long, you will likely have to turn light power down

[Guppysnail]

On 7/27/2021 at 3:55 PM, Tuxanio said:

update:  got green water again but I was feeding fry(had 3 petsmart guppies that died, last of them died after giving birth to 18 fry) worth it I think. they really put on weigh and size within weeks. water is very green but i am much feeding less now, it should gradually clear right?

 

I do not know your experience level so I apologize in advance if you are very experienced.  I constantly have too many fry of one type or another. I’m NOT patient enough to find perfect balance i balance old school water change etc When I start to see green I use a clip on uv sterilizer in tank or inline depending on the filtration method in each tank. It is a very quick fix and works great for tanks that are repeat offenders.  Uv is also a cheaper solution than new lid and light. Takes 3 days to a week to clear it up. It does not fix the cause in anyway bless those who are awesome aquascapers and find the Nirvana balance but I’m just not patient enough. Like I said if ultimately perfect balance is your goal this won’t help if you simply want clear water uv is the bomb! My worst fry tank that gets sunlight direct I run it 24/7 365. 

[Tuxanio]

On 7/28/2021 at 12:09 AM, Ben P. said:

For me it works best to just monitor nitrates.  If you feed heavily like I do, likely your nitrates are high enough that you don't need fertilizer at all, and adding it could and will make an algae bloom.  I stopped using fertilizer altogether because I feed heavily enough to keep nitrates between 10 and 20 all the time anyways.  But also yes, the lights you are using don't help, just be careful with lights because plant lights are traditionally overpowered in a 20 long, you will likely have to turn light power down

it's funny because my tanks never measure any nitrates at all, even with the thick green water 🤣, the other tank has never had green water issues so I really think overfeeding caused it this time in combo with fert and high light. But my babies weren't putting on size until I started feeding 3-5 times a day. No regrets haha.

On 7/28/2021 at 7:06 AM, Guppysnail said:

I do not know your experience level so I apologize in advance if you are very experienced.  I constantly have too many fry of one type or another. I’m NOT patient enough to find perfect balance i balance old school water change etc When I start to see green I use a clip on uv sterilizer in tank or inline depending on the filtration method in each tank. It is a very quick fix and works great for tanks that are repeat offenders.  Uv is also a cheaper solution than new lid and light. Takes 3 days to a week to clear it up. It does not fix the cause in anyway bless those who are awesome aquascapers and find the Nirvana balance but I’m just not patient enough. Like I said if ultimately perfect balance is your goal this won’t help if you simply want clear water uv is the bomb! My worst fry tank that gets sunlight direct I run it 24/7 365. 

yeah I have a UV sterilizer that I use when this happens, I would just like to stop it from happening all together. my other tank never has this problem and it has big mollies in it. I've purchased 7 orders of water sprite to float on top of the tank so maybe the combo of that plus reduced lighting and a few large water changes will clear it back up for me.

Otherwise its UV time 🤣