Beginner struggling with algae - please help!

[itsAlex]

Hi there! This is my first non-introductory post, hoping I can get some good advice from y'all. 

This is my 10gal tank, it's been running for about 4 months now. Started off with just a lot of green hair algae on the glass, which I wasn't too worried about and was manually removing. But as you can see from these pics, the plants have gotten absolutely choked with BBA and diatom (maybe, I think). I've been trying manual removal and dosing with liquid carbon, but can't get ahead of it. Really hoping I can get some help!

Specs on the tank:

No c02, and it's heated at about 76 degrees F

Light is a Twinstar 450E running for 6 hours on a Kasa plug (I know it's too strong and have a dimmer on the way)

Substrate is UNS Controsoil (there is some crushed coral on top in one spot) and I just added a few root tabs

I'm dosing Easy Green about 2x a week, based on test strips to keep Nitrates at 20-40ppm

Filtration is a small Co-op sponge filter w/airstone and an AquaClear 20 full of sponge and crushed coral

I broke out the liquid test kit last night to test water: 0 ammonia | 0 nitrite | 40ppm nitrate | pH 7.2 | gH 160ppm | kH 55ppm

There are 2 baby nerite snails, 1 grown mystery snail, and a school of 12 ember tetras. My plants are dwarf hairgrass, valisneria, some crypt parva (barely hanging on), with red root floaters and duckweed up top. There used to be some micro sword but it's died off I think. 

Getting close to just redoing the whole thing but really don't want to have to tear it all down! If I can get any advice on how to fight this algae and get my plants thriving again I will take whatever steps I have to. 

And, because I'm really new to this, I'm also open to any other suggestions/critiques of my setup in general. I'm still trying to learn as much as I can here. Thank you!!

 

[Scapexghost]

Manual removal combined with some amano shrimp should keep it at bay until the plants take off and out compete it. A toothbrush will make manual removal easier.

 

Basically, the active substrate combined with the strong light makes for the perfect conditions for algae.

 

If you decide to start over, consider capping the substrate with sand or gravel to keep the neutrients locked into the substrate. Also use less of the contrasoil. 

 

Hope this helps.

[Mattlikesfish36]

I think you will notice some positive changes once you get the dimmer for the light. I have a Twinstar 600e on my 17 gallon rimless aquarium and the algae took off like crazy even with just 5 hours per day on 100% intensity. I now have it on 40% for 8 hours and growth is lush with minimal algae. Took a good month for the plants to transition in to outcompete the algae and lots of manual removal during that time but it will settle in with time once you dim it down!

[PineSong]

Don't give up--you are going in the right direction! We have all had tanks that look like that, I think--I know I have!

I'm not familiar with that light, but I covered up the blue dots on my Finnex Stingray to combat hair algae based on a tip from another forum member. If you are still waiting on your dimmer, maybe putting tape over half the LED dots would be a way to reduce the light hitting the tank. 

I am not an aquascaper or plant pro, so take this with a grain of salt, but I feel like that's a lot of nitrates for the plant density you have, so adding more plants or doing water changes to keep nutrients a bit lower might also help. You can raise nitrates again when you have more plants or plant growth.

I have a lot of plants in my tanks and dose Easy Green 2x/week at higher than the suggested amount (e.g. my 20g gets 3 squirts) and my nitrates read zero to 10 just about 365 days per year, because my plants are using it all up.  So I'm not sure you need nitrates as high as 20-40 to accomplish what you're after at this stage. 

Photos just to show plant volume with less light and nitrates than you've got now.

 

 

 

[itsAlex]

Thank you for the replies!

 

On 1/25/2023 at 4:25 PM, Mattlikesfish36 said:

I think you will notice some positive changes once you get the dimmer for the light. I have a Twinstar 600e on my 17 gallon rimless aquarium and the algae took off like crazy even with just 5 hours per day on 100% intensity. I now have it on 40% for 8 hours and growth is lush with minimal algae. Took a good month for the plants to transition in to outcompete the algae and lots of manual removal during that time but it will settle in with time once you dim it down!

My dimmer just came in, and I'm running it for 8 hours at what I think is about half the intensity - I hope my results are as promising as yours!

 

On 1/25/2023 at 12:50 AM, Scapexghost said:

If you decide to start over, consider capping the substrate with sand or gravel to keep the neutrients locked into the substrate. Also use less of the contrasoil.

This is super true. I have the same controsoil in my 5g betta tank capped with regular gravel and have had nowhere near the amount of algae. Do you think there's a way to take out some of the substrate without completely gutting the tank? and/or getting some gravel on top?

 

@PineSong Thank you so much for the info and encouragement 🙂 I'm gonna take your advice and start aiming for ~10ppm nitrates instead of what I was targeting before. Appreciate your pics for the perspective (your plants look amazing!)

With the light dimmed and cutting back some on ferts I hope I'll start to see a difference. If I remember, I'll try to update my progress in a few weeks! Thanks again 

 

 

[itsAlex]

I have an update! So, I made some changes to my tank. I didn't completely gut it, but it was a pretty major overhaul. I carefully took all the residents out, and then proceeded to take out a large portion of the substrate. A lot of the plants (all the val and hairgrass) were a goner and I ended up taking them out. I hung onto a few plants, and propagated some from my 5gal. Ordered some new stuff too, some scarlet temple, windelov, a crypt wendtii, and a banana plant for fun 🙂

I also capped the substrate with some gravel. I've been dosing easy green much more lightly recently, and have the light dimmer cutting my lighting way down. So far down that I ended up losing my red root floaters lol. I feel good about the changes and like the new look...but I'm starting to get hair algae again. On the glass, the sponge filter, and now the plants again. My water parameters haven't changed, except that I'm keeping the nitrates closer to 0 (they've been pretty stable at ~20ppm).

I'm just wondering what I'm doing wrong. I know I'm 100% the stereotype Cory talks about, resetting things etc etc but I don't know how to keep the algae from taking over. Do I not have enough plants in the tank? I'm afraid if I take the light down much further, they'll start to die back. I'm trying to find some low light floaters to add, but otherwise I'm at a loss once again. Any advice?

[Mmiller2001]

Triple the plant load. Keep light at 50% percent for no more than 8 hours. Take nitrates to 15ppm as proxy. Do 50% water changes weekly and dose ferts after each water change. Stop all gravel vacuuming if you are currently doing that. Increase filter turnover if you can. Improving flow throughout the tank helps too.

You will never starve algae, you will only kill the plants and cause more algae. 

Stop using root tabs if you use them and dose the water only. Planted tanks take about 8 months to really establish. Plant load is important and should be a priority. 

If your pH is over 7pH, you should use a different iron supplement.