Starting over due to Algae?

[Mercfh]

So I have a 55g that's honestly turned into a green hair algae nightmare. 

I've tried lowering the lights (It's a fluval 3.0 set to the auto setting which IIRC is around 8 hours). I've pulled out as much as possible as well.

I have a Fluval 407 recently cleaned so I don't think it's a filtration problem. I feed every other day (besides 1 algae wafer at night for the pleco's, they get algae wafers on normal days too)

I almost feel like my driftwood is rotting and causing issues, and the dead algae/dead plants (from algae getting all over it) is maybe causing issues. My nitrates are 0 though (or very low), other params are good too.

People have suggested floating plants, but they never seem to live (even duckweed?) despite me not having a lid. 

I'm honestly not sure what to do. I think i'm going to pull out all of my "infested" plants and the driftwood I suspect is getting super soft. But any other suggestions? Will this maybe help by replacing the algae infested plants? (It's hard to pull it all out when it's bound up in-between them).

I don't think i've overstocked? Here is what I have so far:

2 Raphael Catfish (1 striped/1 spotted)

10 Bronze Cories

2 BN Pleco's

1 Whiptail Catfish

8 or so cardinal tetras

(a couple of kuhli's hang around too but they are load bioload). I also do weekly water changes.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Algae can be caused by high phosphates. Maybe you could grab a phosphate test kit. To decrease phosphates it’s more frequent water changes and phosphate removal pad in the filter. My one tank was out of control with hair algae. What I did was remove as much as possible, then keep the light off for a week or two. I only turned the light on when I wanted to watch the tank. I had anubias and rosette swords in there, and they were fine with the lack of light during that time. The hair algae did calm down and is now manageable, but if it acts up again I remove what I can and then keep the lights off more.

Edited July 23 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Silverback]

Do you use any chemical filtration?  I think your wood might be a big factor in your algae issue.  I started using seachem purigen in my tanks with driftwood and it keeps my water crystal clear.   I like that it is color changing when exhausted and can be recharged.  Maybe adding some Amano shrimp or American flagfish can help eat your algae.

How much surface agitation do you have in your tank?  I had issues keeping floating plants too until I decreased my surface agitation by creating rings with airline tubing to put the floating plants in.  

Good luck!

[T. Payne]

Do you know what type of wood it is?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 7/22/2024 at 7:05 PM, Mercfh said:

My nitrates are 0 though (or very low)

This could be an issue for your plants. They’re starving and have no food, and algae is thriving and probably eating the low amount of nitrates you might have. 

[Lennie]

A group of SAEs. They are the best IMO. You can mechanically try to remove all you see and introduce a group of like 4 saes and see how it goes. Meanwhile try to correct whats causing the algae too

 

Isnt it dangerous to keep raphaels catfish with small sized fish like cories kuhlis or tetras? 

[Mercfh]

I will say that I do not dose my tanks with any ferts but maybe I should? I have the Thrive brand which I heard was good but it's well stocked so I assume I wouldn't really need it. So maybe I should dose it weekly.

Also I have 2 types of wood. One big mopani wood and I think a small stick of spider wood (which is rotting very quickly I think).

@Lennie As far as the Raphael question I have never seen our raphaels touch even the tetras.

[reefhugger]

On 7/24/2024 at 2:05 AM, Lennie said:

A group of SAEs.

These fish are so much fun...useful and loaded with personality.

[Pepere]

On 7/24/2024 at 4:15 PM, Mercfh said:

will say that I do not dose my tanks with any ferts but maybe I should?

Well, if your nitrates are zero, or near zero, that would strongly argue that vegetative uptake of nitrate is exceeding bioload production of it.

 

Also, fish food and fish waste can provide phosphorous and nitrates, but not potassium.. your Macronutrients are nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous…

If you have limiting nutrients the plants do not grow well, they suffer.  And when they suffer and struggle they leach out waste organics that algae thrives on…

healthy thriving plants defend themselves well against algae..

I would remove as much algae as possible manually followed by at least a 50% water change afterwards. This helps remove some of the dislodged fragments.

I would dose the tank with the fertilizer. I would repeat this routine weekly.   Then you wait.  At first, algae may even increase from the added nutrients. Yor plants will take a few weeks to reprogram their new leaves to optimize for the new conditions…. The old leaves will not be repaired.  As you see new health growth, start removing more of the old growth that may be getting covered with algae.  Removal of distressed dying leaves removes a food source and point of attachment for algae, it removes flow restriction and shading of what might be below it..  In a non co2 tank, everything progresses much slower…. CO2 is your limiting nutrient.  Plant mass is over half carbon…. It may take a good 5-6 weeks to see significant improvement.

grow healthier plants and algae diminishes…

 

what plants do you have?  Can you post a few photos?