How do you deal with algae in unheated tanks?

[jn]

I'm starting to get algae in my 30L tank. I have 7 WCMM's who get fed twice a day. Light is the standard fitting that comes with AR380 (11w PL compact flourescent I think) on for 12 hours. No direct sun.

The plants are still growing in and one is showing signs of iron deficiency (pale yellow new growth, slightly stunted). A hygrophila I think. Others have good green new growth.

I have bought some JBL general trace element ferts (Ferropol I think) and some flourish excel cause some of the plants are starting to get a purple/black looking algae covering the leaves which I thougt may be BBA.

I haven't used either of these yet as I was letting the tank settle and waiting to remove the carbon filter which came with the tank in case it was housing some of my beneficial bacteria. It stopped cycling last week with ammonia and nitrite now firmly at 0 for 5-6 days.

Nitrates are decreasing currently around 5ppm according to my test kit. My tap water measures 10ppm. I don't have a phosphate test kit (should I have one? Is there anything I could do about a high phosphate level anyway?)

I plan to take the carbon out tonight and replace with plain filter sponge and do a first dose with ferropol since that's an obvious problem. I won't dose with any excel until the hygrophila starts to green up again to see if it will voluntarily rid itself of the purple looking algae. I imagine this may take some weeks if I only use the ferropol very sparingly.

I am also getting some bright green algae on the glass which I expect is normal. Have scraped this but some spots where I have scraped now appear to be showing small amounts of greyish marks.. look like oily smears (diatom algae I gather?).

There is also a small amout of rusty looking fuzz on my lilaeopsis grass.

This sounds like alot of algae but it's really just in quite small/tolerable amounts for now apart from the black coating which seems mainly to be mainly on the hygrophila plant and seems hopefully to be decreasing on its own (some leaves that were previously completely covered now have clear patches on them).

Would like a heads up on any tips people have since the tank is most likely too cold for an algae eater (although I am tempted to buy one for the summer months while my tanks matures and sell it before cool weather comes!! ) Will plenty of plants really be sufficient to keep the worst algae types at bay? (opinions on ramshorn snails?).

I am right to assume that in a new tank its normal to have differnt types of algae until things get into some sort of balance? How long before this might be happen?

Also getting algae on my driftwood as it gets alot of light but am considering getting some moss to cover it eventually (maybe xmas moss as it sould like it needs less trimming).

Any advice on what to expect next would be greatly appreciated, I prefer to be prepared in advance!!

[Mel1708]

Hi there,

Borneo suckers may help with the algae in a cold tank:

"Borneo suckers eat the algae and micro-organisms that grow on submerged surfaces (like the slime on your front glass)."

http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Oddball ... Sucker.htm

And they are pretty cool fish too!

Mel

[Zev]

I have noticed that if I feed my WCMMs twice a day, the green hair algae starts growing. Mine are picky little beggars, and very rarely eat food off the substrate. I also have a fair amount of Riccia floating around on the surface, and the flake food gets stuck in it and doesn't sink.

I have two Red Ramshorns in there which I am trying to breed, along with quite a few more pointed shelled ones, whose name eludes me at the moment. The Ramshorns seem to do really well in the cooler water.

The snails help clean up any leftover food.

[jn]

Picky huh! I'd have to agree about mine. I'm just feeing a goldfish flake blend. There are 3 colours of flakes in there and they definitely pick and choose which they eat!! Mine never go below the top third of the tank lately (although I thought I saw one eating some algae off the back glass the other day!!)

I'd be interested in hearing if your ramshorns breed. They're a nice looking snail, but I'm worried about getting overrun with them and them not really having much impact on the algae. Are they mainly eating leftover food or do they actively consume algae?

A borneo sucker sounds good too. I'll keep my eye out for one. Could definitely use something to liven up the bottom layer of my tank and with my nitrates rapidly heading towards zero I expect the tank can handle another occupant.

The algae has slowed and possibly decreased a little but it would still be great to get something in there to clean up the plants where the algae had enough time to establish.

[Zev]

If your tank is fairly new, the algae thing should sort itself out in a few months, it's just a matter of patience and not overfeeding!

I use Ferropol and Flourish Excel, but it is a tricky thing to try and get the right amount to dose.

What you are trying to acheive is just enough ferts to keep the plants ticking along and using up all the nurtients in the water so the algae can't grow.

Depending on where you got your plants from, they may be struggling to convert from emersed conditions to being under the water all the time, this seems to take a lot out of them.

I have a 64l planted tank that is fairly new, it's had the green hair algae thing, then the green water thing - which has only just cleared after a couple of months, and now the Ambulia is looking a little pale, so I will have to start some ferts up again. It is also over-run with Brown Ramshorns, which is becomming annoying to say the least!

[jn]

Thanks Zev. Yes the tank is fairly new so I will be patient. The plants were growing submerged in my pond and had been in there for a couple of months. They're doing ok and have put out a reasonable amount of new growth since they were moved.

I dosed once last friday with ferropol. Then dosed saturday with the recommended initial dose of excel. I dosed with excel at the follow up dose rate this morning.

My hygrophila is improving. The 2 inches of new yellow growth is very slowly strarting to show some signs of green and the algae that was covering all the leaves has gone from a thick layer of purple/black to a thin layer of grey. My nitrates have also dropped a little more again and considering I did a 30% water change thursday (my tapwater is higher in nitrates than my tank is) I'd say the plants are definitely using up more nutients.

Also cleaned the glass when I did the water change and nothing has come back yet. I actually think the stuff I couldn't reach on the back glass due to the driftwood being in the way is disappearing!

I might skip a water change this week and do another scant dose of ferropol friday again. Then next week I'll probably do a reasonable change cause I'm not quite happy with the placement of my plants and I know that's going to upset things a little.

I also have a bully in the tank who's scaring the others into a corner so I need to spread some cover around! (see my other thread in the beginners area)!

How does that sound?

It doesn't say how often to dose on the ferropol. I'm hoping eventually to have to fertilize very little but I think the plants starved a little before I got the fish in there and the cycling finished. I'll cut right back once things are green again and see when it next shows signs of yellowing as my guideline I think.

[Zev]

I notice that with the Ferropol, tells you how much to dose, but not how often!

Flourish Excel is every day or every other day, but when I dosed Ferropol every day, my water turned green!

Re you bossy male, with six females to keep him occupied, you'd think he'd behave a bit more civil towards them! My male is a bossy turkey as well, but some of the last batch of fry were male, so they are busy flaring at eachother, instead of chasing the girls into the moss at the bottom of the tank.

[jn]

Yes.. I suppose the male unchallenged has developed a big ego!! It's not like the girls have a choice of who to mate with so he can treat them like dirt and still 'score' 8) He must feel like a real 'chick magnet'.

Maybe I'll make my next water change a real cold one and see if they'll spawn. The girls certainly look in good enough condition with ripe lookng bellies.

I was just spacing out the Flourish excel cause it's expensive :-? Maybe I should keep at it regularly until my problem is gone though otherwise I'll just be damping down the benefits and get myself nowhere!!

Good to know not to use ferropol every day. I'll stick with weekly I think. Maybe I'll search the web to see what others do.

I thought since the ferropol has iron in it.. and the excel says it helps keep iron in a form useable by the plants that they might complement each other. Maybe that's a topic for the aquatic plant section

Thanks for the feedback Love your kitty dreaming of fish dinner!

(actually.. maybe my cats have finally discovered the tank been jumping up to check it out and that's what's started the girls cowering at the back?? Wish I had a CatCam!!)

[Alan]

Try a pair of Jordanella floridae, Flag killies.

They can take quite cool temps too, in fact, they'd survive an unheated tank inside no sweat.

[jn]

I've seen pictures of some types of killies. They look like awesome fish! Will check them out. What part of the tank space to they tend to inhabit Alan?