# Question on lighting, plants, and ridding of algae?



## Kyo121 (Sep 25, 2012)

So I have my new tank set up. I originally got it and it was a salt water tank. after cleaning and getting it ready I have moved fish in to it and things seem to be going well.....until I got a algae problem of the green hair variety. 

I have been looking up ways to get rid of it or keep it under control because its very hard to get rid of. Lighting had come up numerous times either too much or too little light will help kill the algae. Then a thought occured;

This was built to be a reef tank.

I looked and sure enough one set of the lights are white the other are blue. I don't know how to test or check to tell you spectrum numbers but I am curious on what I should do about the lighting in this situation.

I would like to put more plants in to the tank as i heard this will keep algae down but I also want to get rid of the green hair algae starting to plague my tank.

The tank currently has one moss ball (marimo) just rolling around in there so I am at a loss on what to do. any advice is appreciated.


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## Fishy Bob (Oct 22, 2012)

I do not know of anything to get rid of algea on plants without damage, besides Otto's and Seachem Flourish Excel. I do not own otto's but had a small algea problem on my amazon sword ( black variety, whatever it is) and within a day saw results. I bought it for plant food, but algea control is a secondary function that is does not boast but all reviews for it say it controls other peoples algea too!! Ive actually only had it for maybe 5 days to a week now and see almost no algea on my sword that had it for a few months now


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## Kyo121 (Sep 25, 2012)

Fishy Bob said:


> I do not know of anything to get rid of algea on plants without damage, besides Otto's and Seachem Flourish Excel. I do not own otto's but had a small algea problem on my amazon sword ( black variety, whatever it is) and within a day saw results. I bought it for plant food, but algea control is a secondary function that is does not boast but all reviews for it say it controls other peoples algea too!! Ive actually only had it for maybe 5 days to a week now and see almost no algea on my sword that had it for a few months now


the algae is on the decorations and glas and not actually on the plant. the algae itself is green hair algae and I want to know a good way of getting rid of it. I read somewhere that ghost shrimp eat it but i am curious on how effective that is or wise in my kind of tank


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## Fishy Bob (Oct 22, 2012)

Well it would work on algea no matter the object. Excel, from what i read gets rid of that green kind as well. It is safe and good for your plants since it is plant food with a side effect of algea control. Its up to you though, just an idea...


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## Kyo121 (Sep 25, 2012)

Fishy Bob said:


> Well it would work on algea no matter the object. Excel, from what i read gets rid of that green kind as well. It is safe and good for your plants since it is plant food with a side effect of algea control. Its up to you though, just an idea...


I am worried about the reaction the algecide might have on the fish. some fish just can't take it. I don't want to kill the fish in the process of ridding myself of just some annoying algae.


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## Fishy Bob (Oct 22, 2012)

Oh it is nothing like that, again they dont say it removes algea, it just does. It is very safe for fish and havent heard of it hurting fish, unless you overdose, which doing that with anything hurts the fish. I put it in both tanks and watched my fish as i always do after introducing something new. They showed no signs of breathing harder, and had normal activity and eating habits. I have 5 plecos, numerous types of cory's, a couple type of loaches, angel fish, betta. The things is most of them fish are most sensative to water issues being scaleless and again i had no issue. I dont want you to hurt your fish either and if you wanna go another route ottos are great for algea and totally harmless to fish. I just said excel since you have live plants and excel is GREAT for them. I have swords and anarchnis (however you spell it, lol) and they took of like i gave them steroids. One of my amazons was showing clear leafs and getting holes and has now already showed signs of repair. This is just carbon for your plants basically and an alternative to the expensive co2 set ups. I suggest no matter how hard somebody suggest something you shouldlook it up and make the final call yourself. Even if you go and try something else and it dont work you can try it, it is just an option and as long as your algea isnt very bad you got time to work it out so that you bring no harm to your fish.

BTW you can always remove the objects and scrub them with a toothbrush and use a magnet cleaner for the glass


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## Kyo121 (Sep 25, 2012)

I'll check it out. other then that does anyone know of fish or snails that might have a appetite for that kind of algae. i'm starting to think about trading my barbs in for something because they are a tad aggressive to the smaller survivors of my tank disaster


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## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

You don't mention if you have a planted tank or not. If it's not a planted tank, there's no need to run powerful lighting as all this will do is grow algae.
The right kind of lights does help and goes hand in hand for the photoperiod, CO2 fertilizers and nutrients in a planted tank. This needs to be balanced for you to have reduced algae growth.
Eliminating algae with excel is tricky and likely to be a recurring event considering that you have not found the root of the algae issue - you can however inject the excel into an inverted tub to increase your normal dose of excel locally so as to treat "topically".
Decorations you can also remove and treat with vinegar.
There's also no mention of what fish you have in the tank it could be a matter of also increasing water changes to keep excess nutrients in check!
cb


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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

Scrub the algae out add the plants you want to add and the algae should not return as strong. Once you have other plants in your tank especially fast growing nutrient sucking plants they will out compete the algae. The easiest way to get rid of the algae you have now is a lil elbow grease on the tank and take out the ornaments and wash them in a bleach solution then rinse them well and put them back in.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Exactly as Clep said. You need to balance things to keep the algae down.


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## Fishy Bob (Oct 22, 2012)

Ive seen very balanced tanks get algea issues...... Heard of many more than that.


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## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

Bob,
the definition of balance here is that there is no algae - hence all tanks that you have seen that have algae are by definition unbalanced.
How to balance a tank is relatively simple - zero light = zero nutrient uptake. As light intensity and photoperiod increases, you need more nutrients of all kinds including disolved CO2 to have plant growth without algae production.
The kind of plants makes a difference - in fact every facet of the planted tank makes a difference including how much surface agitation you have.
So, where does that leave us? Quite simply having the right nutrients in place, the light, photoperiod to do the job effectively for the plants and arrangement that we decide on.
There are many examples of algae control. e.g. I've used crystalwort to eradicate staghorn algae from java fern by drastically reducing the light available - many strategies work - All of those that are successful long-term involve light-nutrient balance (The only exception being increasing water flow). 
Remember, balance could be as simple as an imbalance in kH/magnesium for which one rarely tests. The EI fertilization method attempts to rule this out but the difference in water used in tanks makes even this sophisticated methodology prone to failure in some instances.
cb


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Ive never seen a tank balanced in light ferts co2 and plants, and have any real algae issues. maybe diatoms at the start but usually if your doing the proper maintenance on a high teck tank, you shouldnt have issues like that.


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## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

Bev, there are some plants that I've found extremely tricky to balance light/ferts with such as dwarf spear. Without daily excel dosing it's extremely difficult to keep in check.
Another thing that I've found is that once you get the ferts right, you end up with more plants than your dosing can hold. It's tricky to get things right with high light but it's fun getting it all right!
cb


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## FishFlow (Sep 13, 2011)

Green Hair Algae Control In Freshwater Aquarium | Aquariums Life


Check your bulbs. 

10,000K
6500K (k for kelvin)
Wattage
Watts
T8 , T5


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## Kyo121 (Sep 25, 2012)

clep.berry said:


> You don't mention if you have a planted tank or not. If it's not a planted tank, there's no need to run powerful lighting as all this will do is grow algae.
> The right kind of lights does help and goes hand in hand for the photoperiod, CO2 fertilizers and nutrients in a planted tank. This needs to be balanced for you to have reduced algae growth.
> Eliminating algae with excel is tricky and likely to be a recurring event considering that you have not found the root of the algae issue - you can however inject the excel into an inverted tub to increase your normal dose of excel locally so as to treat "topically".
> Decorations you can also remove and treat with vinegar.
> ...


cleb you have always given me great sound advice in the past just wanted to say thanks. The tank itself isn't planted in the sense of alot of green plants and the like BUT it does have one moss ball rolling around that I kept. Other then that there is three decorations. I am actually curious on trying a planted tank but not heavily planted. just different levels and layers for look and fun.

I traded my 4 barbs because they were getting aggressive for store credit the tank now has the following fish

5 ghost shrimp
1 panda corydora (I will get at least 2 more since its schooling)
2 tetras (i plan to get at least 4 more since they are schooling)
1 guppy preggers (might set up a breeder box or let nature take its course)
1 rubber lipped pleco (this specific species only gets to the size of four inches and is the biggest thing in the tank and doesn't bother other fish)
1 oto

so thats a total of 11 aquatic friends going up to 17 in a 28 gallon Nano-Cube CF

with decoration cleaning whats a good combination of vinegar should I use to help scrub down the decorations?

I also have a feeling that the algae came from the moss ball but I would prefer to keep the ball tbh so i guess that means figuring out the light and getting more plants.



dalfed said:


> Scrub the algae out add the plants you want to add and the algae should not return as strong. Once you have other plants in your tank especially fast growing nutrient sucking plants they will out compete the algae. The easiest way to get rid of the algae you have now is a lil elbow grease on the tank and take out the ornaments and wash them in a bleach solution then rinse them well and put them back in.



I am going with vinegar as it is the safer route from what I read in terms of cleaning but what are good easy plants you would reccomend? I have had varying success with Anacaris (however its spelled) but it grew incredibly fast like a weed. What would you reccomend as good easy starter plants for a tank like this? Think large pet store buys since my ocal fish store may have good plants but they are pretty pricey and snail riddled last time i bought a plant from them.


FishFlow said:


> Green Hair Algae Control In Freshwater Aquarium | Aquariums Life
> 
> 
> Check your bulbs.
> ...


I have no idea how to check the bulbs or give you the specs other then that is said on the side. I know the bulbs are over a year old so I will just say what is on the hood

28g nano-cube CF

105w/bw - CF Quad 
115v-1ph-60Hz

I hope that helps you all understand my situation a bit more.


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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

I prefer java ferns and anubias plants for two reasons both plants need to be tied to a rock or driftwood (giving me easy ability to change the plants around as I want) and neither are picky on light requirements( both will grow in low light or high light, but with high light you will need to add co2 as well).Wisteria, vals and hornwort grow fast and will suck up nutrients away from algae.Dwarf sagittaria stays short and spreads fast for an easy foreground plant. All of these plants I have grown and I do not (yet) have co2 on any of my tanks, there are others out there but these are ones I have had success with.


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## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

With vinegar, you can remove the ornament and soak it neat or 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water.
You can also let the ornaments dry overnight, killing the algae.
If the tubes are more than a year old, it might be worth your while replacing them if you intend to go planted.
If you just want the moss ball, one suggestion would be to mount an LED spot aimed right at the moss ball - no algae on the rest of the tank.
The otto likes to be in groups as well which means that the future development of the tank is going to be tricky. 
Cory: 5 is a nice number
Otto: haven't kept them but I'd think that 5 would be a good number there too.
Choose between one OR the other and you should have happy fish in there.
Tetras I don't have much time for - mine are very boring whereas playing find the pleco and the bumbling of the cory and the fancy antics of my loach are a real pleasure to watch.
The Otto should chomp the algae btw so I'd say something's amiss.
Moss balls apparently do fine in low light so your cure might be as simple as running just one tube for a reduced 8 hours/day. Set this on timer and your problems will go away.
cb


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## Kyo121 (Sep 25, 2012)

clep.berry said:


> With vinegar, you can remove the ornament and soak it neat or 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water.
> You can also let the ornaments dry overnight, killing the algae.
> If the tubes are more than a year old, it might be worth your while replacing them if you intend to go planted.
> If you just want the moss ball, one suggestion would be to mount an LED spot aimed right at the moss ball - no algae on the rest of the tank.
> ...


Thanks again Cleb. I will get some vinegar and get to work cleaning and brushing them down though it is fun watching my ghost shrimp eat the algae. though at the rate they are going it might take them years 
the Otocinclus is very very small and while it does chomp and suck on the algae its like the size of a hole punch mouth and can only do so much, They aprantly might get up to two inches 5 which might be nice. the cory cats I plan to do 5 total. so that leaves me to buy 4 more of each. 

the only reason I have two tetras is because they are the last of what was a group of 10 what swam together and together they school and look very pretty as they do so I plan to get maybe at least 3-5 more to school with so heres what I am thinking to have in my tank:

1 rubber lip pleco
5 corydoras
5 Otocinclus
5-8 tetra
5 ghost shrimp

24 aquatic friends

all in a 28 gallon nano-cube which if the square inch rule comes in to play I may add one or two more that can give it that extra twinge

So that all said and done I think I want to do a lightly planted tank. Nothing epic just....more then the moss ball. I think it would be a fun and interesting challenge. the problem is that I don't know what kind of plants to get, also I agree with you on the bulb but i have no clue how to get the bulbs i need (they are a very odd like neon style looped way. Their are four I believe 2 white 2 blue.) when I looked online they looked fairly expensive as well. The hood also comes with 4 very low light LEDS I could use instead of the main tubes but I figured them to be like small ambient light for when the tank is off, like moon light.

so if i go the lightly planted tank route what does that entail, how much is lightly planted and where should I start?


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## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

I think you need to choose between the cory and the Ottos. Maybe a nice compromise would be 7 cory - they're a treat to watch and spawn quite often too - although the eggs will get eaten.
Instant algae control could be achieved by adding some crystalwort - maybe some tied to a stone and some floating on the top - it gets big quite quickly and so will automatically dim your lighting to whatever levels you prune it to.
Java fern would be another nice beginner plant to grow and the ways that it replicates also make it very interesting in a tank.
Limnophila sessiflora is another suggestion which will work well as would willow hygro and Hygro Difformis - you'd be amazed at how fast these can grow!
Just watch out, these undemanding plants will have you hooked in no time!
cb


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## Kyo121 (Sep 25, 2012)

well with the green hair algae i'm trying to control. (have the decorations bathing in a vinegar solution as we speak) I do like the fact the corydora has moments of being active all around and generally being just chilling on the floor of the tank if i do the crystalwort should I get some on a smooth or coarse rock? or should I just have it floating or should I do both?


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