Fish Addict

Because of the algae, I am redoing my whole tank! I am making a list of what plants to get. Here's what I thought of:

Wisteria
Amazon Sword
Water Sprite/ Floating Plants
Anacharis
Anubias
Java Moss
Java Fern
Crypt
Algae Balls
Val.
Please give me any other suggestions, or comments.

Fish Addict

Also, what should I do about my otto? Get more, leave it, get rid of... My other 3 died. I know that they like schools, but I think there might be not enough algae for 1 snail, 5-6 shrimp, and 4 ottos...
Please leave your thoughts...

peacemaker92

Maybe you can upload a photo of your 'algae covered tank'? Then the members can see how much algae you have in there.

Fish Addict

I have pics in the Beginners section... Here they are:

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Lucy

That's a nice set up. Instead of re doing the whole thing, why not try to leave the lights off for a couple days? Don't forget the feed the occupants who eat algea.

Fish Addict

Would that kill all of the algae?

Lucy

A lot of algea problems stem from too much light. Is your tank near a window? How long do you keep your lights on?

What would concern me though, is your algea eating inhabitants not having any algea at all to feed off of.

Fish Addict

I have been keeping my lights on for about 12 hours a day. My window is about 4 feet away, though there is one that is across from it...

My shrimp have been eating a ton. I am not sure if this algae is just taking away from the algae that my ottos like... do you think that could be the case?

Lucy

I'm not sure, but I'd decrease the the time you have the tank light on, and make sure it isn't getting any direct sunlight.
Keeping the lights off a few days will basically starve the algea.

Fish Addict

Will the plants do fine?

Lucy

Wow, sorry, I didn't think about your plants, you'd probably have a problem with them not getting light.
I've only recently added a few plants so someone else would have to address that.
Sorry I couldn't help.

Fish Addict

Now that I think about it, the plants probably will be gone either way.. will a few days do that much damage to the algae?

joy613

Do you have any type of CO2 and fertilizer? Anacharis and val doesn't do well with excel so I don't recommend it. If it was me I would take out the val and anacharis dose with excel and cut down on the light either by not using any lights or blocking the sun. Some people have had problems using excel with marimo balls but I haven't had any such problem. I know you have shrimp in your tank so I wouldn't over dose with excel only dose as recommended. Myself I love my otos so I would keep it and get more. They are a lot easier on the plants than a bristlenose pleco.

clinton1621

I would say most of those plants are toast.... a couple are not even true aquatics so thats probably a great deal of your problems.... If you're not using a good fertilizer and CO2 then you are usually going to have algae problems. Why?... Because algae can grow with MUCH less nutrients than plants do, so if you have low nutrient levels and excess waste (high nitrates) algae is going to grow rapidly while your plants keep slowly dying from mineral deficiency.... which in turn feeds more waste to the algae as the plants start to rot (especially the non aquatics)

So my recommendation would be to get rid of all the plants you have currently BEFORE you shut down the lights or they are just going to further pollute your tank when they die.... you could try cutting them all back to the rhizomes and seeing if they regrow but at this point they probably wont.... next get rid of all the algae, scrub as much as you can off the glass and decor if you dont want to tear down the whole tank, then shut the lights off for at least a solid week (maybe longer) to kill any algae left in the tank, also do a good water change and tank cleaning afterwards to suck up the dead algae.... KEEP the oto and get a couple more after all this is done, they eat small newly formed algae, the reason they arent helping now is because they dont eat large grown out algae very well.... after all this is finished, get a good plant supplement and possibly a CO2 injector or Excel, put your new plants in and dose the supplements regularly (as directed) along with 10 to 12 hours max per day of at least 2 watts per gallon full spectrum 6500K lighting (keep direct sunlight to a minimum as well).... also make sure you do weekly water changes of at least 25% with planted tanks to prevent excess nitrates and returning algae problems.

Sorry thats so long lol, but I hope it helps!

Fish Addict

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, I already have Flourish, Flourish Iron, and Flourish Excel, and I've been using it about every water change. Should I do more? I do not think I can raise the light since my hood can't do that much... are there other ways to get more light? Right now I have 2 6700K 20W bulbs...

clinton1621

You really need about 80 watts total of light... right now you only have 40watts, which is 1 watt per gallon for a 39 gallon tank. Thats really not enough for a planted tank, its enough for algae, but not plants unless you have very little plants that require minimum light and even then those are recommended to have 1.5 watts per gallon (60 watts for you tank size). As far as dosing with the minerals, you should dose once or twice a week as directed... the excel should be dosed daily or every other day as directed... BUT without proper lighting the plants wont be able to use all the minerals and carbon so thats where the algae is coming from.

Fish Addict

How can I get more light for my tank?

mathas

You have a few options:

1. You can buy a new lighting fixture
2. You can add a second lighting fixture
3. You can try to upgrade your current fixture with a retrofit kit, something like these from AHSupply