Added Co2 And Algae Went Wild

I added DIY CO2 to my tank two weeks ago. The good news is my plants went wild. But so has the algea.

Lights are only on 6 hours a day and the tank was stable for months before the CO2. Can I expect this to level off as the tank gets used to things? Or do I need to cut the CO2 here. I have brown algea, black hair, and green water. Not what I was hoping for.

 

What's the tank size?
What plants do you have?
How many BPS are you running?

 

We need more information to give you an answer. But for the meantime...

While maybe not 100% scientifically correct here is a way to simply understand CO2. CO2 is like steroids, it makes the plants "Eat" nutrients faster. When you use CO2 plants need to always have a constant source of food because if they do not algae, which needs less resources, will take over. Once algae takes over the tank in the level you described it is kind of hard to kill it by just tweaking CO2, lights and nutrients. You usually have to pick out as much as you can and then tweak the system until you find the balance.

 

35g.

Jungle Val, hydro, bacoba, swords, rotella.

No bubble counter because everything I read said I couldn’t control it with DIY system so I knew going in there was a gamble aspect, just didn’t expect this much change so fast.

 

I guess you are using the yeast method. Only way to control it is by playing with the mixture. Yeast eats up the sugar and produces CO2 so the more yeast the more CO2 and the faster the co2 ends. I believe there is a method to measure it but last time I read the diagrams and instructions it seemed like too much work for too little.

At this point as you said, you gotta gamble. Play with the system and find the balance. I would recommend to run less CO2 but still keep it going try to add more nutrients and play with the light.

 

35g.

Jungle Val, hydro, bacoba, swords, rotella.

No bubble counter because everything I read said I couldn’t control it with DIY system so I knew going in there was a gamble aspect, just didn’t expect this much change so fast.

There are some DIY kits on eBay (citric acid and baking soda) that come with a cheap needle valve that gives some degree of control. I use it with an inline bubble counter.
What light do you have? What ferts?

 

Yeah, double bottle yeast with rotating bottles. I will cut yeast in next batch and give it a another week or two. I don't mind water changes and scrubbing, its the darn black beard on the plants that worry me.

 

Yeah, double bottle yeast with rotating bottles. I will cut yeast in next batch and give it a another week or two. I don't mind water changes and scrubbing, its the darn black beard on the plants that worry me.

I forgot what recipe I used. I believe it was half a teaspoon of yeast and 400gr of sugar. Gave constant CO2 and not in crazy ammounts. If I remember correctly I believe it was like 1 bubble every 2-3 seconds and lasted 2-3 weeks. Good enough for my Ludwigia. What -Mak- mentions is very true. Those kits in ebay are definitely an upgrade from yeast as you can control the flow. King of DIY did a good video explaining the basics of how they work and since you live in the US I guess it will be easy to get them from Ebay/online.