Diatoms And Green Spot Algae

I have a 3 months old 10 gallon planted tank that is being taken over by diatoms and green spot algae. My water parameters are

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
KH & GH: 120-160
pH: 7.4

The tank has an Aquaclear 30 and a small sun sun canister filter (I love over-filtration). It is stocked with 4 panda cory, 6 rasbora, 5 neon tetra, 1 nerite snail, 2 octocinlus and about 8 mixed shrimps (red, yellow, black cherry shrimp and 2 amano shrimp). I fed my fishes quite a lot and yet still have a hard time getting nitrate up for my plants. Dosing ThriveS daily helped keeping the plants alive but then diatoms and green spot algae grow like crazy on glasses and plant leaves too :/. My nerite snail and octocinlus just couldnt keep up. Any recommendation on what to so next? Do you guys think a UV light would help?

 

UV light is only useful for free-floating organisms, ie. green water. Diatoms are common at this point in time for newer tanks less than a year old.

What's your photo period like; how long do you have your lights on? What model light do you have? Did you plant recently...?

 

UV light is only useful for free-floating organisms, ie. green water. Diatoms are common at this point in time for newer tanks less than a year old.

What's your photo period like; how long do you have your lights on? What model light do you have? Did you plant recently...?

My friend gave me two of these on my hood. They are not one of those fancy planted led light but are very bright and my plants seem to respond well. My light timer is set for 8 hours per day with 2 hours break (between 11-1pm). The plants have been with the tank for 2 months. Some of them almost died due to lack of nitrate but now are doing okay with ThriveS.
My water is quite clear but I just couldnt stand seeing these ugly diatoms and green spot algae being all over my glasses and plants.

 

Some sites believe it's low phosphates.. Seachem sells a Phosphorus Supplement for plants that contains phosphates otherwise there is the Fleet Enema that is economical and easy to obtain.. I have both but have tried neither!

Treatment for Spot Algae
The cure for spot algae is to scrub or scrape off surfaces. Spot algae can only be mechanically removed. On glass tanks, scraping with a razor blade is very effective. Sharp objects should not be used in acrylic aquariums. Instead, use a plastic razor, cloth pad, or a very gentle scouring pad.

Tank treatment: Increase phosphate dosing slightly in your EI fertilizer regime.
Spot treatment: Turn off the filter; use one of these three options, wait 5 minutes, and turn on the filter.

1. If you have phosphate mixed in a solution, you can turn off your filter and dose your phosphates directly on the area that’s affected.
2. If you have dry KH2PO4, mix your estimative index (EI) dose with tank water just enough to make it dissolve. then pipette/syringe it onto the affected area.
3. If you do not have a phosphate solution, your alternative is a Fleet Enema. Use 0.3 milliliters of enema per 10 gallons. Do this daily until it's gone since you have no fertilizer regime. Do 50% water changes every third day to help keep the from getting out of control during this treatment.

For options 1 and 2, if it keeps coming back to the treated area quickly, then you need to increase the phosphates in your dosing regimen, unless you are fine with spot treating the area every dose.

For option 3, you run a risk of bottoming out on nitrates during the treatment due to your lack of regular macro dosing. A high fish load counters this effect. If you have Java ferns, this can cause them to blacken at the tips and melt a bit if the nitrates keep bottoming out.

 

My friend gave me two of these on my hood. They are not one of those fancy planted led light but are very bright and my plants seem to respond well. My light timer is set for 8 hours per day with 2 hours break (between 11-1pm). The plants have been with the tank for 2 months. Some of them almost died due to lack of nitrate but now are doing okay with ThriveS.
My water is quite clear but I just couldnt stand seeing these ugly diatoms and green spot algae being all over my glasses and plants.

Can you differentiate between actual die off and plant melt? Did your plants show any signs of a deficiency ie. holes in the leaves, yellowing leaves, etc.? Some plants melt back when adjusting to different water parameters, cryptocoryne species are most notorious for this, but they usually come back tough after a while.

If algae is taking over your plants then that means your plants are not in the best shape and/or haven't quite established themselves yet. I'm curious what your plant selection is like? It's probably best to try to address the algae issue first though. I would cut off any leaves that are damaged and badly covered in algae, scrape algae off the glass, then do a big water change, at least 50%, afterwards. It could help to increase flow in the tank if possible. You may want to pick up a bottle of Seachem Nitrogen or something of the sort, maybe even just grab NPK and a bottle of Trace to address the lack of nitrates and have a bit more control over dosing.

 

Can you differentiate between actual die off and plant melt? Did your plants show any signs of a deficiency ie. holes in the leaves, yellowing leaves, etc.? Some plants melt back when adjusting to different water parameters, cryptocoryne species are most notorious for this, but they usually come back tough after a while.

If algae is taking over your plants then that means your plants are not in the best shape and/or haven't quite established themselves yet. I'm curious what your plant selection is like? It's probably best to try to address the algae issue first though. I would cut off any leaves that are damaged and badly covered in algae, scrape algae off the glass, then do a big water change, at least 50%, afterwards. It could help to increase flow in the tank if possible. You may want to pick up a bottle of Seachem Nitrogen or something of the sort, maybe even just grab NPK and a bottle of Trace to address the lack of nitrates and have a bit more control over dosing.

I have water wisteria, anacharis, ludwigia, java fern, an unknown plant that look like rotala but not rotala, java moss, xmas moss, marimo moss ball, 2 duckweed, and 6 lucky bamboo. Beforing dosing with ThriveS daily, water wisteria had tiny yellow holes in the leaves which eventually turned the whole leaf transparent and melting. Similarly, yellow/brown spot appeared on java fern. Now with ThriveS daily, water wisteria, java fern and anacharis are doing very well. The unknown plant is still in bad shape but I kinda give up on it .

My tank is pretty well circulated with AquaClear 30, Sun Sun canister and an airstone. In fact, my duckweed almost died because of too much surface agitation so I had to put it in a feeding ring. Anyway I thought of getting seachem nitrogen too but decided not to as I'm trying to save money for an aquarium chiller and automatic water changing system. My fishes are getting fed three times per day and they pooped like crazy but I don't know where all the nitrate go .

 

I have water wisteria, anacharis, ludwigia, java fern, an unknown plant that look like rotala but not rotala, java moss, xmas moss, marimo moss ball, 2 duckweed, and 6 lucky bamboo. Beforing dosing with ThriveS daily, water wisteria had tiny yellow holes in the leaves which eventually turned the whole leaf transparent and melting. Similarly, yellow/brown spot appeared on java fern. Now with ThriveS daily, water wisteria, java fern and anacharis are doing very well. The unknown plant is still in bad shape but I kinda give up on it .

My tank is pretty well circulated with AquaClear 30, Sun Sun canister and an airstone. In fact, my duckweed almost died because of too much surface agitation so I had to put it in a feeding ring. Anyway I thought of getting seachem nitrogen too but decided not to as I'm trying to save money for an aquarium chiller and automatic water changing system. My fishes are getting fed three times per day and they pooped like crazy but I don't know where all the nitrate go .

Can I see a pic of your tank? Also, are you using the media that came with the sunsun and aquaclear or are you using something different?