# Dark green algae on sand



## Blaxicanlatino (Jan 28, 2008)

My brother has a 55 gallon tank for about 5 months now. Has about 20 baby thumb nail sized convict cichlids and 4 ghost shrimps in the tank. The lighting is about 60 total watts, 6700K. The tank is medium planted with red ludwigia, rotala indica, java moss, and brown crypt. The tanks is infested with this stringy brown hair like algae growing most plants and there are many tiny green circles on the aquarium glass. ALso this bizarre green algae on the sand. The lights on are on 8 hours a day and is water changed 20% a week and given a capful of flourish comprehensive a day after the water change.

anyway... ive done considerable research both online and on the various threads on this site. I have many years expereince in raising 2 successful tanks but this seems...painful...

thanks for the help


----------



## dieseldoc (Feb 2, 2010)

With the exception of the brown algea I have this with my 29 gallon that I am battling. I had the opertunity to be sick one sunny day this winter so I layed around and watched the tank all day. What I found was that my tank at a certain time of day was getting sun light shining in the end of it on top of the tank lighting, For this I used some black construction paper and put it on the end of the tank. I cut my flourish comprehensive dosage down to 1/2 a ML every two weeks and cut the lighting to 8 hours a day with no adverse affect on the plants.I also replace the flourescent tube in my fixture since I got it used and had no idea how old it was. I still have algea but not to the extent I had. 
A cap full of flourish is supposedly 5 ml according to the bottle which is recomended for 60 gallons. With the addition of the gravel and any other decor I would hazzard a guess that the tank capacity is mor like 40 - 45 gallons. So I would start with reducing the dosage of the flourish. Then I would look at the lighting after a couple of weeks with the change in the flourish dosage and see if that made a difference. I would also pay particular attention to how ambient light hits this tank through out the course of a day. I hope this helps.


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

I suspect we are talking about three different "problems" here, and each may have its own cause/solution.

The easy one is the green dot algae (as it is commonly called) that appears on the glass. This is light-related, though other factors are likely involved. It is easily dealt with. Scrape it off during the water change. To keep it from coming back, clean the inside glass at each water change with one of those sponge-type scrapers. I always run this over the inside front glass, and periodically the other sides, whether I see anything or not. Not doing it for one week invariably means that before next week a dot or two will appear. This weekly clean catches it before you see it. And once you see it, it can be stubborn to remove, requiring a hard scraper and sometimes even a razor blade (careful not to scratch the glass).

The green "algae" ion the substrate may be cyanobacteria. A photo would help. If this is what it is, a green slime that easily rubs off, it is caused by organics. Light is obviously needed, but organics cause it. I have seen it suddenly appear when the filter has not been cleaned, then disappear as soon as the filter is cleaned. Excess organics in the tank can come from overfeeding, fish waste, insufficient water changes, insufficient filter cleaning, and lack of substrate vacuuming [in planted tanks this is a bit different].

The brown string I am not sure of, a photo would help here too. This sounds like something I've experienced, it is not algae but organics. I have only seen it in tanks that also had cyano at the same time, so I suspect the same causes/solution.

Byron.


----------



## Blaxicanlatino (Jan 28, 2008)

Excellent help all! I will post a pic tonigh!


----------



## Blaxicanlatino (Jan 28, 2008)

ok heres a pic of the algae, notice it on the walls as well as on the sand. The sand is stirred weekly also.


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Blaxicanlatino said:


> ok heres a pic of the algae, notice it on the walls as well as on the sand. The sand is stirred weekly also.


The sort of "shaded" green on the walls and sand appear to be cyanobacteria but I'm not sure. Is it slimy to the touch, and does it come off in a smear on your finger?


----------



## Blaxicanlatino (Jan 28, 2008)

Byron said:


> The sort of "shaded" green on the walls and sand appear to be cyanobacteria but I'm not sure. Is it slimy to the touch, and does it come off in a smear on your finger?


 
on the walls, i have to scrape with my nail to remove. Its also on some leaves too and does not come off the leaves without tearing off the leaf. The stuff on the sand however i really cant remove. I notice its there at night however.... only until a few minutes after the lights are on does it appears.


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

It might be Green Dust algae.

*Green Dust Algae* 
are actually zoospores and are commonly found on aquarium glass. They form a dusty looking, green patchy film and in severe cases can cover the whole aquarium glass. It's not known what actually causes this algae. Intense light is favored by GDA. Scraping it off the glass will not help remove this algae since it stays in the water and will float for 30-90 minutes before attaching it self again to the glass. For some reason those zoospores seem to avoid plants, rocks and wood and always go for the glass. Limiting nutrients will not help fighting this algae, but rather cause problems in planted tanks where plants will be exposed to nutrient deficiency and that condition will just favour other algae types. The best known solution for getting rid of GDA has been proposed by Tom Barr. He claims that this algae should be left alone to grow, without wiping the glass for about 10-20 days. After this period GDA will start forming a thick patchy film that will start falling off the glass. When this starts happening it is good to remove this algae out of the tank. This method should keep this algae at bay. 
Photo credit: Dusko Bojic


----------



## Blaxicanlatino (Jan 28, 2008)

Byron said:


> It might be Green Dust algae.
> 
> *Green Dust Algae*
> are actually zoospores and are commonly found on aquarium glass. They form a dusty looking, green patchy film and in severe cases can cover the whole aquarium glass. It's not known what actually causes this algae. Intense light is favored by GDA. Scraping it off the glass will not help remove this algae since it stays in the water and will float for 30-90 minutes before attaching it self again to the glass. For some reason those zoospores seem to avoid plants, rocks and wood and always go for the glass. Limiting nutrients will not help fighting this algae, but rather cause problems in planted tanks where plants will be exposed to nutrient deficiency and that condition will just favour other algae types. The best known solution for getting rid of GDA has been proposed by Tom Barr. He claims that this algae should be left alone to grow, without wiping the glass for about 10-20 days. After this period GDA will start forming a thick patchy film that will start falling off the glass. When this starts happening it is good to remove this algae out of the tank. This method should keep this algae at bay.
> Photo credit: Dusko Bojic


 
ive dealt with green dust algae and its very easy to wipe off. However the kind on this glass are very hard and have to be scraped off. I did a water test and there wasnt any nitrite or ammonio but 30ppm of nitrate.


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Blaxicanlatino said:


> ive dealt with green dust algae and its very easy to wipe off. However the kind on this glass are very hard and have to be scraped off. I did a water test and there wasnt any nitrite or ammonio but 30ppm of nitrate.


That's probably green dot then, not actually an algae but a population of diatoms, microscopic animals that secrete a hard silica shell on which green alga grows and that is what we see. I posted about this in the thread linked, post #3 has the data and photos.
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/aquarium-plants/small-dotted-algae-glass-even-algae-99365/

Byron.


----------



## Blaxicanlatino (Jan 28, 2008)

oh yes i read that thread. I did a quick experiment and put some of the green dot alagein a small plastic container. Left it there above the tank for a few hours then came back to find the alge attached to the sides of the container. Its like it has to be on something. Anyway thanks for the help all.


----------



## Blaxicanlatino (Jan 28, 2008)

i tested the water and found the nitrates to be 30ppm while ammonio and nitrite is 0.


----------



## Blaxicanlatino (Jan 28, 2008)

well the green algae on the sand and sides of the tnaks still prevail and i noticed that all the stem plants are not growing at all. THe brown crypts and floating are growing ok however. The sand in the tank is simple and has a few seachem root tabs. I do dose the tank with seach flourish comprehensive a day after my weekly 25% water change.

Im thinking maybe a lack of nutrients?that could also be the cause of the green spot algae and cyanobacteria?


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Are you now thinking there is cyanobacteria? If this is it, then it is organics that cause it, period. Light is obviously necessary, but it is organics-related first.

I have battled this a couple times, most recently last month in my 70g. I cleaned the canister filter and it almost went away just from that, but in a couple weeks it began returning and within a week was covering the floating plant roots. I did a thorough substrate vacuum over about 1/2 the tank where I could get to, and by thinning out some chain swords in the process; removed as much by hand from rooted plant leaves as I could. A couple major water changes too. I also reduced the fertilization (stopped it for a week) as in this case it was probably related; I had been doubling the nutrient supplementation in an effort to get my Frogbit growing better, but that was unsuccessful and it most likely contributed to the cyano.

This week it is gone, totally, not a scrap of cyano in the tank.


----------



## Blaxicanlatino (Jan 28, 2008)

based on your forum, i have concluded that it is cyanobacter or as some call it blue green algae. Im still curious to why my stem plants arent growing at all. The stem plants are water wister, rotala indica and red ludwigia.


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Blaxicanlatino said:


> based on your forum, i have concluded that it is cyanobacter or as some call it blue green algae. Im still curious to why my stem plants arent growing at all. The stem plants are water wister, rotala indica and red ludwigia.


Having tried some of these myself, I can say they need good light (moderate may not be sufficient), and more nutrients including sufficient "hard water" minerals like calcium, magnesium and potassium. Soft water is often deficient in these. I thought my failings with Wisteria were light-related, but now I realize the GH played a role too.


----------



## Blaxicanlatino (Jan 28, 2008)

ah i see. I do know that my water hardness is high. However i use the same water in my other tanks and have had HUGE successes these. Its only this 55 gal tank that is giving me so much trouble


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Blaxicanlatino said:


> ah i see. I do know that my water hardness is high. However i use the same water in my other tanks and have had HUGE successes these. Its only this 55 gal tank that is giving me so much trouble


Something is out of balance in that tank. The challenge is finding what it is. 

Just throwing out another suggestion, there is allelopathy, plants release chemicals that sometimes affect certain other plants (sometimes algae too). I've very limited experience in this area, but looking at the combination of plants in this or that tank may show something.


----------



## Blaxicanlatino (Jan 28, 2008)

Byron said:


> Something is out of balance in that tank. The challenge is finding what it is.
> 
> Just throwing out another suggestion, there is allelopathy, plants release chemicals that sometimes affect certain other plants (sometimes algae too). I've very limited experience in this area, but looking at the combination of plants in this or that tank may show something.


 
hmm i think i see what you mean. I have a nudging feeling that it could be also a co2 imbalance. Based on the number of plants, i feel it could also be a lack of co2. I need to test this though.


----------

