alage removal advice request

a1matt

Prolific Poster
Jan 30, 2006
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Hi All,

My tank has been algae free for a long time, but over the last 2 weeks a new algae has taken hold.

I've taken some pictures of it which can be seen here:

The pictures are 2.5Meg each so may take a little time to view

http://www.djrollin.co.uk/fish/fish111.jpg (whole tank)
http://www.djrollin.co.uk/fish/fish105.jpg (close up)
http://www.djrollin.co.uk/fish/fish106.jpg (close up)

Can anyone give me a positive ID on what algae it is?

Should I manually remove all the plants that are affected as soon as possible before it spreads, or is that not necessary? :confused:

Any other advice on how to tackle it will be greatly appreciated.

My tank is 160litres, 1.75Wpergallon fluo lighting, non CO2. I'll happily go into greater detail on my tanks stats (dosing regime, recent changes,possible causes, etc) but figure it is best to start simple! :eek:

Thanks!
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
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Staghorn algae.
Up the CO2 slightly, clean and prune off, do not move plants around etc much.
Also, do large water changes right after you do move things etc around the tank.

That will help.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

a1matt

Prolific Poster
Jan 30, 2006
72
11
8
thanks for the advice.
I'll remove the affected plants and do a 50% WC tomorrow.
I'll post back with progress.

Also, I have SAE's in the tank (and they are looking a lot fatter than normal!) Do you know if they eat staghorn? My hope is that if I get rid of the worst of it, they can then finish it off for me...
 

a1matt

Prolific Poster
Jan 30, 2006
72
11
8
I've just spent the last hour researching staghorn algae (mainly via previous posts on this forum) and I am now confident I can beat it.

I see that my SAE's do eat it as well which is great.

So now I just need to roll my sleeves up and prune, WC and dose regularly.

I don't add any CO2 at all, but may purchase a bottle of excel if I find that I need an additional weapon :)
 

a1matt

Prolific Poster
Jan 30, 2006
72
11
8
I thought I would post back with an update on the situation.

I have gone through about 3 good pruning sessions since posting a couple of weeks ago, each followed by the 'usual' maintenance (a 50% water change and EI dosing). I never added CO2 or excel at any time.

...and the algae is pretty much gone :) There are still some faint traces but these are slowly but surely receding.

thanks for your advice Tom, you've secured my subscription for another year :p (not that there was any risk of losing it anyway!)
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
18,699
786
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Just maintain good biomass in the tank and keep up on things, Staghorn is somewhat transient.

Regards,
Tom Barr