What to do on a planted tank heavily hit by algae

[Dennis Wong]

Ah, the joys of leaving a newly planted setup to crash while leaving for a holiday.



However, it provided a good video opportunity to film the maintenance:


When I get heavily algae infected tanks, my approach is always quite similar:
1. Cut off algae infested leaves
2. Replant plants that have very badly deteriorated lower portions, move plants to better positions if necessary
3. Dose algicide heavily
4. Siphoning of the substrate to remove melted plants, algae, organic debris on substrate, resulting in a large water change (70-100%)

In tanks where algae is the fast growing sort where it comes back within days, I would repeat steps 3 & 4 a couple of times a week if it was not possible to organically out grow the problem. The end goal is always the same - for healthy plant mass to grow out and fill the tank, providing natural algae resistance in the long run.

 

[artandsoul]

I would remove as much algae as possible by hand. I see people using a toothbrush to get the hair algae out as much aas they can. I use excel " metricide 14" if available there or some hydrogen peroxide and 40% water mix and dip plants to kill all i could. I just got some bba on 2 plants, my 1st true algae issue so far. Just did excel watered down about 60% with water in 1 minute dip. Bba was red next day its dead for sure. You may be overdosing ferts imo if its coming back fast. There's not a ton of plants in the tank cut frets down see what happens, what are u dosing weekly?, if I have co2 crank it up some.

 

[Dennis Wong]

I would remove as much algae as possible by hand. I see people using a toothbrush to get the hair algae out as much aas they can. I use excel " metricide 14" if available there or some hydrogen peroxide and 40% water mix and dip plants to kill all i could. I just got some bba on 2 plants, my 1st true algae issue so far. Just did excel watered down about 60% with water in 1 minute dip. Bba was red next day its dead for sure. You may be overdosing ferts imo if its coming back fast. There's not a ton of plants in the tank cut frets down see what happens, what are u dosing weekly?, if I have co2 crank it up some.

ferts aren't that relevant in this scenario, as the aquasoil itself is leaching many ppms of ammonia. Without large water changes , this was bound to happen. But yes, folks over-dosing fertilizer in new setups often exacerbate algae issues. A slow start - lower light, lower ferts, planting more heavily, all help a smoother start to tanks.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Wow, another Dennis Wong video with the classic Dennis Wong narration. Love it!

 

[JayP]

I came to the conclusion that too heavy of dosing and too strong of lighting in my garden tank initially is why it has been such a struggle. I just assumed since all the plants were already established from other tanks, it would go easy. Fortunately, after dialing things back and replacing some tougher plants with easier fast growing plants while also following most of the tips in your video, the tank is starting to turn the corner.