Plants + Algae

I'm having a slight problem at the moment with algae. I have a fair bit of vallis in my tanks and there is a lot of algae growing in long thin strands on each strand of the vallis (if that makes sense). It looks like green hair (ranging from 5cm to 20cm) growing of my plant. Its only attached to vallis, non of my other plants. I was wondering if i can use some sort of algae killer to stop this stuff, it looks ugly and im not sure if its killing my plants. I have tried to wash the stuff off, but you have to pull the alage off and its just growing back anyway. I have a proper plant light for my plant (which all seem to be doing well and multiplying) and i also use a fertiliser once every 2 weeks (one of the liquid ones). So i was wondering if there was any product out there that is safe for axies and wont kill my plants at the same time as it kills the algae.

I have another question about plants. I have sand as substrate and when i do water changes i run a fork through the sand to mix it around and stir up any dead spots. I have noticed that the sand under the plants is a grey/blue colour. I usually just mixed it in with all the rest of the sand. What i'm wondering is it ok if i move my plants around to get the dead spots of the sand under them or is this doing more harm than good, is this making my plants not grow as well as they could be. I moved my banana lillies for the first time since i have put them in and they all had large roots that extended throughout the sand, now that i have moved them the roots are in the places i have put them, is that not good for them? should i just leave the dead spots and only say once a month go through the sand?

Sorry this was a long post
Thanks
Emily

algae can e a real pain i wouldn't use any algae treatments as most of them are very toxic to ur axies, a thing u can do is add some fast growing stem plants as this helps also u need to get the right ballance of ferts going for ur tank "takes a bit of trial and error" DIY Co2 also helps.
also make sure u do 30-50% water changes weekly. i used to get algae in my 3 footer but after getting the ballance right of all 3 above mentioned it came good. just going through the same in my 5 footer but hopefully have it under control soon
as for moving ur plants it's not a real good idea if u want them to thrive if u disturbe the roots too much, i dont run a fork though my sand at all, "but i have a courser grade of sand" and heaps of plants,from what i have read about planted tanks u should try not to disturb the substrate too much, "but thats with heavilly planted tanks" as the roots do the job of
keeping the sand from going anaerobic.
my bananna plant has a huge root system, it would be about 3-4 inch wide by about 10 inch long i have it in my 3 footer and have moved it a few times with out any problem, there pretty hardy

(what he said)

What is the wattage of the lighting in your tank? Do you use a CO2 injector (the do-it-yourself kind are the bottles w/yeast reactions)?

Algae often grows because of a combination of excess light and nutrients in the water. The plants you want to grow are probably not getting enough CO2 in order to process the nitrates, etc. that the algae are getting.

Check out http://www.plantgeek.net for info. Their discussion board there can help a lot as well.

As for stirring the substrate and transplanting your plants, the plants don't need to move if they're growing roots just fine, but the sand stirring depends on how fine the sand is. What kind is it? If it's very fine, I wouldn't stir it with the axies in the tank. You could try getting some trumpet snails (they're the skinny kind that look like pointy hats or ice cream cones http://badmanstropicalfish.com/gallery/misc/tuberculata.html) to dig and stir it for you.

It's important to get rid of any gas pockets in the sand. Those can really mess up the balance of your tank.

Thanks guys.
I havnt used at CO2 reactor, i'm pretty slack and it seems a lot of work. I only have 1 light in the tank, its one of those glolux ones. I have checked out the plant geek website before. I went to a really cheap fish shop yesterday and because I didnt check this thread i didnt know that i didnt need any algae killer. Because i went to this place thats really cheap (its far away so i have to make to most of it) I bought a bottle of AlgaeFix. It says it kills many types of algae and is safe for plants and fish. I put the first required dose in, but now I'm worried that I have done the wrong thing. It says to keep dosing every 3 days until the algae is gone, I'm thinking maybe i will just leave it with the first dose. Not sure what to do, the algae is growing on my sand. I have playpit sand by the way. So have i done the wrong thing?

Thanks

a basic DIY Co2 setup is very easy to make but i wouldnt worry about it with ur low light conditions as it probably wont help much, i definately wouldnt use any more algae fix, it may be safe for fish but remember fish have scales and axies dont, so they will absorb it more readily, if i were u i would do a 50% water change just to be on the safe side.
just go through ur sand with a fork and try not to disturb any roots, i intend on doing the same tonight as i have a lot of algae on my sand too, but not too worried about it...
as soon as i can get my big bit of drift wood to sink i will be re-arranging my tank and will have a few easy to grow stem plants left over, if u want we could meet up some where and i will give u a few or u can drop over and pick some up if u like, might be a cpl of weeks though...
how long do run ur light for each day also ?
if u dont already it should be about 12hrs on 12hrs off

Thanks Rob. I did a 20% (give or take) water change yesterday before i posted my previous post, I will do another one tonight. I have my light on a timer it goes on at 7am and off at 9 pm. I can extend the on time for a couple more hours a day if that would make a difference. I had an idea last night to minimise the light for a few days to try to kill the algae, although this goes against what you said. I will turn the light back on if this helps. That would be awesome if i could get some plants off you I could exchange something for them, just name it. Let me know where u want to meet, or i could come to your house (when it gets closer to the time). I'm not too sure how this pm thing works, does it just go to your email??

Cheers
Em.

No probs Emily
if ur light goes on at 7am and off at 9pm, thats 14hrs, u only really need 12 max...
maybee cut it back too 10hrs ?
what fertiliser do u use ? maybe give it a rest for a cpl of weeks while u still have this problem ?
one u could try is Seachem flourish "excell" as it adds Co2 to ur water, but if u do use ferts u really need to do at the least a 30% water change aver week without fail, otherwise ur nutrient will build up as Jinny mentioned
one thing with excell it will make ur vals look a bit sick for a few weeks then they will thrive
i will let u know when my driftwood sinks cpl of weeks max i hope ? and i will be re-arranging my tank "again" lol and will organise a meet and will give u the plants.
i will have some java fern, as there sprouting new shoots everywhere + a few other stem plants etc
PM just goes to my email yes, i will PM u when it's time and u can reply if u like...

P.S. dont want anything for the plants, just happy too help out

(Message edited by KharmaKazi on May 08, 2006)

Sweeeet! I just did the water change (equivalent to 50%, just over 2 days). I am using Sera Florena plant fert. It has iron and minerals in it. I have no idea if it is good or not, but when it is used up I am switching to Seachem flourish. I read somewhere that iron is a cause of the string type algae that i have, not sure where i read that, possibly plant geek website?? I use the required dose but the people at the aquarium place said that instead of doing it every week i could do it every second week. I have been doing it every second week. It kinda makes sense with what you said about the water changes. I was unable to do one last week and that is when i have seen the algae go nuts. I had been doing them every week before last week and i think *maybe* thats when i saw the algae more than usual. I have short memory problems at the moment, craming for exams at uni so i cant remember the exact time that the algae started . Not to worry.

As you can see with my extremely bad maths skills (I was pre-occupied with the thought of going to the tav at uni) I didnt realise that i wrote (and thought) that i had less than 12 hours of light in my tank. I would have figured it out eventually its been a long day
Thanks for all your help, I'll keep you updated on my situation. I'll look forward to seeing you in a few weeks or so.

Cheers
Em.