Please help me ID this type of algae

[6.0DSLPWR]

This algae has really been frustrating me as its ugly and I have no idea whats causing it or what I can do to get rid of it. Im hoping someone can help tell me what type of algae it is so I can try and figure out how to treat it. The algae mostly grows all over the gravel and on the roots and leaves of the plants in the tank. When I am doing a water change I rub my finger on the leaves of the plants and the algae comes of fairly easy. The plants and driftwood was added about a month ago and the algae was there before they were added but has seemed to get a little bit worse since. I do plan to swap out my gravel with a plant gravel and add many more plants to the tank but I'm afraid to do so until i figure this algae issue out.

The tank is 55 gallons. Its got a T5HO light with two 54W bulbs so im pretty sure that means the tank has 2WPG of lighting. The lights are on for 10 hours everyday and I do a 25-40% water change every weekend.

[onefishtwofish]

maybe this is bluegreen is which is a bacteria. if you use the search engine on the forum you can read more about it

[2wheelsx2]

That's BGA for sure. Are you injecting CO2? What are your water parameters? (ammonia, pH, KH, GH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) If your are not injecting CO2, and you're lighting your tank with 108 w of t5HO with efficient reflectors for 10 hours a day, you're putting way too much light into that tank. IMO, a single T5HO would be more than sufficient for a tank without CO2, in a 55 gallon.

Edit: Looks like you also have a thread algae problem based on the first pic. All of this is related to too much light, no enough CO2.

[6.0DSLPWR]

That's BGA for sure. Are you injecting CO2? What are your water parameters? (ammonia, pH, KH, GH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) If your are not injecting CO2, and you're lighting your tank with 108 w of t5HO with efficient reflectors for 10 hours a day, you're putting way too much light into that tank. IMO, a single T5HO would be more than sufficient for a tank without CO2, in a 55 gallon.

Edit: Looks like you also have a thread algae problem based on the first pic. All of this is related to too much light, no enough CO2.

Thanks for the advice. I just checked my water parameters this morning but unfortunately I have no way of checking KH or GH. Is that something I should get a test kit for? My tank currently has PH-7.6, Ammonia-0, Nitrite-0, Nitrate-10.

And no I am not injecting C02. I am not against doing that and probably should if I am going to get serious about having a planted tank. Unfortunately I cant run my double light with only one bulb so if i don't start injecting C02 ill have to buy a new fixture which i would rather not do.

EDIT-Would adding something like Flourish Excel be a suitable substitute for injecting C02 for the meantime?

[Captured Moments]

Yes you can use Flourish Excel or Metricide instead of Co2. How many plants and what kind of plants do you have in your tank? There are certain plants that don't do well with Excel.
My suggestion to solve the BGA issue would be to continue to do weekly water change, vacuum the gravel regularly to remove as much as possible,.. these would reduce the organics content in the water and also clean the filter regularly. Have good water circulation throughout the tank as well.

[2wheelsx2]

I would do what Captured Moments said, and move your water changes up to 50% per week after a major gravel vac/clean. And if you need to, do a 3 day blackout. After that, I would cut your photoperiod to 6 hours at most, since you need to run the 2 tubes. Either that, or trade someone for a single tube setup. Unfortunately this new trade towards t5HO is causing no end of problems for people with low plants mass or fish only tanks. With efficient reflectors, the dual tube setups are way more light than more people need.

[gklaw]

Gary is right again More light is not always better

[6.0DSLPWR]

Yes you can use Flourish Excel or Metricide instead of Co2. How many plants and what kind of plants do you have in your tank? There are certain plants that don't do well with Excel.
My suggestion to solve the BGA issue would be to continue to do weekly water change, vacuum the gravel regularly to remove as much as possible,.. these would reduce the organics content in the water and also clean the filter regularly. Have good water circulation throughout the tank as well.

I would do what Captured Moments said, and move your water changes up to 50% per week after a major gravel vac/clean. And if you need to, do a 3 day blackout. After that, I would cut your photoperiod to 6 hours at most, since you need to run the 2 tubes. Either that, or trade someone for a single tube setup. Unfortunately this new trade towards t5HO is causing no end of problems for people with low plants mass or fish only tanks. With efficient reflectors, the dual tube setups are way more light than more people need.

The only plants I have are three small bunches of Anubias tied to a piece of driftwood. I want to add more plants but want to switch to a plant substrate before I start adding plants. I picked up a bottle of Flourish Excel and will continue to do my weekly water changes, dose the excel as the bottle says, and reduce my light period. Ill also start thinking about whether I should start injecting C02 or swap my double like for a single light.

Would adding more plants take up some of the nutrients the algae is living off of or would that be causing more problems for me?

[2wheelsx2]

I think at this point you need to control/stop the BGA before you add more plants as the problem might get worse as more plants will uptake more nutrients creating a great imbalance.

[Captured Moments]

There are a number of things you can do to reduce the light intensity rather than having to swap your light for a single tube unit. You can raise the light so that it is higher up thus reducing light "intensity" or you can put some kind of shield (mesh/glass/plastic strips/etc..) between the light and the surface of the water. You can also add a bunch of floating plants (water lettuce, Riccia, duck weed (use with caution), Micranthemum Umbrosum or Hemianthus Micranthemoides (can be grown floating). The floating plants will block off most of the lights that way. Later on, you will most likely want to have the 2 tubes available once you have lots of plants in there and you are dosing EI and injecting Co2 or Flourish Excel. Just something to think about.

Having that much light right now (108 watts) on a 55 gallon tank that has very few plants and no Co2 or carbon is an invitation for algae problems. Your current light is great but it will only serve you well if you have a lot more plants in there and you have the other 2 factors present. The other 2 factors are: Carbon source (injecting Co2 or dosing Flourish Excel) and nutrients (Micro and Macro - whether you go EI dosing method or using some other commercially available fertilizers for plants). The light drives the plants to grow as fast as it is dictated by the intensity. At 2 watts per gallon, you normally need to fuel the plants with more nutrients than is normally available naturally from the fish food, fish poop waste, bacteria breakdown byproducts otherwise you will be limiting your plants on nutrients. The plants will starve and become unhealthy.. weak... and weakness attract algae who thrive in these conditions. When you dose there is excess nutrients in the water all the time and more than the plants use and so to think that the algae will thrive on the leftover or excess nutrients not used by the plants is wrong. Algae will thrive even when you don't dose and with minimal nutrients given too much light per say.

Asides from nutrients, the factor of carbon is probably more important. Plants need carbon to form tissue. Isn't most life form on earth carbon based? but then in the movie Aliens.. they are silicon based and have pure acid for blood.. but then it's just a movie.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but in photosynthesis light is the source of energy needed for the plant to make cell tissue (starch/carbohydrate) using carbon dioxide. Again if you use that much light, you drive photosynthesis to a point that there is not enough Co2 naturally present in the water which I believe is only around 5 ppm. So you need to artificially add more. Inject Co2.

You know there is also the low tech approach to planted tanks with variations in between obviously... something to consider also.. might suit your style and time better and your budget.

How are you going to swap out the gravel with the plant substrate? Are you going to tear the whole tank down and rebuild? If that is the case then the BGA problem may not be an issue after you replace everything and disinfect everything.