Algae frustrations

[fischkopp]

Do you have a pic of the hair algae? There are so many similar ones. I find that I get some kind of slimy brown, very fine threaded, hair algae if I dose traces a bit to generous.

GSA usually means that either phophates or CO2 are on the low side. I would to up the phosphates a little. This should also boost the plant growth and neutralize too much chelated iron at the same time.

[Jeff1192]

I'll try to snap a pick later tonight once the kids are in bed. But it's definitely green because I pull it out with a brush a couple of times a week. It is very fine, almost whispy and it pulls off plants pretty easily.

I know for sure that my CO2 is good because my drop checker is always yellow/green.

Jeff

[dan2x38]

You know Jeff I was thinking what you said about the iron. I always believed the major cause of HA was high Fe. Looking in my CRS tank I am always pulling out HA and there are no ferts in there what so ever. It has an AC30 & AC50 both with carbon so traces are sucked out. Maybe there is something to the Fe being to low? You have me curious now.

[Jeff1192]

That's what I had always read too....low iron = hair algae.

But I was on Tom Barr's site the other day reading through algae posts and he said that it's not because of low iron.

Hmmmm....well I guess the next step in my experiment is bring the traces back up and see what happens....ahhh the joys of finding that magical balance......

I'll get there one day!

[dan2x38]

Hmmmm....well I guess the next step in my experiment is bring the traces back up and see what happens....ahhh the joys of finding that magical balance......

It can be a razors edge... it is part of the joy of keeping a planted tank. 

[Jeff1192]

So out of curiosity sake I blew the dust of my test kits and checked a couple of things

Nitrates were between 20 and 40ppm
Phosphates were 10ppm

I'm not a big fan of test kits because I'm not convinced that theyr'e overly accurate but it would appear that those 2 levels are fine (if not a little high) for EI dosing.

[charlie]

Hi Jeff, those #s from your test kit are a a bit high, but as you rightly said most hobby test kits are quite inaccurate & could be quite misleading, that said what is your lighting again ?( i know it`s here somewhere but lazy  ),i`m guessing 4x54 watt T5 with reflectors ??, is your fish showing any stress related to co2?

[Jeff1192]

You're right about the lighting. My fish aren't showing any stress from CO2. I set my level originally as you suggested. I slowly brought it down until I noticed some signs of stress from CO2 and then I brought it back up a bit. My drop checker is always a nice yellow/green (much more yellow) once the lights come on.

Jeff

[charlie]

You're right about the lighting. My fish aren't showing any stress from CO2. I set my level originally as you suggested. I slowly brought it down until I noticed some signs of stress from CO2 and then I brought it back up a bit. My drop checker is always a nice yellow/green (much more yellow) once the lights come on.

Jeff

This might be worth a try, can you kill one of the bulbs for a few weeks ( 3-4) & cut the dosing by 50% for the same duration to see if things settle down ?
I`m in the process of doing that now to try & get things under control in one of my tanks,due to a faulty timer which had a mind of it`s own, it was kicking off the co2 after 2 - 3 hrs on random days, before i picked up on it, Mr. algae started to show itself, needless to say the timer is somewhere else far from my place 

[dan2x38]

Jeff even if the kits are out that is a lot of PO4 they can't be that far off. Tom Barr discussions say pushing PO4 to 2ppm is high. Both kits couldn't be out that much? The NO3 seems high as well close to 40ppm is a lot should be near 10-20. I agree with Charlie about cutting back on the dosing. Even the lighting. In my breeder tanks I add nothing but water & food. I have hornwort & ploysperma floating with a little duckweed. I get GHA all the time so I think the lighting is the issue in those tanks. There is never any heavy metals (no trace) added.

After I cut back all my plants and redid my 38g tank I have had to be so careful traces of BBA started. I reduced EI dosing to 1/2 doses only 2 x week but did not cut back on the trace. Everything seems fine but a razor's edge balance. I treated the BBA with H2O2 it turned reddish and then vanished.

[dan2x38]

Jeff here is a link regarding algae (other plant artciles), http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm He says fe is not the cause of GHA check it out.

[Jeff1192]

Thanks Dan that was one of the places where I first found that Fe has nothing to do with hair algae. Then I found the same on Tom Barr's page and was convinced. 

I was actually planning on posting an update since testing and finding out that my Fe level was 0. I brought the traces back up this week and I'm getting better growth and much much less hair algae. So I'm wondering if it was a lack of traces causing the excess of the other nutrients? I'm gonna keep up with this plan for a couple of weeks and then if that fails my next plan is Charlie's, drop a light and lower ferts for a bit.

Jeff

[dan2x38]

Well Tom also said what Charlie did.    But I like your thinking too. I have increased my trace now that growth is kicking in after the reaquascaping. I was starting to see some discolouration and deformed leaves in a sword plant. There were a few holes too so added more K. What a fine line we walk.

[jart]

I hate to do it, but I have to agree with Charlie 
Light is perhaps one of the easiest variables we can decrease. Other than ferts. But quite often we end up decreasing ferts when ferts are not the cause of the algae at all.

I think you are on the right track by not changing too many things at once. But light might be the next thing to address.

Even though your drop checker says you have enough CO2... are you sure it is accurate?  Something to consider... Barr says more often than not, too low CO2 is the source of most problems, even when folks are sure that their CO2 is OK. Though I must admit, I'd be a bit cautious if my drop checker was already reading yellow.

[Jeff1192]

Actually the algae is all cleared up and has been good for a couple of weeks now. It was low micro nutrients. Once I brought them back up the hair algae slowly disappeared. My CO2 is definitely good. I'm using 4dkh solution for the water and I set it using Charlie's famous crank up the CO2 until the fish start to look sluggish then turn it down a bit. I'm sure I'm well over 30ppm.

Thanks for all the help with this guys.

[charlie]

Actually the algae is all cleared up and has been good for a couple of weeks now. It was low micro nutrients. Once I brought them back up the hair algae slowly disappeared. My CO2 is definitely good. I'm using 4dkh solution for the water and I set it using Charlie's famous crank up the CO2 until the fish start to look sluggish then turn it down a bit. I'm sure I'm well over 30ppm.

Thanks for all the help with this guys.

Actually that was taught to me by OVAS very own jetstream , he coined it the "Chinese drop checker" 
Good to hear all is well now Jeff.

[dan2x38]

I set the CO2 the same way but I was to slow to identify the sluggish behaviour and lost a Ram... but have them all replaced awhile ago. Jeff I started uping my trace and it even helped the trace of BBA - I had no hair algae at all. So all your algae issues are under control now?

[Jeff1192]

I am knocking on wood as I type this.....but yes.....what a great feeling to have finally balanced things out.

Jeff