Green Hair Algae Question

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drfu

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jan 3, 2014
Messages
107
I have hair algae growing on the tops of my live plants and am wondering the cause and solution, it happened once before, i turned off the lights for a few days as well as dosed with Flourish Excel and it went away in a few days, now that its back i want to find a cause so i can come up with a permanent solution, some background on my system.

Hardware:
33 gallon long; ac50'& fluval 206; 24" t5 fixture with power glow 18k bulb (7 months old) running 8 hours daytime; 2 Current USA 10" LED 453 moonlights running 17 hours.

Livestock:
5 tetras, 3 bronze corys, 1 big clown loach, 2 otos, 2 cherry shrimp & various snails fed small pinch of flake in the am; pinch of sinking pellets & 1 algae wafer daily.

Water Chemestry:
Temp 73, Ph 7.6, no detectable Nh3, No2, Cu, Nitrates between 20-30, Gh 4, Alk 4, phosphate @ 5ppm. Weekly 33% water changes, nutrafin tap water conditioner & rodi waste water/rodi pure water.

The things that i am guessing, and they ate guesses are the following:
T8 bulb is too old and needs replacing?
LED moonlights ate on too long but i don't think atnics could grow algae?
Phosphates being too high?
Florush Excel creating the issue, not the cure?
Over feeding, i don't think i do but ?
Bad food?

Thanks in advance for all of your suggestions/help.
 
I'm gonna lean towards either overfeeding or old bulbs, as I'm currently experiencing the same problem as you, and those are my diagnoses. I'm currently running an old 10k power compact bulb as I decide which direction to go with lighting (I blew my 3 month old 6700k replacement somehow), and I'm having the same issue. It could also be overfeeding, which is another mistake I may have made. I added GBRs into the tank, and everything else was getting to the food before they could. So, I may have been a bit overzealous on the feeding until I figured out how to make sure they got some food too. Either way, I'm currently experiencing what you are, and those are the reasons I believe I'm having the same issue. I don't think LED moonlights would be a problem, and Excel would probably not be the issue either. Phosphates, I'm not sure about, and bad food would probably be highly unlikely, unless you feed frozen and it somehow spoiled.
 
When dealing with an algae problem only run lighting 6 hours daily until it's corrected. Next an 18K bulb has mostly blue spectrum which is pretty much utilized by algae. It's best to use bulbs from 6000K to 10K. Lower K bulbs may look dimmer to the human eye but have a good red and blue spectrum which is great for plants along with making red/pink plants and fish look much better. The higher the K rating the brighter the tank will look to the human eye but red/pinks are washed out looking. I suggest getting the proper bulb to start and limit photoperiod.

I would also test tap water (if you use any for nitrates and phosphates). You need to do larger weekly WC's to keep nutrient levels lower. Unless you have a lot of non-green plants you don't need a phosphate level of 5ppm. 1-3ppm is good. Nitrates at 10-20ppm.

Moon lights don't give off enough light to cause any problems but I would only run them a few hours at night for viewing. I have mine on a timer.
 
When dealing with an algae problem only run lighting 6 hours daily until it's corrected. Next an 18K bulb has mostly blue spectrum which is pretty much utilized by algae. It's best to use bulbs from 6000K to 10K. Lower K bulbs may look dimmer to the human eye but have a good red and blue spectrum which is great for plants along with making red/pink plants and fish look much better. The higher the K rating the brighter the tank will look to the human eye but red/pinks are washed out looking. I suggest getting the proper bulb to start and limit photoperiod.

I would also test tap water (if you use any for nitrates and phosphates). You need to do larger weekly WC's to keep nutrient levels lower. Unless you have a lot of non-green plants you don't need a phosphate level of 5ppm. 1-3ppm is good. Nitrates at 10-20ppm.

Moon lights don't give off enough light to cause any problems but I would only run them a few hours at night for viewing. I have mine on a timer.


Good tip on the Kelvin rating for the bulb, i should have thought of that, will replace. How long are bulbs usually good for until they cause issues?

My tap water has no detectable nitrates or phosphates, I use API for testing so why knows this those #%?! kits. Im just guessing my nitrates are around 30 before i do a wc but could be 10 for all i know. I just make sure it never goes to the first red color bar on the chart as that one is the 40 ppm and is easy to match. I use a combination of rodi pure water & waste water on my weekly water changes, tds levels are around 100 that i use for water and my tank tds is never over 150.

I did a 40% water change with pure rodi water yesterday which has 0 nitrates, phosphates & tds and when testing this morning i am guessing my nitrates are somewhere between 5-20?!! Phosphates are showing around 2, i will try and keep them there.

Does Seachem Flourish Excel add phosephates, i have read in a few forums that dosing with it will also kill algae and is good for plants as it adds Co2?
 
I'm gonna lean towards either overfeeding or old bulbs, as I'm currently experiencing the same problem as you, and those are my diagnoses. I'm currently running an old 10k power compact bulb as I decide which direction to go with lighting (I blew my 3 month old 6700k replacement somehow), and I'm having the same issue. It could also be overfeeding, which is another mistake I may have made. I added GBRs into the tank, and everything else was getting to the food before they could. So, I may have been a bit overzealous on the feeding until I figured out how to make sure they got some food too. Either way, I'm currently experiencing what you are, and those are the reasons I believe I'm having the same issue. I don't think LED moonlights would be a problem, and Excel would probably not be the issue either. Phosphates, I'm not sure about, and bad food would probably be highly unlikely, unless you feed frozen and it somehow spoiled.


I think i am going to try a 6500k bulb as well, i might talk to my lfs to see what they recommend for feeding my fish.
 
Dosing is a good thing as it aids in plant growth and photosynthesis but I suggest using a dose of 1ml Excel for every 2 gallons of water. I would also suggest getting a gallon of Metricide 14 on line which is about $20. It's twice the strength of Excel so if used straight from the bottle use half the dose above. Plus it's just so much cheaper to use. Liquid carbons do act as an algaecide but they will not at all keep it away if a tank is out of balance.
 
Dosing is a good thing as it aids in plant growth and photosynthesis but I suggest using a dose of 1ml Excel for every 2 gallons of water. I would also suggest getting a gallon of Metricide 14 on line which is about $20. It's twice the strength of Excel so if used straight from the bottle use half the dose above. Plus it's just so much cheaper to use. Liquid carbons do act as an algaecide but they will not at all keep it away if a tank is out of balance.


I will take a look for,it on line but from up in the great white north shipping/exchange rate may not be worth it.

I replaced my bulb, i was wrong, it was a life glo 6700K bulb but again, it was 7 months old so it was prob time anyways.

Thanks for hour help, im gone for a week so we shall see what i come back too!
 
Well I'm getting a bit frustrated now, still have green hair algae, also some bba is also starting up on some of my plants as well. I have replaced my T8 bulb with a new one, changed my lights on time to only 8 hours, their is no direct sunlight on the tank, cleaned both filters including the sponges, added filter floss to each filter, i even have done wc with pure rodi water to make sure their was no phosphates in my water to start with........what am i missing?
 
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