Hair Algea Help

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jllapin

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jun 5, 2012
Messages
25
Hi, I've been running a new planted aquarium for about 2 months. The hair algea in it got really bad so I added co2 a couple weeks ago and it almost completely disappeared. It has started to come back pretty strong. According to my glass drop checker my co2 levels are at the high end of ideal, I run it from 9AM to 6PM then an air pump from 10PM to 6AM. My light is a 24x7 that I can't adjust the schedule on. I dose flourish advance every day and iron 3x a week. I do 20% water changes weekly. Other than reducing feeding anything else I should try?
 
Hi, I've been running a new planted aquarium for about 2 months. The hair algea in it got really bad so I added co2 a couple weeks ago and it almost completely disappeared. It has started to come back pretty strong. According to my glass drop checker my co2 levels are at the high end of ideal, I run it from 9AM to 6PM then an air pump from 10PM to 6AM. My light is a 24x7 that I can't adjust the schedule on. I dose flourish advance every day and iron 3x a week. I do 20% water changes weekly. Other than reducing feeding anything else I should try?

Cut lights back to 5 hours a day max.
Increase water changes to 50% + weekly.
Clean filters once a week in old tank water.
Remove all decaying plant material, dying plants and organic waste.
Manual remove all algae.
Dose Flourish Excel at it's "after water change" rate 1 time per day, every day.

Ensure pH is dropping a full 1.0 from using CO2. Measure pH before CO2 comes on, then measure again when it is at it's peak concentration (mid - late in the photoperiod). If it is less than a full 1.0 drop, increase CO2. You can go up to a 1.3 drop in pH, but that is on the high side. I drop mine 1.2.

You are dosing only Iron, the Flourish Advance is not a fertilizer. I believe it is an amino acid supplement for plants?
You should start dosing a complete fertilizer package to ensure your plants are not starving for nutrients. Strong light + CO2 = fast plant growth. You need to supply the plants with nutrients to feed the growth speed. Unhealthy plants are giant algae magnets.

I hope this helps.
 
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