Diatoms & hair algae

[TML182]

Hey, so my tanks been set up for almost a year now and been doing great. I'm now noticing quiet a bit of brown algae (diatoms) on the leafs of my plants over the last couple of weeks. And just a few days ago saw some hair algae. Ive cut down on feedings and put in a phosphate pad in my canister filter but nothings helped yet. Any ideas on how to get the two types of algae under control?
Thanks in advance!

 

[daileene]

Do you have CO2? Some used Seachem Excel, but some here might have more suggestions. I have the same problem with my 4.4G amongst other things (unwanted snail and worms population)

 

[TML182]

No im not dosing co2, I wish lol, and I'm using API leaf zone and occasionally exel for the plants.

 

[daileene]

hmmmm....i wonder why it they just came out now then....well, I hope more experts will chime in and we can both learn at the same time.

 

[BigJim]

How much light do you have on the tank and how long do you leave them on? I have hair algae issues in my 40B where I've got 80W of light and no CO2, and in my 29g on java ferns directly under the light. The 40B really needs CO2. The 29g just started showing hair algae after I removed some fish.

 

[TML182]

I got about 2 watts per gallon running now over the tank with 8 plants in the tank. I leave the lights on a timer set for 9 hours a day is that to much?

 

[BigJim]

You're right on the cusp of needing CO2 injection. Do you use fertilizer?

 

[TML182]

Yah I do use fertilizers, I have root tabs under the root feeding plants, I was also dosing API leaf zone but read online that it may have in balance in some of the nutrients that could cause algae so I've switched to dosing excel every two days.

 

[BigJim]

If the root tabs are buried well, they shouldn't be a problem. Did you notice an increase in algae when you stopped dosing the Leaf Zone?

 

[TML182]

Its only been about a week since I stopped dosing the leaf zone so its hard to tell if there's been any more or less growth as of yet

 

[TML182]

Heres a pic of the worst leaf in my tank at the moment all the others have varying degrees of algae but this ones the worst.

 

[BigJim]

What is your typical nitrate reading? Do you have a phosphate test kit? It's possible your plants are using up all the nitrates or phosphates. I should have new phosphate and nitrate test kits waiting for me when I get home tonight. I'm hoping to diagnose my hair algae issues in my 40B. I'll let you know if I find anything.

To be honest, my only tank that I have very minimal algae in is my high-light tank with pressurized CO2 injection and PPS Pro fert dosing.

 

[TML182]

My usual nitrate reading are usually between 20 and 40 ppm. What should the nitrate levels be in a planted tank? And no I don't have a phosphate test right now but I'll try to go pick one up. Yah I figured there's always gonna be algae of some kind, just getting a little worried because some of the leaves are looking like there getting damaged because of the algae. Thanks for your help!

 

[BigJim]

20-40ppm of nitrate is more than enough. It's actually more than I like to see in any of my tanks. At 2Wpg without CO2, it could easily be excess nitrates causing your algae issues.

 

[TML182]

How would you suggest removing those nitrates? More pwc?

 

[BigJim]

Yes, more PWCs would help. If you have nitrates in your tap water you have to do more frequent PWCs. I have no nitrates in my tap water and I do ~30% PWCs every week.

 

[TML182]

Yea I do 40% a week and can't seem to get those nitrates lower I'll test my tap water later and see if there's any in my local tap water thank you!