Thread, Hair, Staghorn. Would love some input!

[Seeker_7]

I have algae. I have read and am following H2O2 dosing instructions to purge. It is working the MOST on the java moss tree, the rest is following slowly behind. I want to make sure tank is stable so it won't come back. Can any of you marvelous, much more experienced people see anything I need to change or tweak to keep it at bay once it is gone?
I am using excel daily per dosing instructions on the bottle. I am dosing Nitrate because I couldn't get it over zero without dosing. I do not have injected CO2 right now because I didn't think that was necessary with medium light and medium light plants. Am I wrong in that assumption? My return on my filter looked like a troll doll yesterday just COVERED all the way down the bar. I took that out and cleaned that with a LOT of elbow grease. My rooted in the sand plants have thread or staghorn and I'm not sure WHICH algae the moss tree has. Last week, my phosphates were 5.0 and my nitrate was 5.0. I read that high phosphates will encourage algae, so I got some phosguard for the filter (now I'm reading that is not what I should do and will take it out if necessary). Dosing nitrates and TRYING to get them up, but even with two or three cap fulls a day, it's still hovering between 5-10. Lighting is running for a couple of hours in the morning so I can see and check on things before I start my day and then it's off for several hours (4 or more hours for siesta period) and comes back on from 4:30-10:30 PM.

Here are tank stats:
65ish gallon tank (I think it is technically 62.5 based on measurements) Fully cycled and has only had fish for 2 months.
Ph: 7.6
Ammonia: .25 (usually lower not sure what's up. Dying algae?
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: Somewhere between 5-10 (That stupid color chart)
Phosphate: Last week was 5, this week 1 as explained.
GH: 4 or 71.6 PPM
KH: 5 or 89.5

Lighting is 2 of these bulbs:
Fluval 46" Life
Wattage: 54 W
Lumens: 4,300
Lux: 422
CRI: 6,700 K

Sand substrate
Plants: Tree made of java moss, moneywort, ludwigia repens, water wisteria, water sprite, giant micro sword, cardamine lyrata, dwarf sagittaria, hygro temple, marble queen radican sword and baby tears (NOT dwarf). Floating: Dwarf water lettuce and accidental duckweed. LOL

Fish and stuff:
I am 86% stocked according to aqadvisor: 3 mollies (a few fry in a breeder net), 12 neons, 7 cory, 6 oto, 5 danio, 10 nerite, 10 cherry red juvenile.

I feed once a day alternating flake food, pellets, freeze dried blood worms and algae wafers

 

[Old Scales]

OK you're on the right track but just not at the best levels yet.
1.Clean tank of as much algae as possible.
2.Get water back to baseline by doing either one 75% WC or 2 50% WC's, 1 per 24hrs.
3.Reduce lighting to 6 hrs a day for now.
4.Dose 60ml of Excel or 50:50 diluted Metricide14 or 30ml of pure Metricide EACH MORNING.
5.Test NO3 and PO4 on day three and day seven(WC day).
6.Dose NO3 enough to get you to 10ppm on day three and 30ppm on day seven.
7.Dose PO4 enough to get to 1ppm on day three and 3ppm on day seven.
8.Dose micros at recommended amount. No more.
9.Don't go overboard on root tabs. One every 6"x 6" square and just by your root feeders.
10.BE CONSISTENT. Dose every day, same time, lights consistent too.
11.Keep filter pads reasonably clean and vac half the gravel at each WC.
12. Test ALOT! But at least what I recommended. The more you test, the more you'll know exactly what's going on and the effect of your actions.
When I'm having issues with my tank, I'll test daily sometimes and sometimes I'll test right before and right after a WC. Also test your tap water so you know what you're working with at the start.
New tanks and new planted tank substrates like Eco and Flora Max tend to have more algae issues during the first 3 months. Seems things settle down after that.
My procedure listed is not a golden bullet but it's what I've found works pretty good. We all still get a little bit of GSA or GDA but at manageable levels. A tiny bit of algae shows that a tank has a healthy environment for plants and is not totally sterile.
Hope this helps. Use it as a starting point, then develop your own system that works for you and your unique tank. Good luck, OS.

 

[Seeker_7]

WOW! That's lots of fantastic info! Thanks so much! Am I correct in my thinking that I do not need CO2 in my tank with my lighting/plants? I am not opposed to it, I just don't want to dive in when it's not needed and mess it up worse.

 

[Old Scales]

At your light level, and species of plants, the Glut (Excel)should do well enough for you. Another side benefit of Glut is that it is a mild algaecide. You could do pressurized CO2 if you want to and your plants would do a little better but many gorgeous tanks in here using Glut only. I'd suggest going with your medium tech set up for awhile until you get more experience. OS.

 

[Rokuzachi]

I've beaten stag and BBA with glut in the past. If you keep a tight regiment with it, you'll see steady results.

 

[Seeker_7]

OK, following the advice above. I cleaned algae off everything I could. The plants, it won't come off of. It is all VERY bright red from the initial H2O2 dosing I did before posting this thread. Does that mean it is dead now or just in the process of dying? It still won't come off of the plants. I have some giant "microsword" that was hit especially hard. Can I just trim it back? I'm just going to trim my moss tree back. I do that anyway. I'm concerned about the grassy plants. Dwarf Sag and giant sword. I don't want to kill it. I don't know if those are safe to just lop the top off.

 

[ArtistGardener]

Like Old Scales said, remove as much as you can by hand, but let the rest be. As it dies, it will decompose and lift off with vacuuming (wiggle/wave the wand over the plants). I would resist doing too much pruning until your plants are more established. Since your tank is only a few months old, they are just starting out. Let the glut and water changes do their work. Good luck! I went through the same thing in my tanks when they were newish--and I also don't use CO2--it all stabilizes.