Hair algae

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cplawrence

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Mar 9, 2005
Messages
224
Location
Grand Rapids, MI
I have a 75 gallon tank with 130W PC lighting. The tank does not use CO2 and currently has been housing slower growing plants (crypts, java ferns, and anubias). The plants had been doing fairly well, but recently I have had what I believe is hair algae growing on them (based on pictures I have seen). Searching through threads here the discussion focused on CO2 levels. However, with the lighting I am using, I was under the impression that CO2 dosing would not be necessary to control algae and at least for the time being, I was purposely avoiding that leap. I also have not been fertilizing other than by feeding my fish as the nitrate levels have been consistently in the 10-20 ppm range without my intervention. That being said, what would you suggest for this issue?
Thanks for your help,
Chris
 
CF lighting provides more light than NO Flourescents. As a result you are probably running solidly in medium light levels and right on the edge of needing CO2.

Do you have a Phosphate test kit? If so, what are your Phosphate levels? You mentioned that you aren't dosing Nitrates, are you dosing any other ferts? Are your plants showing any signs of nutrient deficiencies?
 
I do not have a phosphate kit and have not been using any ferts. Short of this algae problem, the plants have doing fairly well (from the perspective of an untrained eye). The crypts have grown to much larger than their original size and I see the anubias and ferns with new leaves sprouting from time to time.
The fixture I had purchased would run 4 bulbs for a total of 260W. However, I have currently been running only two in order to convince myself that I can indeed keep simple plants alive and would like to convert over to CO2 injection and high light, but that is sometime off right now. That being said, I see three options:
1) Toss the plants and go back to my 40W strip light and plastic plants.
2) Rectify the situation so that the plants can out-compete the algae.
a) The tank is only lightly planted. Would increasing the density of plants possibly help with this problem?
b) As I understand both DIY CO2 and Excel are unfeasible for a 75 gal tank. However, would it be necessary to get CO2 (or Excel dosing) levels as high as in a high light tank? If not, would one of these two ideas be more of an option?
3) Find something to eat the algae.

What do you suggest?
Thanks again,
Chris
 
The algae is more than likely being caused by a nutrient imbalance, especially since you aren't dosing any ferts. A phosphate test kit is very important for a planted tank, and essential once you go high light. I would recommend picking up one now as it will make getting your tank back in balance much easier.

I would recommend picking up the following ferts from www.GregWatson.com.
CSM+B Plantex (Trace Mix)
KNO3 (Nitrates and some Potassium)
KH2PO4 (Phosphates)
K2SO4 (Potassium)

For the size tank you have these will be the most economical way to dose ferts in your tank. I suspect that once you start dosing Phosphates and Potassium, your Nitrate usage will increase significantly. You want to maintain a 10-20ppm Nitrate to 1ppm Phosphate ratio, and Potassium should be dosed at least 10ppm twice a week.

Once you get your ferts in balance, it will be easier to tell wether or not CO2 is a necessity with the amount of light over your tank. It would definately be beneficial and make fighting algae much simpler.

Surprisingly enough many people report that it is much easier to take care of a High light tank than a Medium Light tank. Probably in large part due to people trying to treat them like low light tanks, when the care needed may be closer to having a high light tank.

If you want to make things easier for yourself without plunging into high light, I would suggest either cutting back to one bulb or replacing one of the two bulbs with a 50/50 bulb. This would still give you enough light for plants but would make your tank more low light and easier to care for. Especially since all the plants you have listed as being in your tank will do well in low light.

You probably wouldn't need to get CO2 levels as high for a medium light tank, but you would want to make sure that they were consistant. This would be extremely difficult to achieve with DIY CO2 especially on that size tank. I would probably be easier to use Excel, but also could get expensive rather quickly.

There are shrimp, snails, and fish that eat algae. Most will only help keep a mild outbreak in check. If you are going to use them you should still try to get your nutrient levels balanced, otherwise the algae may become so bad that they can't keep up.
 
Purrbox said:
Surprisingly enough many people report that it is much easier to take care of a High light tank than a Medium Light tank. Probably in large part due to people trying to treat them like low light tanks, when the care needed may be closer to having a high light tank.

Well, you hit the nail on the head in that respect. I went under 2 wpg with the notion that it was sufficiently low to not require CO2 but high enough to give a bit more flexibility in terms of what I'm keeping. I will pick up a phosphate kit and go from there. Thanks again for the help.
Chris
 
Purrbox, i notice that those combinations of ferts from greg watson are very popular among the high light guys. how exactly do you does them? do you dilute them in water and then pour it into your aquarium? or do you make dry tablets that go in the substrate ? also, do dose them all in one solution or one at a time? i am considering picking up those ferts as they seem a lot cheaper than flourish, etc. i just hope they are as easy to handle and dose.
i also notice that you do not include magnesium sulfate in your shopping list. on watson's site he says this is part of the pmdd.. do you find it unneccesary?
 
You can mix the dry ferts in a solution or dry dose them directly in the tank. Whether you make a solution first or not, it is best to disolve the ferts before adding them to the tank. When dry dosing you can take a small cup of water from the tank, add the ferts to the cup and stir until dissolved, then add the water back into the tank. I have such small tanks that it is easiest to just make a solution for everything.

You can also use dry ferts to make your own plant tabs. These would be used in addition to dosing the water column, under heavy root feeding plants. I've never made them myself, so I don't know all the specifics.

It's best to make a separate solution for each fert. That way you can easily adjust your dosing levels if your plants start showing a nutrient deficiency.

I find that other than initially determining how concentrated to make the solutions, dry ferts are just as easy to use as Flourish. You can download Chuck's Planted Aquarium Calculator to help you to determine the best concentrations for your tanks.

You would only need to add magnesium sulfate if your tap water has insufficient levels or you were using RO water. In most cases it's going to be unnecessary. This is part of why PMDD are passing out of favor. They only work well if they happen to be the correct ratios for your tank, otherwise your tank is going to end up with a nutrient imbalance.
 
So, I finally managed to pick up the phosphate test--low, but not zero (can't exactly tell the difference between 0.25 and 0.5....) I went ahead and ordered ferts and have since bumped up my phosphate and nitrate--thanks for the suggestions.
Chris
 
I just started using Excel in my 75 gallon tank. Going according to directions a 2 liter bottle of Excel should last me close to a yr. Not bad for $30, I know the owner of an LFS so he gives me deals normally it runs $50 at his store. But I've seen 2 liter bottles online for $25-$30 with shipping.. You could even buy a 4 liter bottle don't know the price on that.
 
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