hair type algae invading my tank!!!!!

[matthewsmith1983]

Hey guys I'm pretty new to planted tanks but up to now I've been having success, however now I'm getting this hair algae invading all my plants!.

Does anybody have experience of this and how I could possibly correct it as its becoming an eyesore :-(

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks.

Oooo sorry the tank has been up and running for around four and a half months. It has five skunk Cory, two peppered Cory, one Rafael catfish, three zebra loaches, six congos, one male and one female bosemani rainbowfish and six madagascan rainbows. Its at the limit with fish, possibly slightly overstocked but I do around 25/30 percent water change every week and have 1 death so far which was a skunk cory :-(

Its a 200l tank. I dose with flourish excel as stated on bottle and my plants are growing pretty well.

All levels of Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are fine and ph stays around 7.0.

All my fish even in other tanks are feed new era food except for my dwarf puffers.

I have two standard t5 tubes and that seems to be doing the trick. No co2 injection either.

I hope this is enough info for you guys to help out thanks.

Oh and could somebody tell me what the purple leafed plant is?. I bought it a few days ago and I think its lovely!.

Substrate is aquabasis with manado substrate on top.

Thanks

Matt

 

[mohican]

Nice looking set-up. Just to throw this out there, but by the looks you may need to bump up your CO2 involvement. Your tank may be telling you that it met the requirements you gave it, but based on your lighting alone, you may need more CO2. Do you dose any ferts? Are your bulbs just standard T5 and not T5HO? Whats your photoperiod?

 

[matthewsmith1983]

Hey mohican thanks for reply. Sorry I made a boo boo I have just realised there not t5 bulbs lol, they are t8 pros so pretty much a low tech setup.

I do a standard day night cycle of 14hrs on 10hrs off and its worked well up until recently :-(

I dose with flourish excel and that's it!. 5ml a day as stated on bottle.

But obviously this algae is thriving as well as the plants under these conditions :-(

I had some diatoms initially and added 4 otos which I forgot to mention and they cleared the diatoms up a treat and still have fat bellies, but now this has happened arrrgggggghhhhhh lol!.

 

[goodogcarl]

i don't know my way around this site very well. can someone point me in the direction of an article on CO2?

matthewsmith1983: what is that plant in the foreground of the upper right-hand photo? it's beautiful.

 

[matthewsmith1983]

Hey Carl sorry dude I don't know what that plant is called. My missus calls it the pretty purple plant lol. Its green on the other side of it!. I got it from my lfs but haven't had chance to go check the name of it. I've got more of it in my dwarf puffer tank as it grows really well!.

 

[Earlgrey23]

I'd only offer that it seems like a long day cycle. Mine is only on for 8 hours and I've never gotten algae like that. Also, shrimp and or some snails may clean it up for you without to many changes.

 

[matthewsmith1983]

I was contemplating lowering the light cycle however I worry whether the fish would get enough oxygen as I don't use an air pump so when i turn the lights out the plants are gonna reverse there cycle. I just create a little ripple on the surface to stop a surface film occuring. Anymore advice is greatly appreciated. I might try the shrimp though!. Would my talking catfish eat them though?.

 

[Earlgrey23]

I was contemplating lowering the light cycle however I worry whether the fish would get enough oxygen as I don't use an air pump so when i turn the lights out the plants are gonna reverse there cycle. I just create a little ripple on the surface to stop a surface film occuring. Anymore advice is greatly appreciated. I might try the shrimp though!. Would my talking catfish eat them though?.

I have a 30G with 14 fish, 3 snails and I think a shrimp or two. My boesmani rainbow got big and ate my RCS. and I haven't had any issues with oxygen. I have two huge brasilian swords, some java fern and a bunch of Myrio red. Everyone seems to do very well. My tank when full has the filter creating a swift current on the surface or when low a nice cascade which my glass cats love. But I don't do anything more then that.

 

[matthewsmith1983]

Cheers earl that makes me feel slightly better. Anyone else worry about their fish getting enough oxygen on a lowlights cycle?.

I shall considerror maybe dropping to ten hrs first and maybe add two or three shrimp!. Any ideas on what shrimp as I'm not up on them very much :-/

 

[Earlgrey23]

Cheers earl that makes me feel slightly better. Anyone else worry about their fish getting enough oxygen on a lowlights cycle?.

I shall considerror maybe dropping to ten hrs first and maybe add two or three shrimp!. Any ideas on what shrimp as I'm not up on them very much :-/

Red Cherry Shrimp are great! clean plants and substrate.

 

[matthewsmith1983]

I do like rcs but am afraid they might get eaten :-( and there quite expensive at my lfs in Birmingham England so don't know whether to risk it especially as I have a bosemani in there!. What about slightly larger species of shrimp?.

 

[mohican]

Well a 14hr photoperiod is way to long for a planted tank believe it or not. Lights should only be on for about 8-9 hrs. Plants can begin to photosynthesize rather instant rather algae needs long light duration to thrive. Another lighting option for you is to put your lights on a "siesta" period which is the same 8-9 hr period; only split in half. Maybe lights be on for about 4 hrs in morning and 4 hrs in the evening. This gives the plants first "dibs" at the available nutrients and leaves little to none for algae.
Now for your oxygen concern, none to worry. Moving water caused by your filter will create enough oxygen for your fish. Air stones really aren't necessary at all in aquariums and especially not desired for high-tech set-ups as it can deplete CO2 levels. Having said that, I doubt the CO2 level used by excel will be compromised by an airstone so your probably OK there. Your plants help fish and your fish help your plants; its a cycle that needs to be in sync.

 

[Billbug68]

Like everyone has said, you really do need to cut your photoperiod and start cleaning out the hair algae. Most people say 8 hours is the sweet spot, but I only run mine 6 just to be safe. I had a massive hair algae bloom a while back as well, it's a real pain. On top of reducing your photoperiod, you can try spot treating the hair algae with excel and a syringe. Clean out your filter more often and extra water changes will help when battling algae. If there are any leaves beyond saving, just trim them off and discard. Good luck, that stuff will kill plants if not taken care of quickly.

 

[Rivercats]

Until you get your hair algae under control you need to drop your lights down to 6 hours. After you get the problem under control slowly increase your time up to 8 hours but stop increasing if you begin getting it again. Next cut down your feeding. This often aids in excess nutrients in the tank which helps feed algae. Do you have alot of plants? If so you may need to slowly increase the amount of Excel you use daily. It even states on the bottle that dosage can be increased if tanks have heavy plant growth or are high light tanks. Excel is a liquid carbon and isn't "gassed" off as pressurized or DIY CO2 is due to high aeration. Also increasing water flow/circulation in your tank helps deter hair algae. You also need to be using fertilizers along with the Excel. In order to obtain a balanced tank with little to no algae you have to reach a balance between your light, ferts, and liquid carbon or CO2. When a tank is out of balance algae outbreaks occur. You also need to be doing 50% WC's weekly. If you don't have alot of plants you can dose something like Flourish Comprehensive weekly after WC's. Also plants such as swords and crypts benefit from root tabs. So IMO you need to lower your light period, increase water flow/circulation, possibly increase (slowly) your Excel, get on a routine fertilizing regime, and doing 50% WC's weekly. And I have to ask are you sure it's hair algae and not Black or Green beard algae?

 

[matthewsmith1983]

Wow cheers guys. I like the idea of a siesta period of 4 in the morning and 4 at night so I will definitely do that now you have all eased my worry of fish and oxygen!. I will slowly increase my dose of ferts too and leave the filter rippling a slight surface movement.

I'm not sure whether it's bba or not :-( it looks possible on the anubias so I might do some concentrated doses of excel on it and see what happens as I heard that can kill the stuff

Planted tanks are so awesome man as you're not just keeping fish, you're keeping a whole biological setup and it still amazes me when you start going deep into it

Either way it has not detered me from the quest of a perfectly planted tank!!!!. I will win in the battle hopefully lol.

 

[matthewsmith1983]

The tank is quite heavily planted too. I do have an airpump rivercat so do you think its worth using for a while then? It is a powerful one but I can adjust the amount of air with a little air flow adjuster I have but can't remember what its called!.