I need some help with a Hair Algae problem

[Macrosill]

I am gettin hair algae. Here are my tank parameters:
110 watt pc lts. about 14.5 lumens/sq in
ph 6.9
kh 4
gh 6
Co2 about 19ppm
Nitrate 20-40 ppm
Phosphate 1.5
Dose Potassium 15-20 ppm twice weekly
Dosed Plantex CSM+B every other day 15ml of 1 tbls in 500ml solution

It is a 55 gal tank. I think the problem may be low Co2. I have a modified emporer 400, biowheels taken out and the spray bars are removed with tubing installed to flow directly into the tank. Virtually no splash or bubbles. I also have a AC 402 powerhead on its lowest flow in the opposite corner of the tank.

I have noticed lately that the nitrates and Phosphates are not being used. The levels seem to be staying constant without dosing. I suspect the Co2 level may have something to do with it. I do see the plants growing like crazy though. Another possability may be a bad nitrate test kit. I am going to purchase another one just to confirm my readings.

My bubble rate is already higher than the normal 2 bubbles/sec. Any ideas how I can up my Co2 saturation?

Any ideas or help is greately appretiated.
TIA,

 

[malkore]

i wouldn't say 2bps for a bubble rate is 'normal'. bubble rate is only helpful for determining if you're turning up the flow a lot or a little (or turning it down).
In other words, a 10% increase in bubble rate doesn't equal a 10% increase in CO2 levels. If only it were that easy.


your nitrates are definitely on the high side. when you say 'hair algae' are these long threads of algae, several inches long, or short bushy algae, around 1/4" long and very dense?

at only 2wpg, your 15ppm of CO2 isn't that terribly low. I do agree it could come up a bit, but I don't think its teh only area to blame.

Do you do weekly 50% water changes to reset everything? What kind of fish? (specifically I wonder if you keep messy fish, like cichlids)

 

[Macrosill]

The algae is aroung 1/4 in long and dense as you describe. I do do weekly pwc around 50%. It is hard to say exactly how big the pwc is, I use a python. I take the water level down to about half way. I just did a big one yesterday. The tank has 12 Neon Tetras, 2 Dwarf gouramis and 4 GBR's.

You saw the algae and the cichlids. Wait a minute is there a hidden camera somewhere over here?
Thanks, Once again Malkore to the rescue.

 

[malkore]

No...i keep cichlids in my tank, and know how messy they are. I rarely dose KNO3

the algae you describe sounds like beard algae. increased CO2 will definitely hinder its growth.

I'd do another big water change tomorrow just to get your levels down a bit more. then get the cO2 back up.

beard algae is hard to manually remove. I tend to recommend a 60 second dip in a bleach solution - 1part bleach, 19 parts water. you should see the algae turn white after doing this. it'll die and fall off. the plants will look beat up for a couple weeks, but it'll do the trick.


I feel beard algae comes on when there's too much phosphate available. your tank seems ok now, but its possible it was higher previously. BBA is very persistent once it gains a foot hold, and can take a while to fade unless 'helped'.

 

[Macrosill]

It actually looks more like this:

Not thick like this:

So I need to take out all the plants and dip them in the bleach solution for 60 seconds. Then I assume rinse them off in old tank water? Then "replant" them. I guess I will need to dip all the equipment in the tank as well?

Thanks

 

[Macrosill]

So here is what I have done thus far. I did a 50 % pwc as advised by malkore. I also upped my Co2 and I shortened the amount of time my lights are on from 12 hrs to 10 hours daily. I now have the following parameters.
ph 6.6
kh 4
Co2 about 30ppm
gh 6
phosphates .5
nitrates 10
ammonia 0
nitrites 0

I have not dosed anything since tuesday night. I still see daily growth that is overwhelming. I will need to do trimmings every few days, at this rate. I have held off on the bleach dip until I heard back from malkore, not sure if the advice will change since I posted the pics above.

Thanks again,
Brian

 

[czcz]

I'd call the first linked pic "fuzz algae" fwiw, and it can be beat by tweaking CO2 and nutrients. It looks like 30ppm CO2 is driving up your uptake. This is good, but suggest you continue dosing to maintain 1.5ppm P and 20ppm N per your first post. IME its better to not starve the plants when tackling algae.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

I had the same type of algae, the only way i beat it was getting 5 SAE haha... FWIW

 

[malkore]

one thing to keep in mind is that algae takes exponentially longer to fade away on its own than it did to appear in the first place.

Your phosphates are a little low, keep them around 1ppm. nitrates are fine. dose 10ppm potassium, and a little trace fert.

to get a better handle on fert dosing, you might wanna google for Tom Barr's Estimative Index

its a less rigorous way of dosing ferts and resetting every week with large water changes. This way you reduce the amount of testing you do, and just assume all is well until you see problems.