Hair algae help

[EDE]

I have a 55gal planted tank with 8 fish (ram and tetra). I have a Kessel and a Fluval light with a GLA CO2 system. I don’t have a lot of plant probably 10 or 12. I am counting on the fish to provide Nitrogen and I add a little activate P with some flourish Excel ( not much). I am doing weekly 50% water changes, but I still have hair algae taking my plants. My nitrates are elevated every week but I don’t know what else to do. I would welcome good advise. Thank you in advance.

 

[goatnad]

What plants do you have? How long are your lights on for? How much co2 are you injecting? What filtration do you use? As far as I know flourish excel doesn't cover all nutrients that are needed. You also need to add micro nutrients. In the end having algae is usually due to excess light or excess nutrients.

 

[EDE]

I put my lights on a timer and broke up the day into two two-hour periods. The excel is actually carbon and I don’t use that anymore. I’m using flourish iron and active is phosphorus. Like I said counting on fish for nitrogen. I have a canister fluval filter the 300gph I think. I agree the nitrates are the problem but I’m already doing 50% WC every week. I use the glass bubble thing to measure PH and just keep it the same color as the reference solution for the CO2.
Thanks for the reply.

 

[ZxC]

Algae is not caused by too much nutrients.

Algae is caused by too high of light intensity, too long of photo period, decaying organics releasing carbohydrates and ammonia (algae needs these to germinate) and struggling plants (perfect place for algae to take hold).

Flourish Excel is not a carbon source. It is a mild algaecide and dissinfectant that breaks down protein films on plant leaves allowing them to better utilize ambient CO2 levels, and "helps" kill off algae.

You are providing your tank with only Iron and Phosphate, not exactly everything a plant needs! What are your NO3 levels? It sounds like they are starting to become higher and out of control? If so, you will have loads of other compounds in the water than algae can thrive off of. How often are you cleaning your filters?

What exact lights do you have?
How long are they on for?
What is your water source? Do you know the gH / kH / pH of that water?
Running higher light requires a pH drop of at least 1.0 from using CO2. Drop checkers are virtually useless as they need to be bright yellow to achieve this amount of dissolved CO2.
How old is this tank?

 

[EDE]

ZxC

Okay let me try to reply to everything. First thank you for you response to my problem, I want to learn. The Flourish Excel bottle says that it is “Bioavailable Carbon for planted Aquariums”. I stopped using this product when I got my CO2 system a few months ago. I clean my filter every other week during water change. Cleaning is just cleaning bottom sponges in canister and replacing water. I use tap water that is treated with API water conditioner and aquarium salt (not much) and let stand in covered container for a week. My Kessel is the A160 WE Tuna Sun and a fluval LED bar light. I am down to 4hours now down from 6 hours. I was told I didn’t need to add nitrogen because I have fish. I was using Flourish Tabs but algae went crazy. I just started turning lights on for two hour then off for three than on again for two. By the end of the week my NO3 levels are in the 40 ppm area. After water change drop to 20 ppm. I agree they are the problem. I set this tank up for plants probably two years ago but haven’t been very successful. The plants grow really well but only the new leaves grow the older leaves get hair algae. I’m sure I forgot something but I’m willing to try anything that makes since.

 

[ZxC]

Okay let me try to reply to everything. First thank you for you response to my problem, I want to learn. The Flourish Excel bottle says that it is “Bioavailable Carbon for planted Aquariums”. I stopped using this product when I got my CO2 system a few months ago. I clean my filter every other week during water change. Cleaning is just cleaning bottom sponges in canister and replacing water. I use tap water that is treated with API water conditioner and aquarium salt (not much) and let stand in covered container for a week. My Kessel is the A160 WE Tuna Sun and a fluval LED bar light. I am down to 4hours now down from 6 hours. I was told I didn’t need to add nitrogen because I have fish. I was using Flourish Tabs but algae went crazy. I just started turning lights on for two hour then off for three than on again for two. By the end of the week my NO3 levels are in the 40 ppm area. After water change drop to 20 ppm. I agree they are the problem. I set this tank up for plants probably two years ago but haven’t been very successful. The plants grow really well but only the new leaves grow the older leaves get hair algae. I’m sure I forgot something but I’m willing to try anything that makes since.

That is a lot of light for your tank. Which Fluval LED bar is it?

Forget the aquarium salt, you are harming your plants by adding the salt.

Biologically produced NO3 is a lot different than NO3 we can dose via fertilizer. Lots of other "crud" will be produced along side NO3 if we let the bacteria / biologicals produce that much in a week. How much livestock do you have in the tank?

It sound like old tank syndrome where your organic levels are so high that NO3 creeps up very fast.

With dosing NO3, that is all we adding .... well NO3- and K+ but K+ is a macro nutrients plants need so it won't harm anything. No "extra" crud, no ammonia (algae spores thrive off ammonia, ammonia is the first product of the nitrogen cycle, NO3 is the "last") no other carbohydrates and sugars released from decaying plant matter... pure NO3 and that it. Make sense?

Keep using the Flourish Excel at it's max rate (water change rate) every day. It claims to be a carbon source, but it isn't. It's a mild algaecide / disinfectant with the main ingredient being glutaraldehyde.

I think you should start to gravel vac @ each water change to remove excess crud, clean the filters regularly (sounds like you are already ) but make sure to clean out everything, not just the sponges... in old tank water to not kill off any bacteria.

Continue with large water changes, they are the single best tool to overcome many issues and supply a consistent water source.

I think you should also be dosing fertilizers to ensure plants can grow healthy. You mention that old growth is dying / algae affected where as new growth is good. This is a tell tale sign, no doubt about it nutrient deficiency within the plants. They are cannibalizing old growth to feed new growth. If we supply the plants with what they need, they will not sacrifice old growth to feed new growth because we are supplying them with what they need to thrive.

Plant nutrients are as follows:

Macro Nutrients
NO3 - Nitrate nitrogen - KNO3 is best / cheapest source
PO4 - Phosphate phosphorous - KH2PO4 is best / cheapest source
K - Potassium - best / cheapest source is K2SO4

Secondary Nutrients:

Ca – Calcium – Best / cheapest source is tapwater and CaSO4
Mg – Magnesium – Best / cheapest source is tapwater and MgSO4
S – Sulfur – Best / cheapest source is any and all of the above fertilizers

Micro Nutrients:
Fe - Iron
Mn - Manganese
B - Boron
Zn - Zinc
Mo - Molybdenum
Cu - Copper
Ni - Nickel

CSM+B the cheapest source for the micro nutrients, but it can be improved. If your pH is above 6.5, use DTPA Iron 11% or a Fe gluconate product such as Flourish Iron.

You’ve got flourish tabs, which are overpriced and supply essentially nothing. If you want a better option, pick up some Osmocote+ granular fertilizer and some size 00 gel capsules. Fill the capsules up with the granular Osmocote+ fertilizer and you’ll have 1000 tabs of higher quality than a 40 pack of Flourish Tabs.

If you get these products on their own, we can modify a dosing regimen to suit your needs. If NO3 continues to be high, cut back on the KNO3 dosing for example.

A good starting point to target via dosing:

After a 50% water change:
20ppm NO3
3-6ppm PO4
20ppm K
15ppm Ca
7.5ppm Mg

And target 3-4 x weekly doses of 0.15 – 0.20 ppm Fe from CSM+B. Top up the Fe with DTPA 11% Fe or Seachem Flourish Iron if pH is above 6.5.
S will take care of itself from CaSO4 / MgSO4 / K2SO4.

Rotala Butterfly | Planted Aquarium Calculators & Information is a good starting point to figure out how much to dose to reach a certain ppm.

 

[EDE]

All that makes a lot of since. So I guess the lack of nutrients started my NO3 problems? I thought my substrate would provide some of these micro nutrients. I was trying to avoid all the additives, but I guess that’s not going to happen. I know that I have a lot of light, but I don’t turn the Kessel up very far. I am going to Blackout until I get the ferts and I will start adding Excel to combate algae in the meantime. Thank you again