Algae Problem

[Ormarr]

Setup:  75g planted tank with ~3wpg, pressurized CO2 setup with 25-30ppm of CO2 on a PH controller.  11 hours with lights on.  I dose dry ferts using EI method with recommended doses for 75g tanks.  Tank has only been setup for a little over a month (give or take a week).

The tank is quite heavily planted, and although I have good growth in general, hair algae seems to be out of control.  The rocks, driftwood and certain plants are beginning to get covered in the stuff and it keeps getting worse and worse.  What would the plant gurus recommend in this case?  Try to cut out all affected leaves?  This would probably leave me with a pretty sad looking tank at this point.  Suggestions?

Forgot to mention, the tank currently has 10 silvertipped tetras, 8 corys, 3 SAEs and 1 Blue Ram.  The tank's only filtration is an Eheim 2215.  Should I add another canister for mechanical filtration? 

Thanks.

[Glouglou]

 New tanks will probably go over period of , hair algae, Cyano and other crap.  With the establishment of the biological filter, the plants themselfs and by keeping your parameters in range you should see amelioration with time. Don't use chemicals as they will disturb the natural balance of your new tank.
Fish like Siamese algae-eaters (SAE's) and other fish and shrimps, maybe snails can help you in your battle (ask your local Pet guy (in a decent petshop where the guy know the difference between a gold fish and a Discus).

Patience...
What are your water parameters?

[Ormarr]

Water parameters are fine.  0 ammonia, 0 nitrites about 10ppm of nitrates, PH is at 6.4 according to my PH controller.

[fischkopp]

I second that: with a bit of patience the algea stuff eventually goes away on its own. You can support it a bit by removing big nasty clumps, but other than that there is not much to do.

Maybe reduce your EI dosing a bit (I think 10ppm nitrates are on the high side for a high tech tank) - these are no fix rules and may need adjusting accoring to a certain tank. Your tank may not be planted heavy enough to take up all the nutrients so that algea gets an advantage.

[dan2x38]

Would not call myself a plant guru by any stretch of the imagination. It is true a new tank might go through some algae issues that once established will calm down. IMO you do not have enough plants established meaning good root system, growing well with good uptake, etc. for EI dosing.

I have a very well established tank that was quite heavily planted. I broke down the tank to upgrade my substrate to include fluorite. Then rooted all my old plants with some new more demanding ones. Just after a month a started EI dosing. At first my plants flourished like mad. Shortly after 3-4 weeks hair algae started then BBA soon I was pruning and cutting back leaves & plants. I had to black-out the tank for 5 days and stop IE dosing. That was 2 months ago. I've slowly cut down my plants replanting the tops because of the die off. They are starting to root again. I caught things before a total plant wipe out. My plants are coming back but it is taking time. I will try again though because man were they starting to look great.

EI is an excellent method as far as I could tell but you need very well established plants with very heavy planting. Also maintaining stable CO2 levels. The real plant gurus will likely chime in soon...

[charlie]

Setup:  75g planted tank with ~3wpg, pressurized CO2 setup with 25-30ppm of CO2 on a PH controller.  11 hours with lights on.  I dose dry ferts using EI method with recommended doses for 75g tanks.  Tank has only been setup for a little over a month (give or take a week).

The tank is quite heavily planted, and although I have good growth in general, hair algae seems to be out of control.  The rocks, driftwood and certain plants are beginning to get covered in the stuff and it keeps getting worse and worse.  What would the plant gurus recommend in this case?  Try to cut out all affected leaves?  This would probably leave me with a pretty sad looking tank at this point.  Suggestions?

Forgot to mention, the tank currently has 10 silvertipped tetras, 8 corys, 3 SAEs and 1 Blue Ram.  The tank's only filtration is an Eheim 2215.  Should I add another canister for mechanical filtration? 

Thanks.

Ormarr , can you describe the algae or post a picture, how did you confirm it`s hair algae.
How did you arrive at your co2 saturation, if you are using the PH/KH reference your readings could be off, due to the driftwood in your tank.
How heavy is the tank planted ,you could probably do with some more circulation in the tank via a power head

[Ormarr]

There is a good possibility my tank isn't as "heavily planted" as I make it out to be.  I also recently uprooted and replanted most of the plants in order to catch some fish I wanted to get rid of.  The idea that not enough plants have yet rooted makes sense.

From this link http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm  I seem to have Cladophora, Green Dust Algae, hair algae, Oedogonium and Staghorn (or some combination).  I'll try to get some pictures up soon.

I will soon be adding a Fluval 405 to the Eheim 2215 I already have there.  That should help with the mechanical filtration, since I removed most the filter floss from my Eheim (the CO2 bubbles couldn't make it through).

[charlie]

There is a good possibility my tank isn't as "heavily planted" as I make it out to be.  I also recently uprooted and replanted most of the plants in order to catch some fish I wanted to get rid of.  The idea that not enough plants have yet rooted makes sense.

From this link http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm  I seem to have Cladophora, Green Dust Algae, hair algae, Oedogonium and Staghorn (or some combination).  I'll try to get some pictures up soon.

Ormarr from what you have described( algae)  & the link you provided + your past co2 troubles, the answers to you algae woes seem to be low co2 levels,as i stated in my first reply The KH/PH charts could be very misleading & i`m assuming this is what you are using ( from you other post)  to gauge your co2 levels .It also tells you that in the link , so i would suggest you bypass the ph controller & follow the 1 ph drop as described in the link you posted.

I will soon be adding a Fluval 405 to the Eheim 2215 I already have there.  That should help with the mechanical filtration, since I removed most the filter floss from my Eheim (the CO2 bubbles couldn't make it through).

The idea of using your canister filter as a co2 reactor , is not for the bubbles to pass through , but to dissolve the co2 gas in the water, so the longer the bubbles take to travel through the filter the more dissolved the gas is .
Regards

[Ormarr]

I recently bought http://www.bigalsonline.ca/StoreCatalog/ctl3664/cp18056/si1317851/cl1/red_sea_co2_indicator?&query=CO2+indicator&queryType=0&offset=
and it is green (which should indicate sufficient CO2).  I will try the one PH drop method as well.

I haven't really been following the PH/KH chart.  I've let my PH drop to 6.2 in my tank, which would indicate ~57ppm of CO2 and none of the fish have been showing signs of elevated CO2 levels.

Should I replace the filter floss I removed from my Eheim 2215 then?

Thanks.

[charlie]

I recently bought http://www.bigalsonline.ca/StoreCatalog/ctl3664/cp18056/si1317851/cl1/red_sea_co2_indicator?&query=CO2+indicator&queryType=0&offset=
and it is green (which should indicate sufficient CO2).  I will try the one PH drop method as well.

I haven't really been following the PH/KH chart.  I've let my PH drop to 6.2 in my tank, which would indicate ~57ppm of CO2 and none of the fish have been showing signs of elevated CO2 levels.

Should I replace the filter floss I removed from my Eheim 2215 then?

Thanks.

That indicator is just as bad , for it to be accurate the water in the bulb need to be a reference of 4 Dkh , use the over night 1 PH drop test it will tell you the story ( you need to aerate the water overnight) & again loose the PH controller

[jetstream]

For the hair algae, I did an experiement lately, there's a chance the problem is a combination of CO2 and Nitrate. For the other kind of algae, maybe your other macros are on the low side!

Don't 100% trust your test kits, just change 1 parameter at a time and be patience. The plants and the algae will tell you are winning the battle or not! 

[Ormarr]

Well, I let a cup of water out for 24 hours or so and got a PH difference of 0.8-0.9 (which means?)  CO2 seems to be fine, maybe I need more fast growing plants.  I'll turn off half of my lights until then.  What would be good (easy to find) fast growing plants?

Thanks.

[Glouglou]

Omarr, remember that the indicator you have when filled with a 4dkh solution with 3 or 4 drops of the indicator (that can be replace with inexpensive ph indicator) are the indicator of choice of many people out there. No fuss, accurate for months.

[dan2x38]

Well, I let a cup of water out for 24 hours or so and got a PH difference of 0.8-0.9 (which means?)  CO2 seems to be fine, maybe I need more fast growing plants.  I'll turn off half of my lights until then.  What would be good (easy to find) fast growing plants?

Thanks.

I can give you some clippings of hornwort... it grows like crazy and floats... I have it balancing things until I am 110% sue my plants are doing very well. Also can give you a few clippings of water sprite another good plant to grow fast until the others take hold...

[Ormarr]

Sounds good.  I'll send you a pm about it.

Thanks.

[BigDaddy]

EI dosing is for heavily planted lightly stocked tanks.  If you aren't heavily planted, or you do have a heavy bioload, adjustments have to be made.

You indicated you had to uproot all your plants to get at some fish.  This would cause transplant shock in many of them and as such they won't be using avaialble nutrients for a few days.

Cutting your dosing a bit until you have a heavier plant load where you can see good growth occuring wouldn't be a bad idea.

[Ormarr]

Thanks.  I figured as much and have been doing so for the past few days.  I also added a Fluval 405 for extra mechanical filtration.  It has helped clear up my water.

[dan2x38]

It has been several weeks since I've even used EI dosing. I clipped the tops of my plants. The lower leaves shed from algae coverage. Replanted the tops waiting for them all to root now. For me I think it will be a few more weeks yet before I use EI method. Been using Seachem liquid ferts. It is a tricky balance. I've also been adding full doses of Seachem Excel for past week to clean up rest of the algae.