cbster
03-08-2004, 6:32 PM
Well I have hair or thread algae growing just about everywhere now and i was just wondering how to get rid of it. i dose flourish twice a week is that too much? I was dosing flourish iron but quite that when it started to grow PH=6.9, KH=6, CO2=22.7, ammonia=0, nitrite=0, nitrate=5-10 ppm (dose kno3). do 50% water changes weekly. any suggestion will be appreciated.
Someone else just posted a similar problem.
This is a common problem in newly set up tanks.
What else are you dosing besides Traces? The plants need a balanced nutrient regimen to thrive.
Clean it up as it appears and feed them so that they can eventually overcome the algae. This will be easier as the tank matures, but must be dealt with early on.
Len
I feel for you. I think I may have set a record during my thread algae stage. I had strands that were 3+ feet long. It completely overran my tank. At that time, I was losing the battle against many different forms of algae. After about a month and a half of going back and forth, I finally took a huge step back and stopped dosing ferts all together in an attempt to deplete my water of the nutrients that were feeding the algae. (I was also having CO2 isssues) Most of my plants died off with the exception of my ferns, anubias, some swords, and bacopa carolina. I think I brought the problems upon myself though. I have a very similar system to you, with the milwaulkie regulator set up and S122 ph controller. I thought that since I was so high tech that I could just jump into heavy fertilization right from the get go. Ultimately, I was wrong. Instead of watching my plants take off like weeds...I watched the algae go nuts. I'm assuming that your tank is relatively new. Every new tank is going to have "break -in" issues. It may be that your substrate needs to mature a little bit or simply that your plants need time to take hold and settle in before they start absorbing all those nutrients that you are adding to the water. You must remember that whatever the plants don't use, will just stay in the water building up. That's why water changes are so important in high tech CO2 set ups. Eventually, the algae will proliferate. From what I have read, thread algae is caused by excess iron. So stopping the iron suppliment was a good move. Flourish also has iron in it...you may want to ease back on it also. I'm not saying to do what I did and stop everything all together...as I had other problems. Just do your best to keep a close eye on you water parameters. With CO2 injection, you really have to keep up with the fertilizer balance. The plants' growth can be stopped due to the absence of just one nutrient. I see you are dosing NO3. Are you dosing potassium? What is your PO4 level? N, P, and K are the key players. Make sure they are all adequately available. So long as the plants aren't growing, the algae won't have a competitor to snuff it out.
Bottom line....you have to be patient and persistant. New tanks take time to mature. Having all the bells and wistles will help this, but may still take a little while to get going (often creating bigger problems in the beginning if not careful). Don't be discouraged. Keep up with your water changes and if you need some more test kits, (PO4, etc) invest in some. Eventually, you will know what your tank uses and what and how much will need to be fertilized each week.
If it's any consolation, my tank has been up and running for 7 months now. My algae is completely under control and I have added plants back into the tank. Everything is going well, I have been dosing ferts with no negative results. I have come to love my tank and I'm sure in time you will enjoy yours just as much.