Bad luck after redo of tank

[tredd]

Well, it appears that I'm still not doing something right. After my bad bout of black algae in December, I decided to go out and get all the proper stuff I needed. I bleached my tank(90 GAL)/filters(Aquaclear 300, Fluval 4) and I resetup my tank with Flourite and gravel mix substrate. I added 2 more lights to the tank for 4X40W and 2X32W. Lights are on 10 hours. I added CO2 and am running about 2.5 bubbles per second. I am dosing 200ml of KNO3 for 20ppm once per week and dosing 5ml of Flourish twice per week. I just added the CO2 unit about a week ago, and since that time the black hair algae has started to flourish. I am getting very little green algae at all, I maybe have to clean the glass once every couple weeks. My levels are as follows:

Ammonia 0
PH 7.0
KH 60 mg/L or 3.4
GH 140 mg/L
Nitrate 3
Nitrite 0
Fe 0

Before the CO2 I was at a PH of 8 if that makes any difference.

Are there enough plants in here to outcompete the algae? I know my Iron levels aren't where they should be. Could this be causing the black algae? What can I use to dose Iron besides Seachem Iron? Are there any cheaper solutions? Any other ideas or suggestions on things I should be doing?

Thanks
Tim

 

[Skittyfish]

I'm bumping you up...

I've had a horrible outbreak too. I ended up bleaching and doing a complete 5 day blackout.

Do you dose Potassium? Phosphate?

I use Stump remover, fleet enema, flourish (just for the traces), and pure K2S04. I also add magnesium (epsom salts) because my water is so soft. I also dose 2-3 times per week, not just once.

Maybe someone else will help!!

 

[Richer]

I suspect that you may not have enough CO2 in your tank. Using this table, you can see that your CO2 concentration is hovering at around 10ppm. You want to shoot for a concentration of around 15-25ish. It looks like you are able to keep your nitrate levels at a decent rate, and your trace dosing should be ok.
Try increasing the amount of CO2 you inject into your tank, and remove any affect leaves/plants that have been hit with the black algae. Since it sounds like your tank is brand new, I would also look around for many more very fast growing plants. Pack your tank with those plants, keep your nutrient, and CO2 levels up, and after a few months (with fish in your tank along with the plants), your tank should be cycled, and you can safely remove the excess amount of plants and shape your tank as you see fit (that was an very overly simplified version of cycling a plant tank with fish in it, ask if you want more details).

HTH
-Richer

 

[Cearbhaill]

Water sprite has always helped me tremendously in this respect- keep enough that you have to trim it back every two weeks or so.

 

[tredd]

Removing plants

About 1/2 the plants in the aquarium already have the black hair algae growing on them. Should I be removing half the plants? Or should I just try increasing the CO2 levels leaving it in there?

 

[Richer]

The quickest way to rid yourself of the algae is to remove the plants... though if you want to tought it out you can. When I first started experimenting with plants, I found that black algae was the most difficult algae to get rid of.

If I were you, what I would do is this:
1.) Remove all affect plants/leaves.
2.) Plant as many fast growing/cheap plants that you can find. Literally pack the tank with as many plants as you can.
3.) Maintain high CO2 and nutrient levels and cycle your tank with a small amount of herbivores (algae eaters like otos, SAEs, C. japonica shrimp, etc.). Make sure you do not overstock... your tank is not cycled yet, and even a small amount of herbivores can cause a short ammonia spike. In general, ammonia spike = algae outbreak.
4.) During this time, trim the plants to prevent them from completely taking over your tank. If you want, trade the cuttings into your LFS for store credit... that should offset the amount of money it initially took to get all of your plants to begin with.
5.) After a month or two, slowly introduce your main fish stock (ie. your showfish). Again, do this slowly and carefully, avoiding any sudden large amount of fish additions. You want to avoid any ammonia spikes. Once again, in short, ammonia spike = algae outbreak.
6.) Wait a month or two after you are done with your stocking (all the while, trimming back your plants and trading them into your LFS for store credit to offset the cost of your initial investment).
7.) After the one or two month wait in time, you can begin to slowly remove your fast growers and replace them with whatever plants you want. As you remove your plants, you can once again trade them in for store credit (boy am I getting repetitive!). Once again, do this step slowly as most of your biological filtration is probably done by these plants and the bacteria residing on them. You want to give your filtration time to cope with the loss of bacterial colonies and plant filtration.

HTH
-Richer