Hair algae (I need help!)

A

andrew h

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Mar 19, 2005
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Ok, it's nothing new here I have a hair algae problem. I have been tring to find bits and pieces of information from other threads and have not got anything conclusive.
Here's the facts: This might be too much info? But, I always see the posts with min. info and following Q/A ensues, I figured i'd prempt the process. sorry in advance.

size: 90 gal
substrate: ecocomplete mixed with laterite 2.5" deep w/ a top layer of med gravel at 1.5"
filters: prime 20, and a prime 30 hagen canister filters ( I also have a vortex diatom I run for about 8 hours a week after water changes to clean any thing that might get stirred up but not vaccumed out. (no carbon in the filters).
UV sterilizer: 18 watt coralife (runs at night 12 hours)
heater: under gravel cable type w/ thermostat set at 79 deg F
Co2: 10lb tank regulator with solenoid s/o with milwaukee ph controller ph limit set at 6.6 on a timer with M.H. lamps
lighting: 2 - 150 watt metal halide lights 5500k on timer runs for 11 hours a day, with compact flour that run an hour ahead and behind the M.H.

The tank has a medium bio load (50 small fish.. neons, tetras etc..), and is heavily planted. lots of hygro etc..
I do weekly 25% water changes. and clean the filters monthly.

My tap water is from a well with the folowing parameters:
PH 6.4, No2 -0ppm, No3 -40ppm, Gh -150 ppm, Kh -90ppm, Fe - 0, Po4 -0.25

My tank parameters are:
PH 7.2 in the morning w/ and 6.6 after CO2 has been running all day
No2 - 0ppm, No3 -80ppm, Gh -150ppm, Kh -110ppm, Fe -0ppm, Po4 -usually about 0.5ppm.

I dose Kent botanicals daily: Fe -2ml, k -1ml, vita - 1.2ml, micro - 8.5ml

how come I cannot ever measure any amount of Fe? should I increase this? I have played around with it but was afraid of prompting a worse bloom of algae. No matter how much I put in I can never find a measureable amount?

I know I need to starve out the algae by promoting plant growth. My plants pearl nicely they look and are growing really well, but so is the hair algae?
 
Okay, I'm absolutely drooling over your setup :D
IMHO, the more info, the better - there's no such thing as too much.
How long has the tank been set up? Algae blooms are common in new setups, but it sounds like you've been up and running for a while.
AFAIK, many Fe kits are unreliable. I've heard that too much Fe can be the cause of a hair algae bloom, my inclination would be to stop dosing it for now unless you start seeing signs of deficiency - your plants will get some Fe, possibly all they need, from the laterite and should be fine for a while.
Flourish Excel is reputed to kill off hair algae - I'm experiencing an outbreak myself and have just started using Excel to see if it works as well as I've heard.
Other than good plant growth, Excel, SAEs (which adore hair algae) and not overdosing Fe, I don't have a lot of suggestions. Blackouts work, but IMO if you don't find the cause the algae will just return. You could check out plantgeek.net, there are some good threads on their forum about hair algae - I'm still combing through them (tee hee) myself for success stories of how others have conquered this algae.
 
The tank has been set-up for about 2 months, I had the typical start-up algae. But this stuff is driving me crazy I can't seem to get rid of it. I have SAE and Amonoe Shrimp (spelled wrong I am sure)Placos, Mollies etc... the algae eating spectrum. Algae is still advancing however slowly.
I originally was not dosing Fe when the algae started and only started with the Fe when the algae really started becoming an serious problem. I started trying everything I could to get the plants growing faster? to no avail. Algaes winning.
Thanks for the comment about the equipment, I put alot of time researching what to use to get the best results, and having ran a poor man's planted aquarium a few years ago with depressing results, I figured I should do it right this time. Also I am an electrician by trade so getting the lighting and electrical was pretty cheap.
 
When I added compact fluorescent lighting, I suddenly got long hair algae (up to 2 inchs) on my driftwood and java fern. Suddenly it just disapeared. I did start yanking it off by hand, I hear that cutting it or removing in manually can make it go away completely but odds are that u have excess of some nutrient and once that is used up , it will disapear.
 
From my reading, research and experience I would look at your N03 PO4 ratio. With that plant load and lighting you might want to consider 20-30ppm NO3 and 2ppm NO4 and check to be sure your CO2 is consistently in the 25-30 range or even a little higher. That should frustrate the hair algae, and allow you to prune out what is there now and keep it out.

I can’t comment on your micros as I have never used those.

Make that 2ppm PO4 sorry
 
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Thanks for the advice, I am trying to keep my No3 and Po4 levels in a 10:1 ratio although I am trying to keep them down low enough for the plants to outcompete the algae for the phosphates. Keeping the po4 at 2ppm is frightening because every time I let it get that high the algae is very prolific. So I figured to try to keep Po4 at 0.25ppm and no3 at around 20-25ppm. Is that too low? I have been able to keep my Co2 levels around 25 ppm. Maybe it is just a waiting game? I have been physically removing the algae but it is time consuming and very frustrating. Also someone had mentioned that the reason I cannot measure the Fe is that the plants are using it effeciently enough to not leave enough that is measureable? or is Fe hard to measure on these inexpensive test kits?
 
Flourish excel seems to work wonders with hair algae
 
20:0.25 is not a 10:1 ratio. All else looks good to me. I think you need to raise your PO4 level. I have learned that this will not cause an algae bloom in a heavily planted tank, but it will arrest the growth of hair algae when your nutrients are in balance and to the excessive side of what the plants need. You may have to prune the existing algae out, or if your inclined dip them (I am not recommending that) but if the outbreak is out of control…
 
andrew h said:
My tank parameters are:
PH 7.2 in the morning w/ and 6.6 after CO2 has been running all day
No2 - 0ppm, No3 -80ppm, Gh -150ppm, Kh -110ppm, Fe -0ppm, Po4 -usually about 0.5ppm.
Click to expand...
That is a sweet setup...

Here's what you do:
First, cut feedings way back. You listed NO3 at 80ppm, was that a typo, because later you're talking about NO3 being between 20-25ppm.

In tandem with this, your water change routine is too small. Aim for 50% weekly or two 30% changes weekly, they amount to the same, so whatever best suits your schedule.

Do you have KNO3 and KH2PO4 (or Fleet) to dose NO3 and PO4? I'm afraid I don't know what's in "vita" we don't get Kent here. Aim to sustain 10ppm of NO3 and 1ppm on PO4. The easiest way to do this is to figure out how much of each is needed to provide this to your tank and add that much after the water change.

For example:
Day 1:
50% water change + dose enough KNO3 and PO4 to increase NO3 and PO4 by 10ppm and 1ppm, respectively.
Day 2:
Dose traces
Day 3:
Test NO3 and PO4, add sufficient fert. to bring concentrations back to 10ppm and 1ppm, respectively.
Day 4:
traces
...
Day 7: 50% water change and repeat

This should allow you to get a feel for how quickly your plants are absorbing the provided nutrients. First thing though, get NO3 levels down, oh nuts, I just noticed that you get 40ppm from your tap. In that case, hold off dosing the NO3 for a couple days, just test every other day until it sinks below 10ppm, which it should.

Next, get your CO2 levels up earlier, you want there to be plenty of CO2 available as soon as the lights come on. Hold that pH of 6.6 and keep it constant, that should pretty much mean that you'll be cranking all day and switch off some time shortly after "dark". With a solenoid and pH detector, it should be easy to maintain that rock steady pH.

Finally, shorten your day period by 2 hours. You mention that your MH is on for 11, plus the PC's for 2 hours extra (one on either end), that's 13 hours of total illumination, shorten it to 11 hours.

Keep this up, feed lightly and the hair should stop growing. Keep pulling it out and after a couple weeks it should be gone completely.

Excellent initial post, btw. That's exactly how it should be done.
 
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