help with algae!!! (long one with Pict's)

thanks djlen

here is the pict of the whole tank
IMG_0370.jpg


i will check out that calculater
thanks


the snails I have are Olive Nerites, I collected them myself out of the tensaw river delta, there are hundreds of thousands of them, very easy to collect. I cant get a close up pict to come out clear ill monkey with my camera and post it later


the sunfish that i have is small right now, (2") but perhaps when it gets bigger it may try and eat one, will have 2 wait and see.

the snails will completely clean off a large plant leaf or a piece of drift wood and then 2 days later the algea is back, they just cant keep up.
 
The algae you are showing is hair algae. It is caused by a buildup of organic nitrogen wastes (like urea). I would increase plant density with lots of fast growing stem plants (ludwigia, cabomba, elodea) and add a school of 6-7 Rosy Barbs and within a matter of a day or two this algae will be gone.

Make sure you maintain steady EI dosing and crank the CO2 up and keep it stable. If you have access to some mulm (The solid part that comes out when you syphon a mature tank) I would throw some into the filter and your substrate to get some bacteria into the tank responsible for removing organic nitrogen waste.
 
ok new set of questions lol

I am playing around with the fert calculater

what should my target ppms be?

also what for my magnesium, what is epsom salt (is this it? MgSO4 + 7H2O )

ok so i start to play with the calculater using this doseing schedule
20-40 Gallon Aquariums
+/- ¼ tsp KN03 3x a week
+/- 1/16 tsp KH2P04 3x a week
+/- 1/16 tsp K2S04 3x a week
+/- 1/16 tsp (5ml) Trace Elements 3x a week
50% weekly water change

I know that i will not be using KH2P04 or K2S04 (because of fleets enema)
right now im just trying to get a base to work off of

this is the result of that dose ppm

NO3 = 5.27
PO4 = 1.61
K = 5.17
Ca = .2
Mg = .2
Fe = .2

is this what i should shoot for?

now to get the same ammount of PO4 with the fleets I need 2 add about 3/8 of a tea spoon, but that lowers my K from 5.17 to 3.32 is this acceptable?

I guess what i realy need is a reccomdation as to what my PPM should be for these:
NO3 =
PO4 =
K =
Ca =
Mg =
Fe =

in the results box are those good numbers to use? if so then it seems that the doseing schedule is way off
to get closer to those numbers the doseing would look like this

+/- 1/2 tsp KN03 3x a week
+/- 3/8 tsp KH2P04 3x a week
ca would be 3 3/4 tea spoon 3 times a week
Mg would be 3/4 teaspoon 3 times a week
iron would stay the same

and a big water change to cap the week off

I will look for a good ppm table to go off of

thanks again
 
rrkss said:
The algae you are showing is hair algae. It is caused by a buildup of organic nitrogen wastes (like urea). I would increase plant density with lots of fast growing stem plants (ludwigia, cabomba, elodea) and add a school of 6-7 Rosy Barbs and within a matter of a day or two this algae will be gone.

Make sure you maintain steady EI dosing and crank the CO2 up and keep it stable. If you have access to some mulm (The solid part that comes out when you syphon a mature tank) I would throw some into the filter and your substrate to get some bacteria into the tank responsible for removing organic nitrogen waste.
Click to expand...

my tank is cycled, it has been since i did the fishless in feb, my tests results are as follows

Ph 7.2
ammonia 0.0
nitrite 0.0
nitrate under 10

I will take the rosy barbs into consideration, I do not want to over crowd the tank and i think 8 more rosey barbs would do this.
 
If you look at the bottom of the fertilator, the numbers under each element are considered to be optimum values for each. Keeping that in mind, here is what I suggest for each as a starting point. You may need to tweak them from there:

"I guess what i realy need is a reccomdation as to what my PPM should be for these:"
NO3 = .75 tsp. yields 15.8-N & 9.96-K
PO4 = .50 milliliter yields approx. 2.21ppm/P - There are approx. 16 drops of Fleets Enema equaling 1 milliliter, so .50 = 8 drops which would be your starting dosage.
K = 0 - No K+ needed at this time.
Ca = 3 tsp. yields 9.52ppm/Ca
Mg = 2 tsp. yields 6.31ppm/Mg
I am more comfortable dosing light on Ca and heavy on Mg because of less than satisfactory results with CaCl. You will however be using Calcium Sulfate which is what I'm now using as well and should get nice results dosing the amounts recommended above, of Ca and Mg.

"what is epsom salt (is this it? MgSO4 + 7H2O )" - yes. Very inexpensive and a good source for Mg. Get it and the Fleets at your pharmacy.


Fe = 0 - Different folks will tell you different things about this element. I will tell you that dosing extra Fe is not necessary and can cause algae issues if over-used. I dose my traces daily to keep the Fe in the trace mix available to the plants and find that this works well for me. Therefore I suggest no extra Fe at this time.

All dosing is done in conjunction with a weekly 50% water change followed by dosing the above amounts of these elements. This water change is crucial for re-setting the tank each week.

In addition I would start dosing your Plantex daily, starting the day after water change day, at the rate of 5mls/day. 30 mils/week is a good starting point and should be increased as the plant mass develops and expands.

You mix the Plantex in a clean, well sealed jar a the rate of 2tbsps. in 500mls. of hot water and stir the heck out of it until you see no residue in the container. Then store the main container in the refrigerator taking out only enough for dosing a few days at a time in your tank. Or you can dose directly from the main container. Plantex will develop a gunky residue if too much is left at room temp. for too long. Mixing more than 500mls. is unnecessary for dosing one tank. It will last a long time.

I would hold off on doing any blackouts until you have all of the elements including the Excel (I think that's what you said you'd be using) ready to go.

Len
 
thanks a ton,

I ordered everything i need last night and i will do my black out once i get everything here.

thanks you so much
 
djlen said:
Fe = 0 - Different folks will tell you different things about this element. I will tell you that dosing extra Fe is not necessary and can cause algae issues if over-used. I dose my traces daily to keep the Fe in the trace mix available to the plants and find that this works well for me. Therefore I suggest no extra Fe at this time.
Click to expand...

I agree that you should not supplement extra Fe right away. Watch your fast growers. If the growth tips start to yellow then add some more Fe. I need to add 3 mL of Seachem Iron daily since my tanks use a lot of Fe (Mostly because most of the plant mass is fast growing stem plants). I don't agree with the Iron causing algae though since that has not proven true in my situation and my tests.

The cause of hair algae is from organic Nitrogen wastes. Organic Nitrogen wastes are different from Ammonia and the stuff from the nitrogen cycle. These molecules are much more complex and require more work to break them down. An easy way to reduce them is to use Seachem's Purigen or add mulm from a tank that has been up for more than a year.

Rosy Barbs are some of the best algae eaters I have. They will eat anything furry from Spyrogira to hair algae. They will even nip at BBA once you get the CO2 high enough to weaken it. Very active but greedy fish. They are some of my favorite fish.
 
hmt321 said:
thanks a ton,

I ordered everything i need last night and i will do my black out once i get everything here.

thanks you so much
Click to expand...

While you wait, quarantine the Rosy Barbs so that they can go in once you have all your stuff ready. I bet you that the hair algae won't return with these greedy buggers in there. They are also very friendly and active fish if you keep them in a school of at least 7 fish.
 
ok my Ph and GH/KH results were wrong.

about 6 months ago I bought a hagan master test kit and I misplaced it, i went rooting through my closet and found it.

ok my ph is 7.8 (way off from the 7.2 from doc fishwell)

I checked the other stuff and everything was the same except gh/kh

GH = 3 drops = 60 ppm (# of drops * 20)

KH = 3 drops = 30 ppm (# of drops * 10)

here are some other tests i ran

PO4 = 0.0-0.25

Ca = 2 drops = 60 ppm (#drops * 20)

Fe (free) = 0 - .01

Fe (cleated = .25

Question:
- how does this effect the products I sould use (i think C02 inject is doable now but I may just use the flourish excel)


thanks
 
hmt321 said:
ok my Ph and GH/KH results were wrong.

about 6 months ago I bought a hagan master test kit and I misplaced it, i went rooting through my closet and found it.

ok my ph is 7.8 (way off from the 7.2 from doc fishwell)

I checked the other stuff and everything was the same except gh/kh

GH = 3 drops = 60 ppm (# of drops * 20)

KH = 3 drops = 30 ppm (# of drops * 10)

here are some other tests i ran

PO4 = 0.0-0.25

Ca = 2 drops = 60 ppm (#drops * 20)

Fe (free) = 0 - .01

Fe (cleated = .25

Question:
- how does this effect the products I sould use (i think C02 inject is doable now but I may just use the flourish excel)


thanks
Click to expand...

Hobbiest level test kits are notoriously inaccurate and vary so much that I put little credence in the results. I use AP for most tests and only to check
to see if a parameter has gone up or down after altering something. For instance I use the pH test if I've adjusted CO2 injection to get a rough idea about how much I've changed the CO2/ppm.
Bottom line is this - don't worry too much about the results of your test kits. Go with what we've discussed.
I would watch your kH though if you decide, in the future to inject CO2. Test it yourself and then have a sample tested at a reliable LFS. If it's hovering in the 3.0°kH area it needs to be raised for safety.

Len
 
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