Hair Algae

duggus562

All, Hi I am very new at this. I have a 29gal lo tank set up with all live plants. Been running about 6 weeks. Injecting CO2, plants growing like crazy. But I have hair algae that is growing so fast I can not beleive it. Question; how do you control algae with live plants. I did turn back the CO2 rate to one bubble a sec thinking I am over supplying the plants and the excess is being used by the algae. Make any sense??? Any help will be very appreciated.
Duggus562

Byron

Welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping forum.

Algae (the green/red forms, not the brown which is actually diatoms) grows when the light and nutrients are not being used by other plants. In a planted tank, we aim to balance the light and nutrients so the plants will use them and the algae will not have the opportunity to take advantage of excess light. And it is the light that is the issue.

If the plants are growing fine, reduce the light period. Even one hour less can make a difference. Youhaven't indicated your light type or duration schedule, and there is no mention of other nutrients (fertilizers) which will be needed to balance the CO2 and light. Plants can only photosynthesize (grow) if they have everything they need. If any nutrient is less than what they require, they can't continue and the light is then "excess."

Byron.

aunt kymmie

Nothing to add to what Byron has said but I just wanted to say, "Welcome to TFK!".
If you have any pics of your tank that you'd like to share we'd love to see them. Planted tanks are my favorite type of tanks.

duggus562

Byron,
I am lighting and injecting CO2 for 12 hours. 6700K Glo bulbs for a total of 78 watts which gives a little over 2 wattts per/gal. I have Eco-Complete substrate and have added laterite balls as fertilizer next to the plants. I changed the CO2 to one bubble per sec yesterday. Should I let up on the CO2 any more. Water is greenish there is so much algae. I did a 30% water change yesterday and it does not look like it!!! Will less light affect the plants negatively?? I appreciate the responses and help.Thanks
Duggus
Thanks for the Hi Aunt Kymmie. I will post photos later if the tank cleans up.

CaliforniaFishkeeper

So you have nutrient enriched substrate that produces CO2, a CO2 injector and another type of fertilizer?

Is this any surprise really?

Inga

If I have learned one thing on this forum, I have learned that sometimes "less is best." Thanks for that Byron and others. I would have been just like this. I was ready to buy every product I could to "help the plants grow" but honestly, they need a lot less help from us then we think and do best on their own.

I hope you can get your tank cleaned up. I can only imagine how disheartening it is to have that happen when you are trying so hard to do the best for your plants and fish. Hang in there. :)

aunt kymmie

Green water suggests an algae "bloom", a little different than simply having hair algae. My LFS has a beautiful planted tank (with Angels) and it has a similar set up as far as ferts/substrate/CO2 injection and suddenly the water column was so geen you couldn't see through it. They covered the tank for a few days (with lights off) and the green water turned clear. NOT AT ALL sure if that's what you should do here.
Do you have fish in your tank? Something needs to get dialed down here and I'll leave it to the experts to advise, as I certainly am not one, lol. With no fish and injectable CO2, along with your added ferts it seems the tank is getting more CO2 than the plants can handle and feeding the algae.

duggus562

I do have 13 neons, 3 corys and 1 whiptail cat. I have changed my timer to ten hours instead of 12 and dialed back the CO2 based on advice from everyone. I understand balance but just learning the parameters. I really appreciate the help. I will try the changes just listed for a week or so and see what happens. PH is flucuating beteen 7.3 and 6.8 depending on AM or PM. I am really enjoying learning the science behind all of this. The fish are doing fine. For testing there is no Ammonia, Nitrates or Nitrites.

amazon21

if you've got daphnia, they'll clean up the green water for you, and provide a nice treat for the fish when you add them in. My guess is that the light is on for too long, but I'm not the best person to get advice from

Byron

I concur with what has been said since my last post. There is clearly a build-up of organics/nutrients that is out of balance.

I saw nothing of liquid fertilizer. Substrate ferts are fine, but obviously only for substrate-rooted plants. If you have floating plants or non-substrate rooted plants like Anubias and Java Fern, they will need a liquid as they only assimilate nutrients from the water column and Eco-complete is formulated to only leech nutrients in conjunction with plant roots/bacteria. I've no idea how, this is what the manufacturer says. It makes sense, as plant roots release oxygen for the bacteria and this could be a sort of catalyst.

You have fairly bright light (double what I have on any of my tanks) plus CO2, so you will need balancing minerals. A liquid fert may be needed, just as a suggestion.

I would reduce the light, you have already done this. An hour makes quite a difference. I saw hair algae slightly increasing, I cut back by one hour to 11 hours, it stopped. Monitor what you've done for a week.

Blackouts work (sometimes). I prefer water changes, but first the balance has to be restored or it will just occur over and over. But now that you've reduced the light, try a water change (50%) alternate days, every day, as needed. If the light reduction was sufficient you will see a difference.

Byron.