# Brown Hair Algae and Cyanobacteria



## Joost (21 Aug 2015)

Hi Ukaps members,

I´m facing algae issues in my aquarium. It´s been running for around 2 months now and I can´t get rid of brown hair algae as well as cyanobacteria. The algae can be seen in the 3 pictures illustrated below.










The aquarium specifications are as follows:

Aquarium 60 cm * 30 cm * 30 cm;
ADA Aqua Soil;
Canister filter SunSun HW-302 (1.000 l/h);
2x CFL 20 Watt in IKEA fixtures, positioned vertically (+-40 cm from the substrate), on for 7 hours a day;
Pressurized CO2, Up Aqua inline diffuser on the outlet tube (comes on 2 hours before the lights turn on and turns off at the same time the lights turn off;
Dosing according to EI;
Spraybar mounted on the upper right side.
I really don't get what I'm doing wrong here. I'm suspecting that the amount of light is far too much, however the algae did not dissapear when I reduced it. The following two tanks demonstrate that it is possible to have a succesful aquarium without any noticable algae, with two 20 Watt CFL positioned vertically (same dimensions as my aquarium):



http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=316009&highlight=micmol.

Also overdosing EI did not help. Perhaps the amount of CO2 I'm adding is too low? There are micro bubbles everywhere, however. If it indeed is not a sufficient amount of CO2, what would you propose?

I'd really appreciate any help regarding the algae issues I'm currently facing. Thank you.


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## 5678 (21 Aug 2015)

Curious to see the thoughts on this. I struggle with these too. 

Co2 up high, ei and light dropped back down. Still grows at times!


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## Martin in Holland (22 Aug 2015)

A few questions;
Is your Filter/Pump turnover 10x the tank ?
How full did you pack your filter?
How much light is on the tank? (hours and PAR)
How do you inject CO2?

This all leads to a CO2 issue ....to much light will ask for more CO2 than you can ever provide to your plants....not enough current and/or flow has the same effect.


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## Joost (22 Aug 2015)

Martin in China said:


> A few questions;
> Is your Filter/Pump turnover 10x the tank ?
> How full did you pack your filter?
> How much light is on the tank? (hours and PAR)
> ...



Hi,

Thank you for your quick reply.

*Is your Filter/Pump turnover 10x the tank ?
How full did you pack your filter?*
My filter has a flow rate of 1.000 l/h. This should of course be way less in reality, when filled with media. I've filled my filter (total of 3 baskets) with lava rocks (2 baskets) as well as filter floss (1 basket). My aquarium's volume is 54 dm³ = 54 l. I'm pretty sure that, even with media added to the filter, the flow rate is sufficient (> 540 l/h). Without the spraybar it is almost like a whirlpool in there.

*How much light is on the tank? (hours and PAR)*
The lighting is on for 7 hours every day. I'm using 2x 20 watt CFL (positioned verically), mounted ~40 cm from the substrate. I don't have the tools to measure the PAR value, therefore I do not know the amount of PAR that reaches the substrate. However, according to the image below it should be somewhere between (40 cm = 15,75 inch) 55 and 120 PAR (the water depth is 7.3 inch in the images).







Source: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=837592

*How do you inject CO2?*
Up aqua inline diffuser on the outlet tube of my canister filter. The CO2 is dispersed in the aquarium by a spraybar.


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## Martin in Holland (22 Aug 2015)

The spray bar would do its job better if it would be placed at the back of the tank (the full length of the tank)...The filter is to fully packed, but as your tank is about 54 liter and your filter output 1000 this shouldn't be a big problem (still keep in mind that to fully packed filter reduce the flow often more than we think and in a planted tank is this "over filtering" not needed)  Algae won't just go away by itself, adding some Amano shrimp (10-20), Otos (3-5) and SAE (1-2) will help...I would go for 11 inch from the tank with the lights (50 PAR is enough for most plants to grow...I'm sure I have even less in my tank)....Also adding flourish excel will help....for cyno I found that spot treating it with KNO3 (dissolved in water) works really fine and is cheap.

Don't worry to much yet, as it looks like a normal Diatom outbreak and would be easy to take care of with the suggestions I just gave you.


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## xim (22 Aug 2015)

From the picture, the good news is your plants are not dead.

This filamentous diatom will go by its own. You can do water change more often. But I would just keep the regular schedule but I would use a small air hose suck it up during the week to prevent it from smothering the plants (this thing grows fast) and top off the water.

If your soil is new, i.e., less than a month old, you must do frequent water change, 2-3x a week. Because Amazonia initially leaches huge amount of nutrients into the water column.

For longer term, I would find a way to take care of water surface film that blocks oxygen exchange at night. And the most important, add enough algae eaters (1 Amano Shrimp per 5 litres). If the algae eaters' grazing pressure rate is lower than algae's multiplying rate, your tank will never look algae-free.


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## Joost (22 Aug 2015)

Martin in China said:


> The spray bar would do its job better if it would be placed at the back of the tank (the full length of the tank)...The filter is to fully packed, but as your tank is about 54 liter and your filter output 1000 this shouldn't be a big problem (still keep in mind that to fully packed filter reduce the flow often more than we think and in a planted tank is this "over filtering" not needed)  Algae won't just go away by itself, adding some Amano shrimp (10-20), Otos (3-5) and SAE (1-2) will help...I would go for 11 inch from the tank with the lights (50 PAR is enough for most plants to grow...I'm sure I have even less in my tank)....Also adding flourish excel will help....for cyno I found that spot treating it with KNO3 (dissolved in water) works really fine and is cheap.
> 
> Don't worry to much yet, as it looks like a normal Diatom outbreak and would be easy to take care of with the suggestions I just gave you.



Hi,

1. Is a spraybar at the back of the tank really necessarily? I've tried it before and I really don't like the way it looks. Also the flow was not even when I did this. Is it because the diameter of the holes is too large/too many holes? I could try it again, however.

2. I've raised the lights as per your advice. They're +- 46 cm (18,11 inch) from the substrate now. I can't raise them any higher.

3. I will try spot treating the Cyanobacteria with KNO3. How many grams should I mix with water?

4. I personally don't like the idea of adding more animals in order to remove algae. Is this really the only option?

I've positioned the Up Aqua inline diffuser to the inlet tube of the canister filter. I've removed the filter floss as well as a couple of lava rocks in the canister filter to increase the flow rate.




xim said:


> From the picture, the good news is your plants are not dead.
> 
> This filamentous diatom will go by its own. You can do water change more often. But I would just keep the regular schedule but I would use a small air hose suck it up during the week to prevent it from smothering the plants (this thing grows fast) and top off the water.
> 
> ...



Hi,

1. I've noticed that the brown hair algae grows quite fast during the week. I'm already using a small hose to remove this pest on water change day.

2. The aqua soil is probably half a year old, so this won't be a problem.

3. I'll try to find a way to remove the surface film during the night.

4. I will see what I can do regarding the Amano shrimps. I personally don't like the idea of adding more animals in order to remove algae, though.


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## Dan L (23 Aug 2015)

Diatoms usually pass, they are normally a new tank issue.. Worry about the cyano bacteria, if not dealt with it can destroy a tank - manual removal (its easy to suction out) and spot dose any hard to remove pieces with either h2o2 or glut. I have never heard of spot dosing with kno3.


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## Martin in Holland (23 Aug 2015)

Joost said:


> 1. Is a spraybar at the back of the tank really necessarily?


Not Necessary as long as you have good flow all over your tank (cyno suggest that you haven't)



Joost said:


> 3. I will try spot treating the Cyanobacteria with KNO3. How many grams should I mix with water?


No need to overdose in the water just use the amount KNO3 as you would use in EI dosing in 250 cc water, use a syringe to spot treat the Cyno (don't forget turning off your filter for a few minutes)



Joost said:


> 4. I personally don't like the idea of adding more animals in order to remove algae. Is this really the only option?


They will help and I do think you need them or clean every day yourself.....

Moving the CO2 diffuser to the canister inlet will help dissolve better, but can give a "burp" now and then.


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