# Liquid Carbon to help with Algae ??



## pauldesfitz (8 Dec 2013)

Hi All,
Any advice please..
My first Planted tank has been running for approx. 6 weeks, and I have adjusted the set up along the way to try and improve things,
So,  Tank is approx 170 Ltr,   ADA Africana Substrate,  Pressurized CO2  using CO2 Reactor (only just made this week, following Foxfishes design), Two 39w T5 Lights (without reflectors at moment) for approx 6 Hours a day.  EI Dosing according to Prescribed dosing regime,  and Now TWO Hydor Koralia 900 Pumps to improve Circulation( just installed this week also) , along with Full Length Spraybar.
My Problem is Algae... It arrived before my Inline Reactor and also my Two Koralia pumps were installed,.
Now my plants are Growing reasonably well , but I still have Algae on Leaves, and Hardscape, probably from earlier on in the Scape.
I hear that Easy Carbo or Flourish Excel  OVERDOSED will help eliminate the Algae ? Is this Correct ?
Also , how much is Overdosed ??
Although I seem to be seeing some improvement in plants, e.g. Repens are now sprouting new leaves, after existing ones seemed to die , I am unsure if this is the next step to get an Algae Free Tank !!
This has all been an expensive and frustrating Learning Curve, But Now I`ve started, I am determined to get it right.
Any advice would be appreciated,
Paul


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## Andy Thurston (8 Dec 2013)

I use a 3.5x dose in my 35l
Riccia and vallis dont like it in higher doses and i wouldnt recommend more than 2x with shrimp or corys


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## Michael W (8 Dec 2013)

I've heard bad reaction from most mosses when liquid carbon is used. As Andy suggests, high doses will affect some plants and livestock so you have to be careful. If possible try to manually remove as much algae as possible. Improving CO2 and circulation is a good idea and I believe your doing that at the moment so if you can manually remove as much as possible and see how well it goes before using liquid CO2 for safety's sake.


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## Andy Thurston (8 Dec 2013)

My fissidens is growing well at 3.5 x dose too. My main tip would be start low and build up, watch fauna particularly the first few hours after adding dose, this is when my fauna suffered most and everything seemed back to normal 5 hours after dosing


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## parotet (8 Dec 2013)

I dose 3x without any effect on moss, shrimps or fishes. I would try to clean as much as you can with your fingers,  scrapers, etc. to avoid high doses anyway.


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## parotet (8 Dec 2013)

When I dose 3x my tank is really plenty of plants... or when bba appear


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## pauldesfitz (8 Dec 2013)

My tank has a fair quantity of plants....no mosses though. BBA  is present on rocks and some plants, and Hair Algae or even Staghorn on tips of leaves.
When my leaves started to fail originally, I cut them back to remove dead ones....however this seems to have attracted Algae onto residue of plants .
Hopefully..my increased flow and CO2 reactor Will assist. From a distance, tank looks great....but on closer inspection...

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## kirk (8 Dec 2013)

Yes our tank look great from Down the garden too. I've just about Had it with algae and it's worse in the high flow high co2 area? I also don't get why it's always on the diffuser disk  when that's when co2 comes from I'm going to do a 7 day blackout then dose carb. I've slung a carrier bag of moss this week.


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## pauldesfitz (8 Dec 2013)

Doesn't sound good Kirk. 
And here's me hoping to eradicate it !!

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