Staghorn Algae

[Marty.h]

Looks like this staghorn algae is fun to get rid off so far I have

Halved lighting from 4 x 54w to only 2x54w

Have upped CO2 so I'm seeing it tipping yellow at end on drop checker and PH going from 7.6 to 6.4 so presume I have enough CO2 saturation.

Dosing Ei ferts as per there instructions.

50% waterchange on a sunday = 200L

Have added 3 x powerheads so have over 9000L of flow no dead spots that I can see.

Have been spot treating with Excell to the point I'm adding 50ml a time daily with spot treating maybe I can up how much im dosing?

Getting great growth of plants just when you get up close you can see this ghastly staghorn algae.

Any more ideas on how to deal with it was thinking of putting tank into a 3 day black out.

I have been struggling to keep nitrates up I'm constantly between 0 and 5 ppm cant physically get it any higher even feeding fish heavier maybe an out of balance issue ?



This how it looks as you can see looks healthy enough just that ghastly staghorn

Anyone have anymore ideas or suggestions

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[Zeus.]

pH drop looks good but what's the pH profile like?
It can take quite some time to clear the staghorn once it gets going, however it sounds like you have it under control as it's not going crazy. I have some BBA growing on a power head and last time I took the driftwood out I found some staghorn even have some BGA on glass at substrate level. So some algae will always be present in all established tanks.

You say your struggling to keep the nitrates up yet your plants look healthy so ignore the test kit and listen to your plants. You cold always increase the EI dose after all the standard EI dose is just a starting guide

 

[Marty.h]

pH drop looks good but what's the pH profile like?
It can take quite some time to clear the staghorn once it gets going, however it sounds like you have it under control as it's not going crazy. I have some BBA growing on a power head and last time I took the driftwood out I found some staghorn even have some BGA on glass at substrate level. So some algae will always be present in all established tanks.

You say your struggling to keep the nitrates up yet your plants look healthy so ignore the test kit and listen to your plants. You cold always increase the EI dose after all the standard EI dose is just a starting guide

I'm wondering if there is an imbalance between N03 and P04 I need to go grab a phosphate test kit to see that's next on my list

What you mean by PH profile ? As in before , middle and after ?

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[Zeus.]

Testing for fert levels with hobby level test kits is a very inaccurate way of maintaining the fert levels. EI dosing is all about not testing the fert levels as it's so inaccurate and supplying ferts in excess and weekly 50% WC, so 'in theroy' we dilute the toxins and keep the fert levels in excess, saving time and money and healthy plants.

A pH profile is done by taking pH before CO2 on then every 30mins till CO2 off. The reason for it is we don't what fluctuating [CO2] from lights on for the main part of the photo period.
Clive's detail below worth a read

We have a fairly well grounded, basic understanding of the photosynthetic processes.
A. We understand that Rubisco's job is to capture CO2 molecules and to deliver the molecules to the Calvin Cycle reaction centers. We know that Rubisco is hugely expensive and consumes a lot of resources to produce and to maintain. In low tech tanks, where the CO2 concentration is low there is a much higher density of Rubisco in the leaf because you need more of the protein to capture the small amounts of CO2. In gas injected tanks, the Rubisco density in the leaf is lower.

B. We also know that during Calvin Cycle, the fixing of Carbon involves some intermediate carbohydrate products until the final product is a type of glucose.

So, for item A. we know that when the plant senses that high concentrations of CO2 is available, it responds by reducing the production of expensive Rubisco. When it senses a lower CO2 concentration it must increase Rubisco production, however because this protein is so complicated and heavy, the increased production requires 2-3 weeks in order to change the density in the leaf to match the new gas concentration level. So it is much easier to reduce production than it is to increase production. When increasing gas injection therefore, it hardly takes any time to see an improvement in health. When lowering the concentration, the plant will suffer because it must now ramp up Rubisco production to account for the loss of CO2 availability.

When increasing the light, the plant must reallocate resources from Rubisco production/maintenance in order to deal with the increased radiation. This may entail new pigment production for protection. When the light is reduced, the plant then reallocates the light gathering proteins and can devote them to Rubisco production/maintenance.

So when we mess around with light and gas, we have some degree of predictability.

Cheers,
Clive

/QUOTE]

 

[Marty.h]

Testing for fert levels with hobby level test kits is a very inaccurate way of maintaining the fert levels. EI dosing is all about not testing the fert levels as it's so inaccurate and supplying ferts in excess and weekly 50% WC, so 'in theroy' we dilute the toxins and keep the fert levels in excess, saving time and money and healthy plants.

A pH profile is done by taking pH before CO2 on then every 30mins till CO2 off. The reason for it is we don't what fluctuating [CO2] from lights on for the main part of the photo period.
Clive's detail below worth a read

It seems most have irradicated it using excell I have been spot treating and today most appears red so I'm hoping I'm getting ontop of it nice and soon

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