Hair Algae Nightmare!!! Please help

[Matt Horne]

Hi everyone,

So I've got a horrible hair algae outbreak in my tank. Its probably been there for 2-3 weeks now and is driving me mad!

So firstly, here are my tank stats:

Tank size: 80x40x40
Set up for about 4 months.
Ferts: EI (15ml dosed just as lights come on)
Co2: Pressurised Co2 (drop checker is lime green when lights on and yellow after a couple hours)
Liquid carbon: Started dosing daily 5ml liquid carb yesterday to try and get rid of the algae (double dose)
Lights: x2 TMC GroBeam LED's (6 hours per day with 45min ramps either end) 18 inches from substrate.
pH: 7.0
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 80ppm
Phosphate: 2ppm


So here's my tank about a month ago when I had just planted my carpet of Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo' (no hair algae at this point)



So this must have been about 3 weeks later - As you can see there's a load of hair algae covering the carpet.


And for good measure, some GSA too!

So here's what Ive tried so far:

- Firstly I made the mistake of having my lights on for 10 hours a day - this was cut down about a week ago to 6 hours (45min ramps)

- I have tried a 3 day complete blackout without ferts and was double dosing liquid carb. I left the co2 running but cut it back so the drop checker was just green. The blackout didn't seem to do much at all.

- I was adding 25ml of EI ferts daily - Last week I cut this down to 15ml

- Im doing an 80% water change every 3 days.

- Im manually removing as much algae as I can with a toothbrush, but it's very hard not to uproot the carpet as it hasn't rooted properly yet.

-I done my first cut on the carpet a couple of days ago to try and cut away most of the algae. This worked (for about a day) and its just grown back with a vengeance.

- I'm going to get x10 Amano shrimp tomorrow.


Im starting to run out of ideas as to what to do with this stuff - I'm considering just ripping out the carpet and planting new. So any help would be great.

Matt

 

[Tim Harrison]

Try the algae section in the forum, this is what James has to say about hair algae http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

Description These are very general names for a wide variety of filamentous algae. Generally green and varying in length. I have listed some of the more popular filamentous algae under their own section on this page.
Cause A range of causes including low CO2, low nutrient levels and ammonia spikes. Nothing to do with excess iron as commonly thought.
Removal Can be very difficult to eradicate at times. A high plant mass with good CO2 and a good supply of nutrients along with constantly hassling the algae seems to pay off after a while. Removal by twisting around a toothbrush or similar. Overdosing Flourish Excel, EasyCarbo or TNC Carbon can help. Amano shrimps, Rosy barbs and mollies will often eat it.

I think you set yourself up to fail a bit with the initial 10hr photoperiod...well done on recognising this and reducing it, it'll take time and effort and patience to rein it all back in but you seem to be headed in the right direction now.
Dial in the CO2 for the lime green before lights on and lights out.
Ensure 10x flow rule, in your case 1280 l/hr
Add the amano shrimp.
Don't trim your plants, it'll weaken them and make them more susceptible to algae at this stage...let them grow to achieve the higher plant mass James talks about.
Use a syringe to add the LC and spot treat the algae.

 

[greenmac75]

have you tried dosing your liquid carbon directly to the algae with a syringe and your filter off

 

[Matt Horne]

Troi, thats kinda what I have already done, good nutrients, good flow and co2.

Greenamac, No I haven't tried that yet - id be there all day lol Ill give that a go. Thanks

 

[GTL_UK]

Just overdose liquid carbon (x6) next day all algae will turn white and will dissappear few days later

Thanks

 

[zanguli-ya-zamba]

Hi,

Be careful of over dosing LC for your fish mate!!!
I think you can also improve your flow for better CO2 distribution.
If it was my tank I would put the spray bar on the left instead of right. Because you have an open space on the right, on the left you have substrate going up with a lot of plants. with an open space you can move more water and it will be easier for to move more water (flow) than on the left. I don't know if you understand what I mean ?
I you wish to not move your spray bar, you can still point the holes of your spray bar horizontal compare to the water surface, even slightly up ward. This will change the angle of the flow when it will hit the opposite panel of the tank. When a force hit a "wall" at 90° angle it will have a greater impact, and chock will be stronger. So if it is slightly up ward it will go down against the panel with a greater force than if it is pointing down. I know my explanations are not very good, but it's hard for me to explain that in english. But trust me it works.

You didn't tell us how CO2 distribution is done. Is it a in tank diffuser, a reactor or a atomizer ??

My route will be : Improve Flow for better distribution, reduce a bit the light intensity ( raise a bit the light unite), check CO2 (on earlier, or up a bit injection rate if possible for fish). You can still raise a bit injection rate, and add more water surface movement, to add a bit of extra O2 for your fish. Try only this if you are at home for the whole day.

Hope this can help.

cheers

 

[Matt Horne]

Ok, so my EI recipe is as follows:

Macro:
x4 TSP Potassium Nitrate
x1 TSP Potassium Phosphate
x6 TSP Magnesium Sulphate
500ml water

Micro:
x1 TSP Chelated Trace
500ml water

This is just the standard recipe from 'aquariumplantfooduk'

My co2 is diffused through an UpInline diffuser, which then goes into another canister which completely dissolves it! I get a yellow drop checker throughout the tank as I have moved it to several locations to check. Flow isn't an issue as I have added a powerhead pointing at the carpet.

I have been doing the large water changes and squirting 5ml LC on the hair algae, it seems to have turned to a brown colour now - so im hoping its dying.

Since adding my 8 Amano shrimp and 10 Cherry shrimp, I think they are doing a great job of eating it - seems to be a lot less hair algae now.

 

[Iain Sutherland]

Id say improve flow/co2 distribution which looks a little light around the substrate as the bottoms of the pogo look like they would be happy with more flow and co2 also. Once you have changed this i'd just replace the Monte Carlo, hair algae is a bitch to shake, you never seem to get rid of it all in a carpet. One pot of invitro MC is going to be cheaper than all the liquid carbon your over dosing.... unless you relish the battle of course

 

[pepedopolous]

You never said what is percentage light intensity of the Grobeams. If you have ramping up and down then I assume you have the TMC controller... First thing I would do is decrease the light intensity by half or more.

Even at 40%, I would get algae using the TMC Mini400 tile.

P

 

[Matt Horne]

Ok so this morning I changed it around a little bit. I moved the spray bar to the left side of the tank, and the powerhead to the right side pointing at the carpet. The flow around the Pogo seems a lot better now.

My lighting is still ramping up to 100%, so I could lower that. I recently lowered my lights as my plants weren't pearling, when I lowered them to where they are now - the carpet is pearling away.

 

[zanguli-ya-zamba]

Hi I would avoid to put the power head opposite to the spray bar (flow conflict) this is physique. Try to put it just under the spray bar pointing a bit upward. It will help the pray bar for better flow. regards