smellyfish Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 hi everyone, i^ve got a major long hair algae problem that won^t go away. tried several different remedies, stopped fertilizing, turned off the lights, added phosguard in cannister filter, trimed any leaves that have the algae on them, but all i have now is charlie brown christmas tree looking plants, there still growing & sprouting new leaves but cann^t get rid of the algae, don^t have any of the green algae on the sides of my tank just the long hair algae on the plants & ornaments, my water perameters r all within normal readings, or normal for the fish, i used a diy co2 setup several weeks ago but shut it off after about 4 days & thats when i first started noticing the algae, its a 55 gasllon with about 12-15 fish, small rainbows & several sharks, several loaches, medium planted, my water perameters r, ammonia-.1-3 nitrate- 10 ppm, nitrite-second lowest reading on the chart, i use the liquid testing, cann^t think of anything else to try except pull out all my plants & start all over again, which i don^t want to do, so if any one can give me any advice much appreciated, except the part about don^t use the diy co2 thing again, :well: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werner Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 my water perameters r all within normal readings... ammonia-.1-3 nitrate- 10 ppm, nitrite-second lowest reading on the chart That's not normal. You should have zero ammonia and nitrites in an established tank. Have you just set it up recently? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smellyfish Posted October 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 my water perameters r all within normal readings... ammonia-.1-3 nitrate- 10 ppm, nitrite-second lowest reading on the chart That's not normal. You should have zero ammonia and nitrites in an established tank. Have you just set it up recently? iVe always had that amount of ammonia & nitrites since i started it up, for about 7-10 years now, i feed every other day, they alwats eat it all, do weekly water changes, about 35% , always had that readings didn^t know i wasn^t supposed to have nill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleshgear Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 the diy c02 should not be the problem, if anything it would help if setup properly. how much light? wpg? how long do you have the lights on for? what kind of bulbs? 6700k? how fresh are the bulbs? what method of fertalizing are you using? and how much? or what types of ferts are you putting in? what kind of plants? fast growing? slow growing? high light plants? low light plants? what kind of diy co2 diffuser did you use? do you use florish excel? what kind of substrate? what is the flow rate of your filter? high, low, average? is your tank sitting i a place that gets direct sunlight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smellyfish Posted October 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 the diy c02 should not be the problem, if anything it would help if setup properly. how much light? wpg? how long do you have the lights on for? what kind of bulbs? 6700k? how fresh are the bulbs? what method of fertalizing are you using? and how much? or what types of ferts are you putting in? what kind of plants? fast growing? slow growing? high light plants? low light plants? what kind of diy co2 diffuser did you use? do you use florish excel? what kind of substrate? what is the flow rate of your filter? high, low, average? is your tank sitting i a place that gets direct sunlight? light-3-4 wpg 12 hours one set of compacts with 6700 k & a double t-8 new in sept 2 inches of latterite under the substrate when i started, 5-7 years ago, so don^t know if any is left at all. liquid flourish, iron, comprehensive, & trace, dose daily i^ve gott an assortment of all , fast , slow growing, hi & lo light plants, 2-2litre pop bottles with a home made receipt of sugar, yeast, that i connected to the out take on 2 of the filters to disperse the bubbles. latterite under medium sized gravel, but i^ve never replaced the latterite i^ve got 3 filters running, 304 fluval, over the side aqua-clear, & a 2in 1 power head, so i would say hirate of flow no i got backing on it, & no direct sun, well maybe in the summer for about 2 hours on a quarter of the tank, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleshgear Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 That is high light with no, to little c02. Algae is most commonly caused by a lack of c02. Also could be caused by a lack of 1 fertalizer. But it is probably not enough c02. How many gallons is the tank? You said you used liquid florish? Is that the excel? The organic c02? Did the algae come after the new bulbs? In september did you increase the wpg? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werner Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 Yeah, you have lots of light! That's usually a good contributor to an algae farm. Cut down the duration to 10hrs or less. You could also stagger your lights so that they only get the full blast for part of the day. Here's a good algae site that can help you identify the type and causes: Aquarium Algae If you're still getting ammonia/nitrite readings in an established tank, I'd worry about the accuracy of the test kits (expired?) Unless you're somehow killing off all the bacteria in the filter/gravel/glass on a regular basis, it should all get converted to nitrate. Not to mention that the plants will be sucking up any ammonia/nitrites too. Are you dosing any phosphates or potassium? If the plants are lacking these, then the algae may be taking advantage for this reason too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smellyfish Posted October 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 That is high light with no, to little c02. Algae is most commonly caused by a lack of c02. Also could be caused by a lack of 1 fertalizer. But it is probably not enough c02. How many gallons is the tank? You said you used liquid florish? Is that the excel? The organic c02? Did the algae come after the new bulbs? In september did you increase the wpg? 55 gallon haven^t tried the excel yet, use comprehensive, trace & iron flourish the algae only showed up when i tried the home made co2, & did it ever bloom, never had a problem with algae before, & only the long haired grey algae still don^t have any problems with the green algae i replaced one t-8 cannister with the compact set up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smellyfish Posted October 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 Yeah, you have lots of light! That's usually a good contributor to an algae farm. Cut down the duration to 10hrs or less. You could also stagger your lights so that they only get the full blast for part of the day.Here's a good algae site that can help you identify the type and causes: Aquarium Algae If you're still getting ammonia/nitrite readings in an established tank, I'd worry about the accuracy of the test kits (expired?) Unless you're somehow killing off all the bacteria in the filter/gravel/glass on a regular basis, it should all get converted to nitrate. Not to mention that the plants will be sucking up any ammonia/nitrites too. Are you dosing any phosphates or potassium? If the plants are lacking these, then the algae may be taking advantage for this reason too. thanks everyone, the test kits haven^t expired yet, but r old, i get the same readings as big al^s, no i^m not dosing any phosphates or potassium, was hoping that the 3 fertilizers would be adding enough. hate adding more chemicals, added a bunch of autocichlids? & a few flying foxes, hoping that those little guys might eat it up for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleshgear Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 i highly recomend using dry ferts. they are way cheaper i use pps pro method. i got all of the ferts for $40 that would last probaly 2 years for a 55 gallon tank. i got all the ferts from the grow store on edmonton trail just south of 16th ave. the otocinclus will eat some of the algae but you woud need at least 10 or more for a 55gallon another thing i would try if you dont have any Vallisneria is the florish excel (organic c02) you could double up on the dose or higher. just have to keep a close eye on the fish, make sure they have enough 02 keep that diy c02 going you could get fast growing stem plants like ludwigia repens or pogostemon stellata. they like the high light and ferts. plus you can sell the cuttings. the fast growing stem plants will also help keep the algae in check by using up the ferts before the algae can get it. limnophila sessiliflora is a crazy fast growing stem plant. but not too many people will want that. just throw it out when your tank comes back into check, or keep it if you like it. when i had it in the high light tank it would grow 6inches a week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smellyfish Posted October 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 i highly recomend using dry ferts. they are way cheaper i use pps pro method. i got all of the ferts for $40 that would last probaly 2 years for a 55 gallon tank. i got all the ferts from the grow store on edmonton trail just south of 16th ave.the otocinclus will eat some of the algae but you woud need at least 10 or more for a 55gallon another thing i would try if you dont have any Vallisneria is the florish excel (organic c02) you could double up on the dose or higher. just have to keep a close eye on the fish, make sure they have enough 02 keep that diy c02 going you could get fast growing stem plants like ludwigia repens or pogostemon stellata. they like the high light and ferts. plus you can sell the cuttings. the fast growing stem plants will also help keep the algae in check by using up the ferts before the algae can get it. limnophila sessiliflora is a crazy fast growing stem plant. but not too many people will want that. just throw it out when your tank comes back into check, or keep it if you like it. when i had it in the high light tank it would grow 6inches a week thanks so much, i will head down there tomorrow after work,& then head off to big als or pisces to get those plants too, one question though, the plant store u talk about is that the hydrpontics place beside the meat store & a pub? hopefully it is because thats where i^m heading. & again thanks a lot, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleshgear Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 thanks so much, i will head down there tomorrow after work,& then head off to big als or pisces to get those plants too, one question though, the plant store u talk about is that the hydrpontics place beside the meat store & a pub? hopefully it is because thats where i^m heading. & again thanks a lot, yes that is the store. which method are you going to use? ei or pps? and do you know what to get? you could also post a looking for add. for the plants. they are all common and grow fast so people always have cuttings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdcox76 Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 I can snip off a bunch of my limnophila sessiliflora if you want. It does grow like a weed but I like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaBeats Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 have you looked to see where the algae is occurring? is it at one part of the tank more-so than another? I had an outbreak when my driftwood was blocking my water circulation, creating a still area of water. although, i also had hair algae and spot algae until i added CO2, and that was when the staghorn started appearing on my crypts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishkabod Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 With algae I only remember One thing and that is plants can grow faster and take up more minerals than algae and algae can't survive if the plants have everything they need. Just ask my Mr. blue. I haven't cleaned algae in that tank in over 6 months and the hornwart and Java moss love it. Good luck L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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