911 Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 Hello, I am looking for some help with my tank. I have a 46g bow front tank with T5 lighting (2bulbs) It is heavily planted, but the plants have a very fine hair algae growing on them. No real colour to it just a fine hair growing on all my plants. PH 7.5, NH3- 0, No3-0, No2-0, carbonate hardness 6-7d. Water is crystal clear, Fluorite substrate, DIY C02, lights on for 9hrs a day, air stones on at night, water temp 23-25 degrees. Weekly cleaning and 20% water changes. I am only fertilizing one a week with Flourish. Plants continue to grow, but any new growth with start to grow this fine hair algae. I have not tried Flourish Excel, i had a bad experience with it once (melted most of my plants) and have not used it in a year. It is extremely frustrating with all my plants are covered in hair. I am open to any thoughts and suggestions. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperGuppyGirl Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 I use SAE's and black mollies to keep this in check if you have a community tank, love watching my SAE school together Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 If you're just going to stick w little/no fertilizing, then adding an algae crew is your best bet. Amanno shrimp are the best, IME, bc they stay small and you can get them fairly cheap ($4 or less at most LFS). SAEs are great til they reach the 4" mark, then they tend to just eat fish food. Molly's are good, as are several of the smaller barbs (cherry, yellow, checker) - whatever will fit with your current stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
911 Posted October 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 If you're just going to stick w little/no fertilizing, then adding an algae crew is your best bet. jvision, I have always been told that adding too much ferts will cause excessive algae growth? Do you think that up'ing the ferts may help keep the algae at bay? Any suggestions on how often i should be fertilizing? 2-3 times a week, or follow instructions on the bottle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 The most important nutrient to add to a planted tank is CO2. The most important thing is to keep CO2 constant, which is hard with DIY. You can try to keep it more constant by running 2 bottles that are offset by a week. Read up on different fertilizing methods such as Estimative Index (there are a few good threads here on AA). Most methods are predicated on keeping CO2 at a constant 20-30ppm, which typically relies on pressurized CO2. That all being said, if you're happy with your plant growth, you don't need to adjust much. Adding several Ammano shrimp will solve your problems. I'd go for a min of 4.... Amanno, himself, adds 1/gal; but, 40+ seems excessive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
911 Posted October 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 Thanks for the input, gives me some options to look at. I have tried otto's in the past, to control the algae,they did not last too long, due to the 2 pictus catfish i have. Most small fish seem to disappear! Thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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