Hairy green algae

[ashes]

Hello.

I have a fully planted 300 liter tank, with 8 Otocinclus, a few cherry shrimp, and 6 dwarf puffers. T5HO lights, on for about 10 hours per day on a timer. I supplement Flourish Excel according to the directions (about 3 cap-fulls 3-4 times per week). I started using Excel to battle black beard algae, and it worked. But now I have green hairy algae, aka filament algae. I also use Flourish Comprehensive, a half dose maybe once per month. This tank is about 4 months old.

I do 5% water changes daily. The water's GH and KH is 80ppm. Tank temperature is 80F. PH is 7.6.

I don't mind the algae at all, except that it is attacking my plants.

I sprayed Excel directly on this algae, like I did with the black beard algae, but it had no effect.

So, I think the only solution is adding an animal that will eat this algae. My LFS has Fox Flying Fish. I tried to use these fish to eat the black beard algae, and I found they could not eat it fast enough to compete. They did eat the green hair algae though. I return them to the store before adding the puffers. I found them to be aggressive, and I didn't think they would live well with dwarf puffers. Another option is adding a small pleco species, but I'm worried that this animal will live under a lot of stress from the puffers.

What is the best solution to this algae problem?

[sevenyearnight]

I'm having the same issue, but I guess I skipped the black algae part. It's not even very noticeable, but it's smothering my money wort and chain sword blooms.

I'm considering a UV sterilizer as have read excellent things about them, including tanks being algae free.

I have some fast growing plants that are supposed to compete with the algae, but I might need to add more water sprite if I can find it.
If anyone has personal experience with a UV sterilizer in a planted tank, was it worth it?

I'll post my results when I have it.

[RTR]

IF you are running high light, you need more supplements,and whether high or low light, you need more water partials.

What are the tank's readings on nitrate, phosphate, GH, and KH, and what are the same readings from the water you use for partials?

Algae is a nutrient deficit or excess symptom.

[ashes]

I do have a lot of light. My duckweed (which was added by accident) is burnt red by the light.

I do 5% water change per day, about 5 times per week... remember that the tank is understocked with less than two small fish per 10 gallons. I have close to zero nitrates. My tap water has no phosphate, so the tank shouldn't either. My GH and KH are both 80ppm, both for tank water and new water.

My anubias and my bacopa monniera are both flowering, so something is right. My oto's are also spawning regularly. I don't want to change the water chemistry if possible, because it may cause the plants or oto's to stop reproducing.

I believe the nutrient problem is too little co2, because it's being consumed by the plants. I am worried that if I use co2 the PH will swing and stress the fish. I care more about the animals in the tank than the plants. However, adding Flourish Excel co2 doesn't seem to do anything to the algae.

[sevenyearnight]

Are you using any fertilizers?

[RTR]

Running high light without supplemental nutrients is begging for algae issues. Planted tanks, even moderately lighted one commonly require nitrogen supplement, along with others. The fact that you have algae issues does show that you have nutrient issues as well - algae take advantage of nutrient lack, excess, or inbalances. There are many algae in the world, and generally one or more will be enabled while your higher plants are slowed or arrested by nutrient issues (whether too little, too much, or badly proportioned).

Proper supplementation (which with high light does generally include some carbon source - most often CO2) will not result in unstable tanks, rather more the opposite. When you use Tom Barr's Estimative Index (EI) for supplements, you are far more likely to stabilize the tank and get rid of algae that to promote it, and few water chemistry tests are needed routinely.

http://www.barrreport.com/.../62-The-Es ... -Test-Kits -

HTH

[ashes]

The algae tends to bloom when I add Flourish Comprehensive, and plants start to flower. I also use Flourish Excel (co2) according to the directions.

I don't have test kits for nitrogen. Only for phosphate.

I got two flying fox fish (the last two at the store). They might help, but so far their bellies are not green, so I don't think they realize yet that they can eat this stuff. I have had these fish before, and I noticed that not all of them would eat green hair algae, but the majority would. They will also make good blood worm scavengers. So far the dwarf puffers ignore them.

I agree that I have a nutrient problem, but I don't know what it is.

[RTR]

You cannot operate a high light planted tank without at least some test kits. Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate tests kits are basic for any operating tank, not just planted ones. If you do not know what is happening in your tank, there is no way we can offer advice.

[ashes]

My ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates, are all basically zero. The nitrates used to be a bit higher, like 3ppm, and dropped back down. The tank is fully cycled, and/or the plants are doing all the work.

[RTR]

Vascular plants require a nitrogen source, generally nitrate. In bright light the usual titer maintained is ~10ppm. If there is insufficient nutrient for the vascular plants, algae in some form will be glad to use the light.

[ashes]

I've been dosing fertilizers. Mainly co2 and Flourish comprehensive, but the algae is growing and not the plants.

Today I spiked it with Flourish Excel, Phosphorus, Iron, Nitrogen, and Comprehensive, following:
http://rexgrigg.com/ferts.htm

I used his 60 gallon doses on my 80 gallon tank, and I got expected results, tested 2 hours later:
7ppm nitrate
0.7 phosphate
chelated iron 0
non-chelated iron 0.25

Previously everything was 0. I used 6 caps of Excel, blowing it on the algae with a syringe (this doesn't have much effect on green algae).

I understand that fertilizing plants is very dynamic. It depends on water, light, and plants, so no universal formula can be made. But now I can watch the numbers go down so I can calculate how much my plants are using.

[ashes]

So far so good. There has been noticeable growth in my tiger lotus. Other plants have grown, and some are flowering now. After 5 days, without water changes, my numbered dropped to:
5ppm nitrate
0 phosphate
0 non-chelated iron

I added co2 daily. So, it looks like I need more phosphate and iron, and I'm probably going to lose the nitrates with the next water change.

I wish I did this sooner. The algae isn't dying, but the plants are growing again. I'm going to try physically scrubbing off the algae from wood and glass before the water change, and hopefully the filters suck up the rest.

[ashes]

The green hair algae seems to be under control now. I believe the following factors are the major reasons:

I have 4 flying fox fish, which will eat hair algae if there is no other food available. They do eat blood worms that I feed to the puffers, and they also eat sinking pellets I feed to my loaches, but they're also eating hair algae.

I scrubbed the major problem areas with an aquarium scrub pad. This manually removed it.

I'm dosing my water like crazy. I test the water each 3 days, and I try to fertilize the water to these values:
NO3 5-10ppm
PO4 0.2-1ppm
Fe 0-2-0.7ppm

I am going through a lot of phosphate. 1ppm down to 0.25ppm after 3 days. My plants like iron too. Nitrates don't change much. Everything used to be zero before I started fertilizing.

So, if you have live plants, and a hair algae problem, I suggest doing what I'm doing. It's working so far.

[sevenyearnight]

Mod to high light planted tanks absolutely need supplementation. Glad you got your algae under control.
How about some pics?

[ashes]

I'm getting algae on the glass, but that's easy enough to remove. The plants are growing well too.