Hair Algae control

[torque6]

I presume all is well with the fight with algae, update us should you need help again.

[WaterH2O]

Still some hair algea here and there but good news is I can see my yamatoes out in the open grazing. hopefully....

[WaterH2O]

Just to check. current lighting for my tank is 2X36W PL lights and if I think that lighting is not enough. Should I add in another 2X36W or increase the watt to say around 39W-55W? I know the light intensity thing is different. Put it in another way

(2X36W)+(2X39W) is = to (4X36W), Yes mathamatically it does not add up but which is a better method?

[torque6]

Leave it as it is. Its been pointed out that increase lighting increases co2+nutrient. As of now since you are still combating algae, might want to keep it on hold. By the way, you managed to find the root cause to your algae's problem ?

[WaterH2O]

Nope, the hair algea is here and there but not taking over the whole tank which is still a good thing. Afew things I suspect

1) Lighting not enough - Calculation shows it is only barely 2 watt per gallon and that is why I am considering increasing the lighting. But then again, the plants are growing fine with only some algae here and there so not really conclusive. One thing to check with you guys, will insuffiicient ligthing distribution cause hair algea problem. My 1 light set of 2X 36W PL light in insufficient to provide light penetration some part of the tank.

2) Filter power not enough-unlikely because I am using a Jebo 835 (1 think) which has a flowrate of 1000l/min for a tank size of 168 litres of water.

3) Fert not enough - I am dosing Lushgrow MaCRO 30ml 2X a week, Lushgrow Micro 1 drop 2X weekly and KH2PO4 stock solution 10ml 2X weekly. Should be enough because lighting only 2W per gallon.

4) Tank not mature - Do not know how to gauge if tank is matured or not.

[PlAnTaNoOb]

Maybe you should increase your lights to help your foreground plants. But after doing so, try to keep your low-light plants out of direct exposure to the light. Word of caution though. Stronger lights mean higher nutrient and co2 requirements for your tank.

Your flow rate might be just right. I'm using a 700l/h eheim for my 60l tank. With all the plants, it's not really a lot. Especially, when you're using a reactor.

Equally important is the distribution of water from your filter outlet, ie flow. You should ensure that there are no dead spots in your tank where no fresh water is supplied. These areas might be lower in co2 and o2 relative to other areas - the lack of co2 discourages plant growth, thus encouraging algae growth; the lack of o2 might result in undesirable compounds being formed eg. hydrogen sulphide.

Lushgro micro label instructions stated 1drop for every 10l. You're only dosing 2 drops a week for a 160l tank?

[WaterH2O]

Guys when you mention increase light are you guys referring to increase say add in another higher watt light tubes e.g 1X55W or simply just add a few more tubes of the same watt, e.g 2X36w to 4X36W?

Yup I did that flow thing by adding a powerhead into the tank to improve the flow but not sure if I need to position it differently. It is now blowing water from the back of the tank to the front but might want to postion it so that is blow water from left to right.

Thought so too that microc dosing is a little lean may can up that to see if there is any effect?

[thuac]

Hi,

When we say lighting 2W per Gal

01) May I know what is the duration? 8hrs or 10hrs?
02) Is referring T5 or PL light?



Rgds

[WaterH2O]

Thuac,

I presume your question is directed to me.

Light period approximately 9 hrs and 2x36W PL lights.

[alechim]

Though I might be wrong, but lets exchange pointers.

1. I have tested with high and medium light before, algae still grows. Even if I dose more and increase CO2, algae still boom. So I conclude its not the lighting.

2. A filter might runs at 1000l/hr, but you have to take into account of the filter media and piping which will reduce the flow quite sinificantly. I use a eheim 2026 (950l/hr flowrate), and it runs like 450l/hr in my 2ft tank. Partial its because I used susbstrate pro and long piping, which slow down the flow.

3. How I look for whether fert is enough or not in my tank is through observation and testings. Observation of plants espcially, see if they are turning yellow, browing etc etc. Then I will know if i am lack of nutrients. second method is to do NH4, NO2 and NO3 tests. NO3 level can tell me whether my plants' uptake is slow or fast. From there i will restructure my fert regime again. It takes hell lot of time but it works for me.

4. Usually tank is mature when your NH4, NO2 and NO3 is stable. For me, not only these factors. I look at how the plants grow too.If plants grows well, then to my context it is matured and stable.

[torque6]

h2o,

A tank is cycled when its let running, on its own with weekly water changes to allow a colony of nitrifying bacterias to build up. It takes about 4-6 weeks for this process to happen, but can be slightly hasten with nutrafin cycle/sechem stability or api enzymes.

Having algae issues doesn't point to just 1 factor but an imbalance which you have to "figure" out. Once plants achieve good growth, algae goes away, its simple yet finding the causes have always been difficult.

[ct13]

H2O,

I had been using 2 x 36w & 1 x 55w PL light for my 3ft x 1.5ft x 1.5ft tank. Hair algae & bba problem.

Reduce to 2 x 36W PL, BBA & hair algae almost gone. Tried T5 2 x 39W, hair algae boom in 2 days!!. So, PL is good for 1.5ft depth but area of coverage not evenly spread out. But good enough for me as my glosso & marsilea are creeping well at corner too. T5 is good for 2ft depth & with good area coverage. Maybe bros here can correct me.

Above are experience with same amount of Fert & co2. I can't increase Co2, as I am using pH control. I can't increase fert as always has causaulty of CRS, even if I do(I tried). my CO2 cannot catch up.

So, I had keep it low light, low maintain, slowly change to low light requirement plants. Hope to have slow but healty grow.

Just to share & hope it help.

[WaterH2O]

ct13

Thanks for the advice. In fact my plants are having good growth ( no major issue) but call me a perfectionist or what, I am striving to have a total algae free tank ( if possible). And in the process hope to learn something more about algae control.

[ct13]

ct13

Thanks for the advice. In fact my plants are having good growth ( no major issue) but call me a perfectionist or what, I am striving to have a total algae free tank ( if possible). And in the process hope to learn something more about algae control.

don't mention, just sharing my experience.

I am also in the learning process, trying to find way & means to clear the hair algae. But still trying....

[WaterH2O]

Just a interim update, I put on a additional 55W PL I got from Bro ct13 and guess what the plant bubble inmediately. So what does it tells you? Experts any comments?

[WaterH2O]

Here is my 2 cents worth of opinion. Yes, does not tell you whether plant is healthy or not but definately is says something about the rate of photosynthesis. Can also indicate that previous lighting od 2 X 36w lighting not sufficient for good rate of photosythesis. slower rate of photosynthesis = slower rate of nutrients intake by plants and so = chance for algea... will update to see if my theory is proven.

Will increase my fert regime to 3X weekly and increase my CO2 a little bit. crossing my fingers that not algae bloom or high temp spike.

[raytan12]

I went to colourful aquarium (beside NA) to get a bag of shrimps. Uncle told me there are 100 shrimps in it... a mixture of 3 types of shrimps, malayan shrimps, taiwan shrimps and not sure the other.
dump all of them into my 2 feet tank and wow... within 2 days... my entire tank which was heavily 90% infested with hair algae, long green thread algae, blue green algae, are all gone... the shrimps only cost one red note.
amazing...
maybe those of you with hair algae can try.... it works very effectively for me.

[WaterH2O]

Yup shrimps are effective to a certain extent and I have 10 yamato to do the job. So far I have been running close to a week week with increased light and so far so good algae still in control and with the shrimps out grazing looks good.

[WaterH2O]

Ok an interim update after about 3 weeks to 1 month of making some changes to my tank to combat algae. These are what I did,

1) Add in additional lighting of 1X55W PL lighting and plants started bubbling. My initial lighting of 2X36W PL lights not enough. Watt per gallon only 1.98. With the additional 1X55W i have about around 2.88WPG. The cause of algea due to not enough lighting is not a rule casted in stone and I believe it also has to do with what kind of plants you have in the tank. I have lots of fast growth plants like wisteria, anacharis, milfoil and so the uptake should be very steep and so addtional lighting works. But for for slower growing plants this may not help as it might increase algea growth instead.
2) Fine tune my fert regime since the increase in lighting, from the 2X week to 3x week. Also increased the dosage a little by a little to the current 30ml of Lushgrow Aqua, 15 ml of KHSPO4 (1 teaspoon in 500ml stock) and 15 drops of Lushgrow Micros.
3) Prune off visible leaves with hair algea.
4) Add in Yamatoes to take care of the those unseen region with hair algea.

So far hair algea hardly visible though I suspect it is there some where but I cannot see so that is good for me.
Any comments are welcome we are here to learn. Hope it helps.

[StanChung]

Hi, Algae is very dependant on amount of light, more and you can get more very quickly.
Low light and you can correct it if you see it in time.

It's mostly cause by nutrient imbalance and too long photoperiods with slow growing plants. I would normally try to work things out with 6 hour photoperiod but still intense.