Hair Algae on Hemianthus Callithroides 'Cuba'

[leroyfong]

Just redo scaping for my 2ft tank on Tuesday. Included only HC within with rocks. Hair algae growing on HC now.

Spec:
KH: 5
pH: 6.6
Filter: Canister Filter
CO2: diffuser and 3l tank
Water temp: 27 deg C

Fert Dosage:
NO3: 5ppm during once weekly during water change
PO4: small rice grain once weekly during water change
Fe: 3-4 drops of Lushgrow Micro once weekly during water change

Lighting:8hrs
No fishes

Did 50% water change today and added 17 yamatoes today in hope of controlling hair algae.

Suspect that I added a bit too much of Lushgrow Micro and lighting period too long for new tank.

Have reduce lighting to 5hrs and maintain CO2 output 24hrs to attain pH of at least 6.6 - 6.7 throughout.

Any more expert advise on how to fight the hair algae especially on dosing? Add one more NO3 and PO4 fert dosing within the week?

Thanks,
Leroy

[PeterGwee]

Did you do any large water changes after the rescape? Is the tank densely planted? How much light do you have over the tank? Check the CO2 again and again for a couple of days and make sure you have it in the 25-30ppm range at the start of the photoperiod and towards the end of it. The CO2 will burn you if you slack on it other than NO3. I'll work with you on the nutrients once you give me the amount of light you have over the tank other than your amount of plants in the tank (don't skimp on planting..plant heavily!). As for the algae on the HC, the only way out is to trim it off or to wait for the plant to grow out till you have enough non-algae infected ones (you can also do it emersely first before you do the submerge style.).

Regards
Peter Gwee

[leroyfong]

sorry for missing out on lighting info. I have DIY 2 x 36W PLs for this tank. No switch for on or off, only connected to timer.

I have no other plants in the tank except HC. It covered the whole tank from front to back. I planted it in lumps like Oliver Knott style and waiting for it to grow and cover the gaps.

I scaped on Tuesday night and today is the day I did my 50% water change. I dosed 5ppm of NO3 and rice grain of PO4 and Lushgrow Micro 4 drops. Today after waer change, I dosed the same again.

Tough to trim because nearly all lumps have hair algae on it except for the few planted loosely. The rooting is beginning to hold because I was blasting the CO2 during the early week to 75ppm (pH 6.3) since without any livestocks. Yamatoes did not pull out any HC at this point.

Looking forward to your advise.

Leroy

[PeterGwee]

Since most of the HC are affected, you could only wait for them to grow out before trimming them or lower the water level to spot treat them with H2O2. On the nutrients side, you are dosing way too lean in my opinion. It might seem fine for the first week as the plants are adjusting themselves to the new environment and might not take up much nutrients but things will change, hence you need to up the nutrients as well. Here is a routine I will suggest for you.

Clean and scrub the tank well
Clean filter if flow rate drops
50% water change 2x a week (for the next 2-3 weeks till things settle down and then once a week should be fine)
1/4 teaspoon of KNO3 2x a week after the water changes (3x a week once the tank is fill up and things are growing well)
1-2 rice grain of KH2PO4 3x a week
5ml of micros 3x a week
Most critical part of all...Check and recheck the CO2! Do not assume it to be good. My former experience when I am doing 24/7 tells me that your CO2 tends to be very low towards the end of the photoperiod so as not to avoid overdosing in the night. Check that out...Stop doing 24/7 by means of running the reactor with an individual powerhead and hooking it up to your light timer. Position your powerhead such that it will leak out the excess gases in the impeller area once the CO2 reactor chamber gets fill up in the night when the powerhead is off to solve the airlocking issues.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[crandf]

APC's thread discussing how to grow HC successfully!
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...amp;highlight=
You'll need to scroll down a bit before they start discussing growing HC

Going to buy my K and PO4 next

[leroyfong]

Peter,

Thanks for advise. Will work on dosing.

I have few more questions:

1) Keeping the lighting at 5hrs for next 2 weeks, is it ok?

2) 5ml of lushgrow micros (too much?) for standard 2ft tank?

3) Can I use Hydrogen Peroxide instead of H2O2?

4) I am using a diffuser, not reactor. I believe that the CO2 is inconsistent throughout the day esp when lights off becoz of using diffuser. How to maintain good CO2 levels for diffuser?

5) If I switch to reactor, I cannot understand the portion where the pumphead can be positioned so that the extra CO2 trapped in the reactor leaks out from the impeller. How do I position the reactor with the pumphead? Any pics to show me?

regards,
Leroy

[PeterGwee]

1)No, keep towards 10-12 hrs daily.
2)Excess is fine...limiting to extremely low is not good for growth.
3)They are the same..
4)That is your biggest issue and it will burn you the hardest if not well taken care of. None of your nutrients are going to work if you cannot get the CO2 down first. Make sure you fix this before going on to the nutrients!
5)It depends on the powerhead design really. There is an intake point for water and an outlet. The main thing is to hook up the outlet of the powerhead to the reactor (those taiwan green reactor is fine..just remove the bioballs and the bottom cover. Add a rigid CO2 tube to the inner side of the CO2 inlet such that it extends to about 2-3 inches (acts as a bubble counter) and place it in such a way that the intake of the powerhead is facing the surface but well under the water surface. Once the powerhead is stopped, and the gas chamber in the reactor starts to enter the impeller area of the powerhead, you should see bubbles being burp out from the intake of the powerhead. This should stop any airlocking issues.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[Deepak]

Hi Peter,
I planted hc n reinikki mini 2 months ago.I used ada soil as substrate.light:36 watt pll of 2700 lumens 6500k plant started dying.I was doing ei dosing and co2 injected 4kg cylinder.after seeing lsi I added 2(11watt) pll with 850 lumens each.and increased ei 20n,2p and 1 ppm of csm+b.new growth is seen now but old leaves are turning black/brown.wat to do, ur suggestions r really important.
Thanks
Deepak

[Mameshrimps]

Throw in a hungry Siamese Algae Eater and for a 2ft tank 10-15 yamato. Bam gone within a few days. SAE will clear most of your hair algae.

Cheers

[greenie]

Deepak, you should really open a new thread instead of digging out a 2004 thread.