Help needed, algae issue

[jowy_ham]

Tank Dimensions : 1.5ft Cube Tank, ~90 Litres / 25 Gallons

Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 2 x 24W, T5HO
No. of hours your lights are on : 7 Hrs

CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : ~3bps
Type of CO2 (DIY/Cylinder) : Cylinder
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor) : Atomizer

Liquid fertilisers Used :

+/- 300mg KN03 3x a week (Mon, Wed, Fri)
+/- 300mg KH2P04 3x a week (Tues, Thurs, Sat)
+/- a dash of NaHCO3 (Baking Soda) whenever water change
+/- 5ml Seachem Flourish on Sunday
50% weekly water change or 20% change whenever I see those algae, siphon the algae out.

Type of Filter : Eheim 2213 (mechanical filtration) & 2215 (bio-filtration), connected in series.
When was the filter last washed : 3 weeks back
Filter media used : Wool, CR and Biohome
When was the media last changed : Wool was change 3 weeks back
What was changed : Nothing much except CO2 cylinder was empty and needs refill (thus resulted in inconsistent CO2). Refill was done last week.

Age of setup : 1.5 months

Water change frequency : once per week (sunday)
Amount changed : 50%

Water surface movement : gentle, rainbar
Circulation : gentle

Tank Temperature : +/- 25C


Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
-------------------------------------
Didn't test any before


Bioload (Number and type of fish and plants)
------------------------------------------
6 Forgot name of Tetra
10 Cardinals
4 Nerite Snails


Describe your problem :
----------------------
Film on the water surface when I initially start up the tank. Bought a surface skimmer but that doesn't help much. In the end, bought an air pump and place a air stone in the tank. Air stone only in operation when CO2 and lights are OFF.

Subsequently, got hit by the below algae picture issue (circle in red in the pictures below)

[jowy_ham]

I currently have KNO3, KH2P04 and MgSO4 in powder form (bought long before KNO3 was ban), I'm now only using KNO3 & KH2P04 on alternate days.

Do I have to dose MgSO4 ? What will be the frequency for dosing of MgSO4 ?

[jowy_ham]

No one to help ?

[blurless]

Can't really see what the algae is but does it look like hair algae? Green or brown? Amano shrimps do eat those I guess? You still cycling your tank?

[jowy_ham]

Can't really see what the algae is but does it look like hair algae? Green or brown? Amano shrimps do eat those I guess? You still cycling your tank?

Looks like green fine threads thus I guess it is green hair algae.

Don't have Amano shrimps in the tank, will get some as soon as I can.

It has been 2 months since I started the tank thus cycling should have been completed (I guess).

[edmund_83]

Do increase ur water change ... Like 2 days 15% water once. Or Keep some yamato or malayan in tank to control algae grow

[blurless]

You seem to be doing EI?

The oil film is normal for planted tank. It comes and goes for my tank. Right now I don't have the oil film but sometimes it will come back. Not sure if using a Lily Pipe outflow helps but I do use 1.

[jowy_ham]

You seem to be doing EI?

The oil film is normal for planted tank. It comes and goes for my tank. Right now I don't have the oil film but sometimes it will come back. Not sure if using a Lily Pipe outflow helps but I do use 1.

Yupe, intend to go EI but I guess I got my dosage calculations all wrong.

I have already cleared the oil firm issue, now the issue is the green hair algae. Besides adding in Amano shrimps and clearing visible hair algae by hand, anything else that can be done, e.g.: increase/decrease ferts, increase/decrease CO2, increase/decrease lighting ?

[barmby]

No. of hours your lights are on : 7 Hrs

why>?

-no reason to keep it on for so long if your tank is new.
-Also, move the water surface abit at all time. like the way amano do it with his lily pipe.
-your light power wattage abit short, so go easy with your fertilization.
-do you know your CO2 content during lumination period?

[thebaldingaquarist]

My 2 cents.

Its thread algae.
My recommendation
disconnect the 2 filters and put both outlets/inlets in the tank. One rainbar, the other just stick the outlet in (pointing downwards towards the front of the tank). Rainbar, tilt the holes upwards, make sure you have water movement (not too much, like water cooler on low power).

get as many yamatos as you have in nerite. you have high fert + CO2 regime.

Also.. when using that atomizer, make sure your entire CO2 is not leaking. it happens with UP, because of the high pressure required. Check the valve, atomizer and bubble counter and the check valve for leaks.

my 2 cents... hope it helps. i used to have thread algae, until i adjusted my output/input.