# Hair algae beginning, after low CO2



## LordSul (Mar 17, 2006)

Hey there,

80x50x45(h)cm tank, with press. CO2(off at night), and EI ferts dosing with 2x150W MH lighting (10 hours).

Recently I changed my bubble counter, and somehow with the same bub/sec the CO2 levels started to fall rapidly, then I realised that my old bubble counter had karger bubbles so the same bub/sec didnt work with my new counter. However, until I realsed this some hair algae started blooming on my soil and HCs. Today I chnged my bub/sec, and configired acording to my old counter. Do you suggest the hair algae bloom will stop growing and furthermore dissapear???

10 small SAE
9 Rednose Tetra
20 Neons,


See ya,
Thanx


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Unless you have a drop checker you can't be at all sure you have enough CO2 in the water. You have so much light for that tank, that you really need good CO2, good fertilizing, good water circulation, good cleanliness, or you will have algae.


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## Paul Munro (Aug 5, 2007)

In my experience you'd have to manually remove it :nerd: - it might stop growing, but it ain't gonna dissapear!


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## LordSul (Mar 17, 2006)

Its been nearly 2 weeks, the hair algae growth slowed down, but it is slowly infesting my HCs and E.parvula. I have 10 SAE, they have grown twice in size in one week, there are a lot of algae. 

I now have 6 amano shrimps too.

My CO2 levels are about 24-29ppm, day and night continous. Nitrates about 25ppm.
I dose KNO3, K2SO4, Fleet Enema, Flourish: monday, wednesday, friday. Sunday I make 50% water change.

9 hours of 2x150W MH.

Im really in a desparate situation, and If this disgusting algae continues growing and finnaly take over, Im afraid I may have to redesign and alter all my dosing scheme..
What are your advices, please help.

Thank you in advance


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I hate to sound like a broken record, but measuring the tank KH and pH doesn't tell you how much CO2 is in the water. Aquarium water is almost always too "contaminated" with things that affect the pH for the relationship between KH and pH to indicate CO2 with any accuracy at all, and the errors all seem to be such that the "measured" amount of CO2 is much higher than it really is. A drop checker, with 4dKH *distilled* water in it solves that problem. And, low CO2 with high light intensity equals algae.


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## LordSul (Mar 17, 2006)

I installed my Sera drop checker today, made a huge trimming, and %50water change.
I set my bubble counter to about 3 drops per sec.

About 2 hours later the drop checker changed color from blue to light green, and the usual fake pearling bursted violently.

I hope a week later Ill have the algae out of my tank

Thank you very much


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## LordSul (Mar 17, 2006)

Just bought a pH controller, so I hope Ill no longer have difficulty adjusting co2. Do you suggest at this amount of light, 30ppm would be enough for algae to stop growing?

What would be your suggestions now for CO2 as I now have a controller? My water kH is around 5-6.

Thank you


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I never use a controller, but if I did I would set the bubble rate to where the drop checker stabilizes at green. Then I would set the controller to whatever the tank pH is at that time. I would probably slightly increase the bubble rate so the tank would reach 30 ppm quicker. 30 ppm is a good setting for CO2 - if it goes much higher the fish get very distressed, and much lower, in my experience, BBA tends to start up. I was able to use 20-25 ppm in my tank, and probably would have been ok at that level, but my water circulation problems caused BBA to start, so I increased the CO2 ppm back to 30 to try to stop the BBA. The advantage of using 20 or even 15 ppm is that you can run it 24/7 without harming the fish.


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## FacePlanted (Aug 13, 2007)

I also think that redoing your dosing scheme won't do anything to combat the algae, unless it is to alter it to provide MORE ferts. I dont think dosing less would help with the algae.

I also use a light fixture that is way too much for my size tank, but I hang it way above the waterline. Maybe try reducing the light intensity by raising the height above the water that your fixture hangs. Doing this has helped me tremendously. I also notice black hair algae(not BBA) when my co2 isnt optimal. I either have to crank more co2(higher bubbles/second) or try to add better circulation, or both. This helps a ton. Maybe even adding excel could provide another method of attack on your algae.

Good luck!

-Mike B-


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