# Still Plant Deffiency and Algea



## Mr. Fish (Oct 24, 2007)

I dont know why my plants keep showing signs of deffiency in my 30 gallon.
They keep showing that "cat hair" (Sorry forgot the name of it) stuff on the leaves, and I have everything there for them

*2 DIY Co2
82 Watts of Light
Dosing Dry Ferts 2 Times a week
Eco Complete Substrate*

Could it be that once the plants infected the whole thing slowly dies?
Becuase this doesent make sense. And I need some articules on cutting and trimming
Last night I dont know if I cut my plants right. I cut all the extra at the top then bunched it all togather with a rubberband
and replanted...hopefully that works .... I dont know if its the algea taking over the nutrients or what, but how 
do I get rid of this stuff, algea and the "cat hair" on my plants? Should I redo my Aquascape? Add a bunch of fast
growing plants to assorb all the nutrients then the algea will die off? Then replant the plants I want?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Algea is not really a dificiency, but is caused by an inbalance in the tank. Have you tested your water parameters to see where your N03 & P04 levels are at? Exactly what ferts are you dosing? To me dosing ferts only two times per week seems not to be enough. 

I would not redo the tank but work with what you have. Trim off badly affected leafs. Add more fast growers. Add algae eaters. 

To prune stem plants just cut the tops off an replant in the substrate. However don't use a rubberband to hold them together, this will cause the stems to rot.


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## Mr. Fish (Oct 24, 2007)

trenac said:


> Algea is not really a dificiency, but is caused by an inbalance in the tank. Have you tested your water parameters to see where your N03 & P04 levels are at? Exactly what ferts are you dosing? To me dosing ferts only two times per week seems not to be enough.
> 
> I would not redo the tank but work with what you have. Trim off badly affected leafs. Add more fast growers. Add algae eaters.
> 
> To prune stem plants just cut the tops off an replant in the substrate. However don't use a rubberband to hold them together, this will cause the stems to rot.


The problem could be several things
First I added all my plants and didnt add ferts for about a month becuase I was
still learning. (Im now adding twice a week dosages)
Also could be that my lights are on too much 12 hours a day

I dose the following:
1/4 tsp KNO3 twice a week
1/16th tsp KH2PO4 twice a week
1/8th tsp K2SO4 twice a week

then

1/16th tsp CSM+B seperatly twice a week

My water parimeters are as followed:

Nitrate: 20
Nitrite: 0
Hardness: 300
Chlorine: 0
KH: 300
PH: 6.8

I have been trimmin off bad leaves but it keeps gettin other leaves then moving to
other plants....doesent make sense, I wish I knew how to get rid of this stuff....
I also do 70 percent water changes every sunday


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Definately cut back 2-3 hours on the daily lighting, down to 9-10 hours daily. Also try to get the nitrates down closer to 10ppm. Also check your phosphates, they should be around 1ppm.


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## XRTech (Jul 15, 2007)

I had this problem too. I cut back light from 3.6 wpg at 12 hrs to 2.7 wpg at 10 hrs. I kept up on ferts and did manual removal of algae best I could during water changes (1/4 tank per week). After about 3-4 months algae all gone and tank is crystal clear with clean healthy plants. I think time plays a big part in the scheme of things. Takes a while for balance to be achieved. Also, otos and shrimp will help.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

You could get or make a drop checker and verify that you have enough CO2 in the water. It is easily possible to lose CO2 as fast as you inject it. You can do a quick test, not at all accurate, but still quick. Take a small sample of water from the tank. Measure the pH immediately. Then leave the sample out in the open air, sloshing it around several time, for several hours. Measure the pH again. It should increase about 1.0 ( from 6.8 to 7.8, for example). If it only increases 0.2 or 0.5, you don't have enough CO2 in the water. Just don't assume this is an accurate measurement - it isn't.


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## Mr. Fish (Oct 24, 2007)

trenac said:


> Definately cut back 2-3 hours on the daily lighting, down to 9-10 hours daily. Also try to get the nitrates down closer to 10ppm. Also check your phosphates, they should be around 1ppm.


Yes, Im cutting back on photosythensis periods from 12 hours to 9-10 hours starting yesterday.
How do you check your Phosphates?



hoppycalif said:


> You could get or make a drop checker and verify that you have enough CO2 in the water. It is easily possible to lose CO2 as fast as you inject it. You can do a quick test, not at all accurate, but still quick. Take a small sample of water from the tank. Measure the pH immediately. Then leave the sample out in the open air, sloshing it around several time, for several hours. Measure the pH again. It should increase about 1.0 ( from 6.8 to 7.8, for example). If it only increases 0.2 or 0.5, you don't have enough CO2 in the water. Just don't assume this is an accurate measurement - it isn't.


I have a drop checker already Hoppy. It use to always be light blueish green, but now since I change
out my DIY yeast setup after every water change its kept it consistant at a pure green almost yellow.
I also just purchased a 500 ML bottle of Seachem Flourish Excell today and will begin dosing once recieved and we'll see if cutting the light back and dosing Excell with a combination of consistant DIY Co2 will kill off the algea. Also I've been prunning as much as I can....


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