# Blackout for Staghorn Control???



## Chris Roe (Dec 21, 2010)

I'm at whits end. I've spent HOURS on here looking over threads.

I have consistent high (but safe) levels of CO2. I've adjust my WPG and duration of light. I've been doing EI for weeks now. My KH and GH are 8 to 10 (Bocopa seems to like it better a bit "harder"). My beard algae seems to be "under control" - meaning it isn't spreading like before. I have done the "trim the leaves that have staghorn" for weeks now, and all its left me with is spindly plants - FEWER plants - and more and more staghorn! I can't trim anymore - and plus I have staghorn growing out of the GRAVEL!!!!

If I black the tank out for 3 to 5 days, will it kill it? I know there "must be some imbalance" that I need to correct, but I need to get in front of this crap, or else I'm going to lose all my plants and REALLY be in a world of hurt!

What do you think?

Chris


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

uhhh some of you tatics are a bit over the top. when i'm fighting algae (namely bba and staghorn) i don't cut them off my plants. that's like cutting off your forehead because it has pimples. you need to get to the root of the problem.
couple things i would say are culprit:
to much organics (if you stir up the gravel is there hella crap?)

imbalanced nutrient levels (high phosphates are fine, but the others need to be within respectable ranges) (just because you dose EI doesn't mean your nutrient levels are right, test your water with a LIQUID tester, no test strips please)

too much light? what's your photoperiod

and probably the most important: filtration? if anybody knows about filtration it'd be niko. it actually has a big role in bba and staghorn.

for the meantime just squirt h2o2 and that'll kill the algae (temporarily)


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## Chris Roe (Dec 21, 2010)

Will h2o2 hurt the fish and snails?????

Photoperiod is at 8 hours right now, at a little over 2 WPG. BUT - I have that coincide with a period of about 1.5 of direct sunlight into the tank. ...there's nothing I can do about the location of the tank and the windows, so I thought I'd try to work WITH the sunlight, and go a little lower on the intensity with the T5s so I didn't overdo it. ...plants pearl like CRAZY everyday.

I guess I need to do more research on the ^&%#$^$# filtration stuff. ...some people say don't do too much, others say do a lot... And others on here say "trim effected leaves" and "once nutrient levels come up SH will die out..." So....does SH like too LOW of nutrients or too HIGH of nutrients - or both?

Thanks for the help so far...


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

umm h2o2 is fine just don't be pouring a whole bottle in your tank. spot treat with a syringe with the filter turned off. I think i read somewhere it was like 2ml per gallon. :/ i just use what i need and it's good for slapping algae in the face


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## florini (Apr 24, 2011)

Chris, what happened in the end, did you defeat the staghorn?


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## rlswaney73 (Jul 21, 2011)

the times I've had staghorn, a couple weeks dosing excel gets rid of it but not the way to go if you have vals. I don't overdose it, just a normal dosing schedule.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

I've got a bit of this now presumably because I accidentally washed my filter media in chlorinated tap water (what a rookie move). Anyway, ammonia spiked, plants melted, shrimp died, algae swooped in and disaster ensued. I bleached the plants and driftwood (some BBA snuck in too). Now the filter is cycled again and the algae is subsiding, plants are looking much better.

Plus I re-scaped my tank and fell in love with it all over again!

So looking into your filter might be a good start. The variation I have is yellowy and rubs off the plants very easily. So yeah, trimming the plants would be overkill. 

If I recall properly, the darker version is a little more difficult to remove by hand. H2O2 as previously suggested could work great. 

Good luck! Don't give up!


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