# [Wet Thumb Forum]-thread algae



## fishyface (Feb 7, 2005)

can anyone gimme an idea about this...
it seems to be growing alot on my slower growing plants like cabomba and java moss but not so much in the faster growing ones...

here's my specs.

55g heavily planted
260w light 12 hrs/day
co2 (pressurised/controller)
temp. 78
ph 7
kh 9
po4 .5
no3 8
3 ml. chelated trace element mix after weekly 50% waterchanges
then 2 ml. daily
a few sera root tabs... 3 or so per month (lean)

i quit trying to test for iron since it sounded like a waste of time from what i've read. can't seem to loose the thread algae but physically removing a fair amount.

anyone help me here? i would be greatly appreciated!


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## bobo31 (May 8, 2004)

You have almost 5wpg and cabomba is slow growing for you. That right there should be an obvious sign that something isn't right.
What are your fast grows if cabomba is slow growing?

From your specs you need more PO4. Add enough to maintain about .7 to 1.5ppm. Be careful though adding more PO4 will probably increase NO3 uptake so don't let your NO3 bottom out.

What are you using for traces? Is it CSM+B?
If it is CSM then I would be adding at least 10-15mls every other day. Add micros one day and Macros the next day.

Yea don't bother testing for iron, complete waste of time.

HTH,
Robert.


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## imported_pineapple (Apr 28, 2004)

Search around and you will find some people advising the use of H2O2 as a means of killing off thread algae.

As for its cause, can you remember when it first occured? Did you adjust trace or Fe dosing at that time?

Andrew Cribb


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## fishyface (Feb 7, 2005)

thanks for your reply's first off,

umm, my fast growing plants are Echinodorus barthii(flowering),Limnophilla aromatica, Ludwigia inclinata(cuba) glossostigma is doing well(slowly spreading). Looking up all my fast growing plants , the tropica sight says they are all slow growers . seems kinda bizzare to me.

i'll boost po4 but was under the impression that target was .5-1ppm. maybe i am too low huh?

and as for my traces, bought it from a hydroponics shop and goes as follows:
fe 7%
mn 2%
zn.4%
cu .1%
b 1.3%
mo .06%
to which i also add epsom salts cause our water is very soft normally < 1dkh outta the tap
i was adding about 6ml/day and getting a fair amount of pearling but thought maybe it was in excess due to algae. i'll boost that as well and alternate micros and macros.

wish me luck and thanks


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## bobo31 (May 8, 2004)

Most of those plants are fast growing under the light conditions that you are providing.

I have been keeping my PO4 around .7-1.4ppm for sometime now. I haven't seen any ill effects just increased growth. I add .7ppm and that takes my PO4 up to about 1.4ppm. After two days it is back down to .7 again. Like I said though keep an eye on the NO3 because the plants should start to use more. Other hobbyists keep there PO4 around 2ppm but I feel that may be approaching the ceiling.

You might want to increase you gh if it is less than one. I will post a recipe for doing so a little later.

Traces have never been proven to cause algae at least not to my knowledge.
Your trace mix is very close to the numbers in CSM+B so you should have no problems with it. I would start off with 10mls every other day. Do that for a few weeks and then increase the dose by a couple of mls and see if you see any more improvements in plant growth. Just remember that it takes about three weeks to see changes.

How long has it been since you have last calibrated your controller probe?
Don't forget to keep at the algae by manually removing as much as you can. Trim any leaves that maybe heavily infested.

How much and how often are you dosing NO3?

HTH,
Robert.


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## bobo31 (May 8, 2004)

Here is what I base my GH dosing off of, I got it from someone on this forum I believe. Sorry I can't give proper credit.

1/2 tsp of magnesium sulfate(epsom salt) in 5 gallon will give you 14 ppm mg. 

About a 1/4 teaspoon of Kent’s Turbo-Calcium will increase the calcium in 5 gallons of purified water by 30 ppm. 

These together will give you a GH of 6 in ten gallons of water.

HTH,
Robert.


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## something fishy (Aug 12, 2004)

Be careful when dosing your PO4, I added about 0.26 last week to bring it into line with my NO3. Now I am looking at a green water mess! I must have miscalculated or something.

-Adrian


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## fishyface (Feb 7, 2005)

man, i've just about tried everything as far as varying no3, po4 and traces...including cutting back on lighting to 10 hrs...and less. nothing seems to make much difference.

i'm really getting frustrated with a piece of mopani with java moss on it! seems to be the root of all evil in the tank cause tons of the tread algae seems to be comimg from that. is it just because it's not growing as fast as my other plants? 

should i just take it out of the tank and do the "bleach bomb" on it? any suggestions out there?


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## nino (Oct 2, 2004)

I'm not sure why you dose micro that much when having thread algae problem. You can't follow what other people dose in their tank. An established tank can handle wider range of nutrients levels without any algae problems. 

I would just stop the micro dosing completely and just wait for a couple of weeks. Once the thread algaes are gone, you can start dosing slowly (start with a third of the recommended dosage) and increase from there. As long as you keep the macro level in check, your plants will do fine without any micro dosing for a few weeks.


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## fishyface (Feb 7, 2005)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by ninob:
> I'm not sure why you dose micro that much when having thread algae problem. You can't follow what other people dose in their tank.


well, like i said, i tried varying by both dosing and cutting back on nutrients and lighting and neither made much difference. anyhow, i'll cut back all together and see what happens. thanks for the reply


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## vickie s (Nov 20, 2004)

I have hair algea on my wood as well. Reducing the flourish (and persistent removal) stopped the growth everywhere but on the wood. So I lowered the water (1/4), spot treated the wood with H2O2 (in the tank), removed more water (another 1/4), and finish the water change. The algea turned grey and died. I then scrubbed the parts of the wood that do not have java fern on them. It slowly came back over the last month or so. It looks like the decaying wood gives the algea enough nutrients to grow, but only slowly. I only add PO4 and trace elements, as the tank has well fed discus and adding nitrates causes spot algea on the glass.
HTH
vickie


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Fishface...The only thing cutting back (less than 10 hours daily) light does is benifit the algae not the plants. When I had thread algae in my tank I did a 50% water change and removed most of the plants that was covered in the algae then started dosing ferts as usually again; this cleared up the thread algae for me. But make sure to keep a balance tank to keep it from returning.


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