# Algae defeats boy



## Hoobahans (Mar 4, 2006)

I started by first "big" planted talk about 5 months ago while home for spring break from college. Its a 95 gallon tank and I added the driftwood and alot of moss as well as some hairgrass and a few other plants. I thought it would be the perfect amount of time for all the moss to grow and spread and settle in before I returned to fill it up with more plants. When I got back for summer I added pressurizied CO2 and bumped the lighting up to 400watts (its a hair over two feet deep, so it needs alot of light). I also came home to the entire tank filled with BBA (black beard algae, if I got that right), green algae, and some long filamentous algae which is a yellowish pale green and is thicked than green hair algae. I cleaned up all I could, shorted the light period, added a uv sterilizer on one of my filter lines but could not get rid of it. I can use the bleach method to get it off the bigger plants, and I think that my hairgrass algae is too far gone, but how should I get it off the moss? I have some fissidens which is not longer visible and about half the mass of all my taiwan moss is that wierd pale yellow stuff. I have eight SAEs, 8 ottos, 2 dwarf plecos, 1 twig catfish, and an army of probably 100 cherries but they cant keep up with the algae. Alright, that was too long and I apoligize for it, but if anyone can help me I would really appreciate it. 

A few stats:
pH controlled CO2 at 6.7 injected into the filter input
0 Nitrates
0 Nitrites
0 NH3
Hardness is rated at the low-end of the "Hardness" scale (I dont have a test that gives real numbers)
95 gallons
400 watts metal halide
1 large eheim filter
1 large oddyessea filter
1 13 watt UV sterilizer


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## Hoobahans (Mar 4, 2006)

Ugh, sorry. I did a spell check and instead of editing the old thread I made a newer, more correctly spelled, thread. Can someone tell me how to delete one or do it for me? My green horns have been exposed....


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I think you added waaayy too much light. All you have is slow growing moss like plants, why would they need 400w of MH lighting? That is like being in straight daylight, which mosses clearly don't usually do. 

You should reduce the lighting to around 100w with moss only. 

If you are going to add lots of stem plants and dose heavily then you can raise the lighting to around 200w. 

Also, how are you testing your water parameters? Via water report or test kits?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I agree to much lighting, reduce it. Also get your nitrates up to 10ppm, phosphates at 1ppm, increase your C02 to 30ppm and add a lot of fast growing plants.

_Are you doisng any ferts?_


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## Hoobahans (Mar 4, 2006)

I have all the light because I am planning on adding a LOT of plants. I ordered a whole bunch from singapore but they were all destroyed by customs. I reordered them from a US company and they will be arriving soon. I have all the light because I want glosso and its so deep that it seemed neccesary to have all the light. I had some pennywort in there before with 250 watts and it wasnt enough to keep the bottom too healthy, so I switched it up to the 400 watts. I am getting lots of stem plants which should help soon. I am using test kits to test all the levels and a pH meter for that. I have test-tube kits for everything but the hardness which I only have a cheap dip strip that only has a very soft, soft, hard, very hard scale. I have gotten it so the algae isnt really spreading, but I need to find a way to remove whats left from the moss. Oh yeah, and I am dosing the plants with fertilizer...eheim brand. The label is torn off and I dont remember what eheim calls it.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Removing algae from moss is a losing proposition. I had to just trash all of my moss when it got infested with algae, and I haven't regretted it at all. The cost of replacement plants is trivial compared to the aggravation the persistent algae causes. I suggest you try shopping at the for sale forum here:http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/for-sale-or-trade/
Even if you don't see the plants you want currently listed, just browse to see who has sold those plants in the past, and send them PM's to see if they have more to sell.
Then go to http://www.gregwatson.com/DryAquaticFertilizers.asp and buy KNO3, KH2PO4, and CSM+B to use as fertilizers, and research into EI using the search function.
Finally, the presence of so much BBA indicates that you didn't have nearly enough CO2, so jack that up until the fish and shrimp start showing signs of unhappiness with it, clustering at the top of the tank, fading colors, etc. and then reduce the CO2 a bit until they seem happy again. That is where the CO2 level should be. But, do this a little bit each day, watching the fish and shrimp carefully - don't jack it up high and leave the fish to suffer. And, if it were me I would use the pH controller as a book end. Far better, in my opinion, to control the CO2 with a needle valve and the regulator pressure, and use the solenoid to shut off the CO2 at night.

Above all else, never surrender!!! We are waging a global war on algae here!


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## Hoobahans (Mar 4, 2006)

I will try all that. I have removed all of my moss and picked through it and then re-tied it and taht helped a lot. Uping the CO2 seems like a good idea but I am worried about the pH dropping too low for my shrimp. I am planning of throwing all the old plants that are there now or using the bleach treatment on them. I am having trouble keeping the tank temperature low so I have resorted to freezing water I take form the tank and then putting them back in. I know that decreasing the temperature of the water will let more gas be disolved. I will go and get a more accurate hardness test and then try to adjust that so that more CO2 can be added as well. Thanks to everyone who has given me advice, I really appreciate it!


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## Hoobahans (Mar 4, 2006)

By the way, hoppy, that fertilized website is amazing. I really appreciate you showing that to me.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

The lower pH will be fine for your shrimp. Co2 won't lower the pH that much.


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