# Battling Thread Algae for months



## Skelley (Mar 4, 2006)

I have been battling thread algae for probably 6 months. I have tried everything I could think of and nothing is working. I have tried reducing my photo period and decreasing the lights. More and less ferts. Remove with toothbrush. Do another black out. Perhaps someone has some ideas? 

Tank stats:
35g set up for over a year
Amazonia substrate
Pressurized CO2 via atomic diffuser
T5 HO 96W 4x 6500K lights (Note: I do NOT use all 96w)
EI dosing (KNO3, PO4, CSM+B) with the addition of Epson Salt, Calcium Chloride and Sodium Bicarbonate on the day of my WC.

My filter is cycled and clean. My tank has good circulation. It is lightly stocked and I do not overfeed. 

My CO2 comes on 2 hrs before the lights and go off an hr before they shut off. Drop checker is always green. Using 4 degree KH distilled water. Plants never pearl (even the Riccia, but I understand that it is not necessary for a healthy plant). New fish gasp at the surface before becoming accustomed to water.

I have tried everything with my lights. Having 2x 24w lights directly above the water is proving to be too little. My Hairgrass starts yellowing, plants seriously suffer. 3x 24w raised 4 inches above the water makes my plants feel a little better, but then the battle with the hair algae begins once again. My growth still isn’t what I would like it to be even with the higher light. The bulbs are over a year old and I probably need new ones. I would like to get different bulbs as several of my plants should be red but are not. Still I wonder if this battle between too much and too little will continue with new bulbs. Raising my lights even more is not an option. I rent my house...lights hanging from the ceiling=bad. Right now the photo period is 8 hrs.

I add the ferts in the amount suggested for EI dosing:
20-40 Gallon Aquariums 
+/- ¼ tsp KN03 3x a week
+/- 1/16 tsp KH2P04 3x a week
+/- 1/16 tsp (5ml) Trace Elements 3x a week
50% weekly water change

I have tried more than this amt with no luck. I have super soft city water with less than one degree of hardness for both GH and KH. I add a tsp of Sodium Bicarbonate, and do a 3:1 tsp with the Calcium Chloride and Epson Salt. With no Calcium added the snails’ shells erode...I like to keep them healthy for my puffer tank.

I will be purchasing new ferts and bulbs soon. Is there anything else I should be purchasing in addition to the ferts I am already using? Or something instead? Lighting recommendations? 

Thank you for reading my novel. Any suggestions would be very, very helpful!


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## JeffyFunk (Apr 6, 2006)

According to the 'Method of Controlled Imbalances', ammonia is the cause of thread algae. Try checking your KNO3 for ammonia impurities. If that is the case, I would replace your KNO3 and get it from another source; I like aquariumfertilizers.com (sp?). I had that problem with KNO3 from GLA so now I don't order fertilizers from there.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

I've always found thread algae a really though one. Some of my experiences: the tapwater here has high calcium and low magnesium. If I don't add extra magnesium I get thread algae. BUT this only applies to my big tank (high light). I tried to induce thread algae in my small low/medium light by not dosing magnesium but this doesn't happen. Maybe magnesium is used up faster under high light...

I found a site back than with water report of various tanks with and without thread algae: http://wetplantlogic.com/wordpress/2009/03/21/thread-algae-woes-thread-algea-understood/

The conclusion he draws is that there is too much silicate, but as you see there is too little magnesium as well. Not sure whether this would work for you too, but after 6 months it is worth a try I guess! Slowly raise the amount of magnesium. A 3:1 tsp with the Calcium Chloride and Epson Salt is not the same as 3:1 calcium : magnesium because epsom salt is a heptahydrate.

PM me if this works!


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## Skelley (Mar 4, 2006)

Thank you for the suggestions! I had intended to post this in "Algae" since I am not certain it is a fertilization problem. I ordered new lights to replace the old ones (and different as I haven't been liking the 6500s). I also purchased new KNO3. Sorry Yo-han, I can't view the site you listed (my computer says it has been infected with Malware). I do get the gist of the article from what you are saying. I was unaware that epson salt doesn't count in the 4:1 or 3:1 in Ca/Mg. It seems a lot of people aren't aware as all my previous research though various forums show others doing the same thing. What would be the best Mg source in this case? I also do not dose Mg (or much of anything really) in my low light tank and I haven't seen any thread algae. Though from what I understand thread really algae thrives on high light and ferts.


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## sandeepraghuvanshi (Feb 22, 2007)

Skelley said:


> Plants never pearl (even the Riccia, but I understand that it is not necessary for a healthy plant).


Given you have good co2 and adequate lights, your plants should pearl.
As they do not it means that due to some reason they are not photosynthesizing to the optimum.
96W of light is not too much for a tank of this size.
Are you changing the light schedule too much.


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## digital_gods (Apr 23, 2010)

I find I get the long stringy thread algae in my 90g high light tank when I get excess organics build up. Uselly doing some excess tank maintenance of cleaning filters, vacuuming up mulm, water change and adding charcoal to filter will help clear it up.


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## sandeepraghuvanshi (Feb 22, 2007)

> I add the ferts in the amount suggested for EI dosing:
> 20-40 Gallon Aquariums
> +/- ¼ tsp KN03 3x a week
> +/- 1/16 tsp KH2P04 3x a week
> ...


You seem to dosing as follows for a 35 g tank
Nitrates-19.5 ppm weekly
Phosphates- 3.06 ppm weekly
potassium- 15 ppm weekly.
This seems to be a lower side, your plants might be starving.
Let me elaborate.
¼ teaspoon of Kno3 is 1.4 gms or 6.5 ppm of nitrate(for your tank)
So weekly you are dosing 6.5*3= 19.5 ppm of nitrates.
To simplify things let us assume you are dosing daily, the daily dose will come to 19.5/6= 3.25 ppm of nitrates daily.
Let us start from day one with assumptions that your tap water does not contain any nitrates and your plants are consuming 50% of nutrients

Day-------------- Opening ---------- dosing------------------- consumption----------------------- closing
Day 1--------------0.00--------------- 3.23-----------------------1.62-------------------------------------1.62
Day 2------------ --1.62---------------3.23----------------------2.42-------------------------------------2.43
Day4------------2.42-----------------------3.23--------------------2.83----------------------------------------2.82
; 
;
;
Day7&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.3.18
50% water change
Day8 &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;1.59

We can go on like this, after some time your tank will stablise at about 3 ppm.
But it will never get higher than that.
So in my view your plants are starving.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

Skelley said:


> Thank you for the suggestions! I had intended to post this in "Algae" since I am not certain it is a fertilization problem. I ordered new lights to replace the old ones (and different as I haven't been liking the 6500s). I also purchased new KNO3. Sorry Yo-han, I can't view the site you listed (my computer says it has been infected with Malware). I do get the gist of the article from what you are saying. I was unaware that epson salt doesn't count in the 4:1 or 3:1 in Ca/Mg. It seems a lot of people aren't aware as all my previous research though various forums show others doing the same thing. What would be the best Mg source in this case? I also do not dose Mg (or much of anything really) in my low light tank and I haven't seen any thread algae. Though from what I understand thread really algae thrives on high light and ferts.


I get this message now as well, too bad, the rest of the site is accessible.


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