# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Staghorn & Hair Algae



## dissident (Sep 6, 2005)

I am starting to get a little hair algae in my 65 planted, not much hair algae at all. Mostly I am getting a nice population of staghorn algae on my Javaferns and wysteria.
It started to happen when I ran out of CO2 for a few days, and right after that I started a new dosing routine.
I am dosing:
CSM+B
KNO4
K
Fe

I have found i only need to dose KNO4 1/2 tablespoon 2x/week, and CSM+B once a week. The K and Fe i haven’t found any reason to dose much, since plants are growing very well with no signs of deficiencies. 

Tank specs:
rena XP3
2x96W PC 6700
4x30W PC 6700
10hr photo-period
Very little sunlight gets to the tank.
20-30% water change 1/week (missed last week).
Moderate fish load (5 F Fox, 15 Pencilfish, 1 angel, 3 rummies, 2 B Nose, 10 Amano shrimp, 2 zebra loach. I did have a spell of cloudy water after adding the 15 pencilfish about 2 weeks ago but cleared up after a couple water changes and regular ferts (figured the filter was not cycled enough). 

Plants:
Tiger Lotus
Rotala Indica
Crinum Calimistratum
Java Fern
Lace Java Fern
Hygro
Sunset Hygro
Wystreria
Didiplis diandre
Anubias afzelii
Cabomba Green

What would be the best way to get these algaes under control before it becomes a real problem?


----------almost forgot:
pH	6.50 - 7.0
gH	10.00	
kH	7.50 - 8.0
NH	0.00	
NO2	<0.3	
NO3	~5ppm
PO4	~.2ppm

CO2 is @ danger mark but fish seem fine and plants are doing well. The tank has been up for about 3 months. I had little-no algea durring initial cycle, started to occour after I added other plants. Guessing some algea hitched a ride from the various places i got my plants. Or started with the fert routine.

Any suggestions/help would be nice.


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## dissident (Sep 6, 2005)

I am starting to get a little hair algae in my 65 planted, not much hair algae at all. Mostly I am getting a nice population of staghorn algae on my Javaferns and wysteria.
It started to happen when I ran out of CO2 for a few days, and right after that I started a new dosing routine.
I am dosing:
CSM+B
KNO4
K
Fe

I have found i only need to dose KNO4 1/2 tablespoon 2x/week, and CSM+B once a week. The K and Fe i haven’t found any reason to dose much, since plants are growing very well with no signs of deficiencies. 

Tank specs:
rena XP3
2x96W PC 6700
4x30W PC 6700
10hr photo-period
Very little sunlight gets to the tank.
20-30% water change 1/week (missed last week).
Moderate fish load (5 F Fox, 15 Pencilfish, 1 angel, 3 rummies, 2 B Nose, 10 Amano shrimp, 2 zebra loach. I did have a spell of cloudy water after adding the 15 pencilfish about 2 weeks ago but cleared up after a couple water changes and regular ferts (figured the filter was not cycled enough). 

Plants:
Tiger Lotus
Rotala Indica
Crinum Calimistratum
Java Fern
Lace Java Fern
Hygro
Sunset Hygro
Wystreria
Didiplis diandre
Anubias afzelii
Cabomba Green

What would be the best way to get these algaes under control before it becomes a real problem?


----------almost forgot:
pH	6.50 - 7.0
gH	10.00	
kH	7.50 - 8.0
NH	0.00	
NO2	<0.3	
NO3	~5ppm
PO4	~.2ppm

CO2 is @ danger mark but fish seem fine and plants are doing well. The tank has been up for about 3 months. I had little-no algea durring initial cycle, started to occour after I added other plants. Guessing some algea hitched a ride from the various places i got my plants. Or started with the fert routine.

Any suggestions/help would be nice.


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

I'm all ears on this one also. My staghorn showed up when I started dosing CSM+B every other day. However, I'm also having the needle value on my CO2 tank "drift", reducing the CO2 rate.

I'm guessing the answer is going to be to stabilize the environment (CO2, drop back the dosing amounts on CSM+B, etc.). But, other suggestions are certainly welcomed!

Brian.


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## dissident (Sep 6, 2005)

What are your water parimater maybe we can figure this out together. 

I got the CO2 going again for the last week, I'm going to back off on CSM+B to 2ml every 3 days from the 5ml every 3 days. I am debateing reducing the lighting to just the 96x2 PC and see if i see any improvement. I think i might have started to hard on the CSM+B right away.

My 55gal I am dosing the same but have less light, (3W/gal) and have had no problems...yet


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

Yesterday, before tank maint (which I missed the previous week), I had ph=6.9, kh=5-6, CO2 around 40 bpm with a level of 20 ppm. I then did some tweaking to my Milwaukee all-in-one to get the bpm up to 88-90 bpm. I'll take a new ph reading later today.

After a 50% water change, I had PO4=0.4, NO3~13 and kh=6-7. So, I only added 1ml of trace mix (1 Tsp of CSM+B in 250 ml distilled water). Hmmm, maybe I should have added some K.

As my tank has never really chewed through N and P as other tanks do, I decided to start adding every-other-day trace additions. I started at 1ml every other day. That's when the algae really seemed to kick in. I stopped my trace additions over the last two weeks, and it seems like the algae is cutting back. But, I still want to tweak my regimen, so I'm going to start adding a smaller dosage of trace (maybe around .25 ml) tomorrow.

So, our situations seem pretty similar from what I can tell.


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## dissident (Sep 6, 2005)

Did a 25% waterchange (tap). Reduced lighting, removed some of the staghorne from the lace top java ferns (where it really seems to like it), and some of the equipment. Dose 2ml CSM+B (1tablespoon in 500ml), K, Ca, and KNO4.

PH- 7-8
KH- 8
NO3- ~10
PO4- .5


***********
Dosed KNO4 to 15PPM NO3, Increased CO2, Decreased Lighting to 3w/gal

Will do another waterchange Thursday, 25% everyother day. Hopefully it will be clear by christmas?


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

I'm not sure I was meant to participate in this experiment (see below!), but I'll contribute what I can.

First, the good news. My algae seems to be cutting back...or at least it's not flourishing as quickly. I'm guessing that's due to cutting back on my trace dosing.

I didn't get a chance to test levels tonight until around 11:30 PM. By that time, the lights and my CO2 had been off for around 3 hours. My CO2 bubble rate is still sitting around 88 bpm, so hopefully my regulator drift is licked. I did a quick check of the ph last night and it was down at 6.8, which is better. Tonight, my ph kit ran dry, so I went to another kit. It measured at 7.0. Is it high because of the CO2 being off or because of the new kit? My kh=6, NO3~16 (a clear indication that I'm a hopeless overfeeder







, and my PO4=? (that kit ran dry also...with no spare on hand!). So, I added .25 ml of trace and, just because, 1/2 tsp of K2SO4 (since I forgot at the water change).

In addition, I've noticed that Ich is gaining a foothold in my tank. Likely another indication that my tank was out of balance. I borrowed a heater from a friend (I've not previously had one sitting down here in FL!). So, I'm going to be cranking the tank up to around 86 degrees F, adding in salt and doing 1-2 day 50% water changes. I'm guessing the water changes should really help me balance my ferts, as I'll be redosing them with every water change. But, I have no clue what the increased temps might do with the algae.

So, I'll report back in a day or two with any changes!

Brian.


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## aviel (Sep 12, 2004)

CSM+B is a powder,

Could you guys let me know what do you mean by 1 ml CSM+b? How many grams per how much water?

Aviel.


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## dissident (Sep 6, 2005)

I mix l tblspoon with 500ml water. and dose accordingly. BSS is mixing 1tblspoon with 250ml of water. So his mix is twice as potent as mine.

If he doses 1 ml and I dose 2ml we are dosing the same amount of CSM+B but our tanksize is different so he may be adding more then I.


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## aviel (Sep 12, 2004)

15 mg per tblspoon * 1 mL / 500 mL solution/ 260L tank size * 6% iron concentration gives 0.007 ppm Fe per 1 mL solution.

If you plan on have 5 mL per 3 days then that's an average of 1.6 ppm per day which means ~0.01 ppm iron daily. 

I did a short survery in this forum and common numbers were 0.2-0.3 ppm iron daily. That's 20X-30X than your dosing plan. And I was wondering if your Didiplis Diandria thrives in that tank because it really is an iron sucker (excuse my english...)

I personally was dosing way more than 0.2-0.3 by mistake and had no algae problems. There were other problems but not algae.

What I fear is that if one dose so little CSM+B and supplement it with way more iron then perhaps the iron blocks the manganse - but that's maybe for another thread.

Aviel.


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

Aviel - good comments. I recall your other post. I actually picked up Flourish Iron to supplement my trace mix because Rex Grigg (I believe) stated it was difficult to add enough Fe from a CSM+B trace without overdoing the trace. Then another member I regard highly stated he's never had to dose Fe separately. So, I'm still a bit confused on this point.

I know that as soon as I started added 1m of my 1 tbs/250ml solution every other day, the algae started to really kick in. Perhaps I just needed to ride it out and let the tank adjust. But, I'm currently gonna back off and just build up more slowly.

Do you recall if most from your post just added Fe via a CSM+B like mix? I'll have to go back and check that.


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

Tonight around 8 PM, my ph was at 6.9 which has my CO2 around 23 ppm. So, I upped the bpm to 110 (from around 90). I'm shooting for the elusive 30 ppm.

With the heater and lights on all day, my tank was around 84 degrees, so I did a 50% water change and added 8 tsp of salt to commence the Ich treatment (my first outbreak of Ich!). While refilling the water, I recalled that I also lost my dechlor the other day. It got punctured by a nail slightly sticking out in my stand.

As my NO3 was high the other day, I didn't add any. With no PO4 kit (ordering tonight, I hope), I added 3 ppm (1 ml of my mix). I also added .5 ml of my trace mix.


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## dissident (Sep 6, 2005)

Good points, I have ordered an iron supplement a few days ago since I ran out and no LFS in the city has any









While I am on the topic what is the best way to does Chelated Iron for GregWatson's?


> quote:
> 
> Mix 3.53 ounces to make 1 litre of concentrated Iron Supplement solution.


How 'Concentrated' are we talking here? 1ML to raise 60gal 1ppm or what? Chuck's calculator really has no conversion for this. I don't want to OD Fe, but I really need to get my Fe levels up. I can see it in my red plants. Even my Red Tiger lotus is suffering, and my D. Diandria has gone from red to orange.


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