# Brown Hairy Algae



## latchdan (Sep 7, 2007)

I am having a problem with brown hair algae. I not sure if it is diatom or some type of hair algae that is brown/grey. Tank has been up and running for years but just recently switch from using flourish to dosing CSM+B. In addition I just moved and had to drain and refill. I saved 15 gallons of tank water and refilled with 15 more of RO water. Tank is 37 gallons with 80 Par of light (2X55 PC from AHsupply) on for 6 hours a day. injected co2. Drop checker is yellow. Tank has a rena xp1 and aquaclear 200. I think I got plenty of water movement.

Right now Nitrates are between 20-30, phosphates are 2-3. I've been dosing 1/16 teaspoon potassium nitrate recently since I moved. Dosing every other day. Haven't been dosing any phosphates because they have been pretty high. Test kits are accurate since I've calibrated them. Also been dosing 1/16 teaspoon CSM+B every other day.
1/8 teaspoon potassium sulfate when other macros are being dosed.

Since I moved been doing 2 50% water changes weekly.


























Pictures are from about 5 days ago and algae is just getting worse.
Fish are 2 angelfish also 3 nerite snails (2 zebra and 1 tri color horned nerite)

Should I get some ottos or something? I can't think of what to do other then wait it out and hope it doesn't kill everything in the tank.


----------



## thesawguy (Oct 27, 2012)

I have a 38 gallon tank, and I had some success spot treating with Excell in a plastic syringe every day for about a week. I used 10 mL a day. But you might want to work up to that, starting out with just 2x the recommended daily dose. It looks like some of your algae can be manually removed as well, just keep picking at it.

Your dosing and water change schedule is greek to me though. I use PPS-pro + iron and only change 25% 3-4 times per month. It seems like what your doing could create a lot of fluctuation.

Also, could you switch one of those lights to just go on for a few of hours during the middle of the photoperiod?


----------



## latchdan (Sep 7, 2007)

thesawguy said:


> I have a 38 gallon tank, and I had some success spot treating with Excell in a plastic syringe every day for about a week. I used 10 mL a day. But you might want to work up to that, starting out with just 2x the recommended daily dose. It looks like some of your algae can be manually removed as well, just keep picking at it.
> 
> Your dosing and water change schedule is greek to me though. I use PPS-pro + iron and only change 25% 3-4 times per month. It seems like what your doing could create a lot of fluctuation.
> 
> Also, could you switch one of those lights to just go on for a few of hours during the middle of the photoperiod?


I was originally dosing EI 
1/4 Potassium Nitrate
1/8 Potassium Sulfate
1/16 Mono Phosphate
3ml flourish Iron

then 1/16 CSM+B alternating days but I Tested after my 50% water change at the end of the week and my phosphates were around 10 and Nitrates were around 100. Obviously this isn't from just 1 week but every week even after water changes the nitrate and phosphates were not reset to 0.

So I reduced nitrate and phosphates it seems my tank right now uses about 1/32 teaspoon of nitrate daily, and doesn't use any phosphates or the tank is producing phosphates at the same rate they are being used.

I can't turn 1 light off they are connected to the ballast unless I rewire the lights. I am going to see if I can get some dwarf water lettuce today so that it cuts some of the light. Although, I have a feeling they are going to be covered in brown algae in a matter of days. We will see I suppose.

I would like to try PPS pro method of dosing but do not have a scale and from what I've read everything is measured in grams.

I have vals, I remember they are sensitive to excel, will they die if I add that much?


----------



## thesawguy (Oct 27, 2012)

Yeah I've seen people don't usually recommend excell with vals. Other than suggesting not to overfeed I don't have experience with any other ways to fight algae that would apply in this situation. You could get some ottos, snails, and amanos for minor control, but they need help with the big stuff.


----------



## latchdan (Sep 7, 2007)

I've added excel to day, but I skipped the initial dose and just did 3ml.


----------



## sea weed (Feb 20, 2013)

I bit the bullet after it took over my tank. I used algaefix and dosed as instructions on the bottle said. In the meantime I got my co2 levels in check. Just sharing what worked for me as a last resort. My hair algae engulfed everything. 4" tall clumps on my driftwood lol.


----------



## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

latchdan said:


> I was originally dosing EI
> 1/4 Potassium Nitrate
> 1/8 Potassium Sulfate
> 1/16 Mono Phosphate
> ...


A 50% waterchange only resets it to half the value. If nitrate is 50 before waterchange, it is 25 after. A reset till 0 can only be done with a 100% WC. And this assumes your new water has 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate. When you dose max EI and do the 50% WC and plants do not even take anything up, your nitrate will be max 45ppm before a WC: http://ei.petalphile.com/?stuff=NO3;dose=7.5 But this applies only when your tapwater has 0 nitrate and you don't add any extra NO3 (read: don't add food). Same thing applies for phosphate off course. When your tap water already contains 20ppm, a WC won't reset much so check your water first. Second, if you feed a lot, this brings in extra NO3 and PO4 so it will rise even more.



latchdan said:


> So I reduced nitrate and phosphates it seems my tank right now uses about 1/32 teaspoon of nitrate daily, and doesn't use any phosphates or the tank is producing phosphates at the same rate they are being used.
> 
> I can't turn 1 light off they are connected to the ballast unless I rewire the lights. I am going to see if I can get some dwarf water lettuce today so that it cuts some of the light. Although, I have a feeling they are going to be covered in brown algae in a matter of days. We will see I suppose.


Turning of the light will only raise your concentrations because less is used. Reducing the amount of NO3 and PO4 you add can always be done. EI is just a starting point so you know you never add too less NPK and traces. Biggest thing in EI is CO2, always start by increasing CO2. This is always the bottleneck because all other things are added, CO2 is the hardest to measure and can never be assumed to be high enough. If you can't dose anymore CO2 because lifestock won't allow, you need to reduce light. Now uptake is slower overall and CO2 is enough again. NO3 and PO4 will rise even more so reduce is even more.

I would use shrimp before Otocinclus, Otocinclus is not a very good hair algae eater...


----------

