# Staghorn help!!!



## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Reduce PAR.


----------



## aquariumhobbyist (Feb 18, 2014)

Xenaph said:


> Hi,
> 
> I'm piss off this algae in my tank. I notice a little BBA on my powerhead also a lot of Staghorn on my bucephalandra and top of my rock at around 200PAR of light.
> 
> ...


I am curious as to how you managed to measure the PAR? Do you have a PAR meter?


----------



## klibs (May 1, 2014)

+1 to roadmaster your probably have too much light.

In order to handle high levels of light you need a packed tank of healthy growing plants that can stay ahead of the algae. CO2 can help make this happen as it gives some plants an edge. Simply injecting CO2 will not 'prevent algae' - masses of healthy plants will. Just because your drop checker is green doesn't mean algae will magically never grow in your tank.

Pics of your tank will help myself and others better assess your situation...


----------



## Xenaph (Dec 9, 2013)

aquariumhobbyist said:


> I am curious as to how you managed to measure the PAR? Do you have a PAR meter?


I dont have it, i'm taking the chart of manufacture and from a website australian. 

My tank is 18" hight, and my light around 24" from above. 

Photo of algae, not very clear but you can see the fuzzy between rock white gray. It almost only at the top of my rock of on my buce.


















Full shot




















Maxspect Razor F 7,000K 3ft 115w


----------



## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Tank looks nice. Why did you feel you need that much light. The rocks are really gonna take a hit being higher up in the WC


----------



## Xenaph (Dec 9, 2013)

I feel it because the MC melt and not growing well. Since i put it at 6 hours at 85%, i was seen very great health leaf, but the rock and buce get the fuzzy gray (staghorn + a little BBA)

Does the h202 + excel can help ?


----------



## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

I think a bit of moss growing on top of the top tips would look very natural with the green spot algae that should grow there.


----------



## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Xenaph said:


> Does the h202 + excel can help ?


When you do a water change you can drain it lower than those peaks and spray or put some droplets of excel right on the rocks. I've found that many light demanding plants only need 2 hours of high light and the rest could be much lower.


----------



## klibs (May 1, 2014)

houseofcards said:


> When you do a water change you can drain it lower than those peaks and spray or put some droplets of excel right on the rocks. I've found that many light demanding plants only need 2 hours of high light and the rest could be much lower.


+1

Interesting note on the 2 hrs of high light mention... I might give that a shot sometime!

Something that I do for my powerheads during a water change (when they are no longer submerged) is soak a piece of paper towel in excel and/or H2O2 and let it rest on the algae-infected area. roasts algae.

Your scape is prettymuch destined for those rocks to be algae city IMO... I think for the following 2 reasons:

Very low plant mass - no heavy hitters / you only have a few stems that are pretty low to the ground. The majority of your tank's footprint is hardscape (sand path or the rocks themselves) so running high light will be difficult.

Height of the tank - you need to penetrate a lot of water to get decent PAR to your carpet. the rocks stick wayyyy up so they are going to get totally blasted.


...

Also consider that your extreme PAR at substrate could hurt your MC by driving it too hard. MC should grow just fine in medium light with ample CO2. It doesn't need to be blasted to thrive.

H2O2 and excel will kill off algae you currently have but will not prevent it from returning unless underlying causes are addressed.


----------



## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

klibs said:


> +1
> 
> Interesting note on the 2 hrs of high light mention... I might give that a shot sometime!.


I definitely found this is the way to go in certain situations because the 2 hrs won't have as large an impact on algae, but it gets the plants some strong light. Especially in tanks like this that as you pointed out aren't plant mass heavy like an Iwagumi where most of the scape is hardscape. 

The best lighting is many times ones that either have two switches or the newer LEDs that you can adjust.


----------



## Xenaph (Dec 9, 2013)

For light: is it a good photoperiod for my situation ? I can reduce to 5 hours period total and increase it to 100%. I inject 1-2 bps 24/24.

Excel/h202, i will try to lower the water and inject on the rock.

Tp1 x:00 a:1% b:0%
tp2 x:30 a:50% b:40%
tp3 x+2:00 a:75% b:60%
tp4 x +4:00 a:100% b:85%
tp5 x +4:30 a:60% b:60%
tp6 x+5:00 a:0% b:0%

instead of:

Tp1 x:00 a:1% b:0%
tp2 x:30 a:40% b:30%
tp3 x+1:00 a:60% b:50%
tp4 x +5:00 a:85% b:75%
tp5 x +5:30 a:55% b:55%
tp6 x+6:00 a:0% b:0%


----------



## Johnny Utah (Oct 27, 2016)

I am new but have a tried and true method to defeat Staghorn, which I've encountered in 3 lo-tech tanks.

2) Do 50% WC, including deep vac of mulm in gravel if possible
3) While tank is drained and plants exposed, spray consumer H202 directly on affected plant
4) Wait 5 minutes, refill tank, adding 1tsp aquarium salt per 10 gallons, salt shocks algae
5) Immediately run UV filter for one night to kill spores and microrganisms kicked up in mulm
6) Drop in 1 siamese algae eater and 1 bunch of hornwort for every 20 gallons
7) Decreasing light never worked for me. INCREASING light seems to work for me!

In one week you will staghorn will be gone. Never lost a fish and almost 100% success rate. Algae, being a simpler organism than your plants, gets its butt kicked by altered ph from salt, nutrient absorbing hornwort, and the sensual lips of the algae eater.

I have friend who incrementally increases PH over the course of a week or two until algae bites the dust. It is risky, but the simpler life forms are more susceptible and can't adapt as easily, hence they die first.


----------



## Xenaph (Dec 9, 2013)

I made a mistake, wrong thread


----------



## iter (Apr 24, 2012)

One thing maybe you could try is simply lower light intensity but over a longer photoperiod. This way your tanks won't be hit as hard and would give them more time to grow. Also, make sure your dosing is consistent; a lack of regularity in adding ferts will also sometimes affect these things. And especially for staghorn, manual removal along with the previously mentioned suggestions will increase its effectiveness. Hope this helps.


----------



## Xenaph (Dec 9, 2013)

All is gone.

I ended with 6h of light with a higher %. I also turn on the co2 24/24 to target 35-40ppm.


----------

