# HELP! Green Hair. Green Beard? Fuzz... so much so fast



## MikeP_123 (Aug 31, 2008)

Hey Guys,

I wish I had a journal to point everyone to... but I haven't yet put the commitment. FYI I have injected CO2. Tank is ~22" deep Hex (hence why the strong lighting).

*Light:*
It is a fairly new tank. About 2 months old. Has a Metal Halide 150W on top about 12" over the surface, as well as a Finnex Ray2 Aquarium LED Daylight that turns on with the CO2.
LED & CO2: 7 hours.... 12:00pm to 7:00pm
MH: ~5 hours.... 2:30pm to 8:00pm

*Water:*
In General I have very hard water (found out after setting up the tank). Used to read in the 180 GH and KH range... now it looks like the KH has dropped to ~120ppm

NO2 and NO3 read in the next to none.
NO2: <0.5 ppm
NO3: <20 ppm

PH: ~6.7 (test strips)

*Workforce*
As far as algae cleaning crew.
I have:
3 crs
2 rsc, 
2 amano shrimp. 
4 SAE
1 clown pleco

Pics to come soon

Bump:








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What I suspect is hair Algae*








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Beard Algae?:*









Plants are still growing like crazy (Anubas having new fast white growth):


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## MikeP_123 (Aug 31, 2008)

Just not sure what the cause is


I dost flourish once a week. Nothing else.

CO2 is ran until drop checker looks almost yellow.

Moss and Dwarf Baby Tears both pearl nice.

Swords are shooting off runners like crazy


Just not sure of the cause or what actions to take. I am traveling every week during the week so don't get the most up to date feedback until the weekends.


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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

MikeP_123 said:


> I dost flourish once a week. Nothing else.
> 
> CO2 is ran until drop checker looks almost yellow.





MikeP_123 said:


> Has a Metal Halide 150W on top about 12" over the surface, as well as a Finnex Ray2 Aquarium LED
> 
> NO2 and NO3 read in the next to none.
> NO2: <0.5 ppm
> NO3: <20 ppm


Can I assume Flourish Comprehensive? Not enough!

Cycled tank should have 0ppm of NO2.

With CO2 & that much light any nutrients within the water column will be depleted quickly.

Recommend a PPS Pro or EI fertilization scheme.

Remove hair algae with a toothbrush.


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Looks like Spirogyra and Black Beard Algae

Haven't dealt with those so I have no advice to give really. (did have BBA in fish only tank and did the blackout method for over a week and it worked. Probably not the best idea for a planted tank, at least not that long)

James' Planted Tank - Algae Guide
http://www.bubblesaquarium.com/images/home mid_photo/Article on Algae/freshwater_algae.htm


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## MikeP_123 (Aug 31, 2008)

Maryland Guppy said:


> Can I assume Flourish Comprehensive? Not enough!


So would the "Not Enough" ferts cause the algae?

Also discovered some more algae types in there. Maybe the combo of all of them will point to the cause? :nerd:


This only seems to grow on my cryps:









I believe this shows 3 types I have (was just trying to take a picture of the black one):


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

The last branched gray one is staghorn.

Yes not enough fertilizer causes algae to be more of a problem because the plants cannot grow well. Starving plants+way too much light=happy algae. Every algae I've conquered [knocking on wood] was through ADDING more NPK+M and CO2 helped with several types. 

Along with the other excellent suggestions I'd run the MH for an hour a day with the LED on for 6 hours now, lengthening first the LED then the MH once algae stops its rampage. I'd allow snails to survive and get a fast growing stem plant in the tank as your tank is very lightly planted. Go cheap as cheap means fast growing. I personally think Brazilian Pennywort is hard to beat, grows fast and clean and is elegant whether anchored or floating. 

You could also spot treat algae with Seachem Excel during a water change. Use a syringe with the water change amount of Excel and drop it directly on problem spots then let the tank cook for 15-20 minutes before refilling the tank and starting the filter back up. It works really well on staghorn and BBA, no idea if it helps with green alga.


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## MikeP_123 (Aug 31, 2008)

Kathyy said:


> The last branched gray one is staghorn.
> 
> Yes not enough fertilizer causes algae to be more of a problem because the plants cannot grow well. Starving plants+way too much light=happy algae. Every algae I've conquered [knocking on wood] was through ADDING more NPK+M and CO2 helped with several types.
> 
> Along with the other excellent suggestions I'd run the MH for an hour a day with the LED on for 6 hours now, lengthening first the LED then the MH once algae stops its rampage. I'd allow snails to survive and get a fast growing stem plant in the tank as your tank is very lightly planted. Go cheap as cheap means fast growing. I personally think Brazilian Pennywort is hard to beat, grows fast and clean and is elegant whether anchored or floating.


Thanks for the advice Kathyy! I will definitely lower the lights a little bit. Due to the center piece drift wood, the LED can only light one side of the tank =[

I am curious though... if my problem is indeed not enough ferts... then what is the rationale behind adding a fast growing plant? I thought that would be to suck up excess nutrients?


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## rick dale (Feb 26, 2014)

*Algae*

The green on the glass looks like GDA-green dust algae. I had it a while back. Got 3 small bristlenose plecos , and they wiped it out. The little black tuff's are black beard algae . the other looks like staghorn. 

To get rid of the Blackbeard , turn off all circulation for 20 minutes. Fill a 5 ml syringe with hydrogen peroxide and squirt the black algae with it. Do not do more than 5 ml in your tank at one time. That worked for me. And yes , it will take some time to treat it all. 

I would shut off the metal halide until the algaevis under control. That's a lot of light. 
Good luck


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