# Help my plants are furry!



## 75 gallon (Dec 19, 2011)

i have been dealing with what i think is hair algae. let me tell you a little about my set up so that you have more context.

my tank (125 gallon)

lighting i have 1 four bulb t5 fixture that works in 2 zones one is on for 10 hours a day and zone 2 about 6 hours a day. i also have 1 power compact fixture that is duel 65 watt that is on 10 hours a day.

CO2 i am currently running diy co2, it is a 3 two litter set up so i am push a good amount of co2 into the tank i am dissolving it in a pump reactor in the tank.

dossing my dossing regimen is 2 teaspoons of csm+b on mon, wed, fri. and 2 teaspoons of KNO3 on tus, thur, sat.

water change i am changing about 20% weekly on Sundays when i change that water i adjust the GH with tom barrs gh booster.

I did some reading and i found that blacking out your tank can help kill of the algae, will this help as i don't want to stress my plants too much? 

any advice would be great, thanks. :icon_cool


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## TWA (Jan 30, 2012)

Picture of the algae? I wouldn't black the tank out, anything long enough to kill the algae would most likely kill the plants too.


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## BBradbury (Nov 8, 2010)

*Your Algae Question*



75 gallon said:


> i have been dealing with what i think is hair algae. let me tell you a little about my set up so that you have more context.
> 
> my tank (125 gallon)
> 
> ...


Hello 75 G...

Algae will thrive in water that has a high phosphate and nitrate level. When I had a problem with algae, I did the following:

Got some of the small Nerite snails from the LFS/Pet Shop. These little guys reproduce very quickly and are second to none for consuming all kinds of algae. They take their time, but I've had a number of them in my tanks for some time and have no visible algae.

Small water changes don't do much for removing the extra nutrients in the water. I change half the water in my tanks every week. Large, weekly water changes will keep the water stable and shrink the algae.

You can also float some Water wisteria, Water sprite and Pennywort in the tank. These are fast growers that get the bulk of their food directly from the water and will compete with the algae for the available nutrients.

If you remove the algae food source, it will slowly shrink. 

Just some thoughts to consider or not.

B


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## larcat (Jul 27, 2011)

BBradbury said:


> Got some of the small Nerite snails from the LFS/Pet Shop. These little guys reproduce very quickly and are second to none for consuming all kinds of algae. They take their time, but I've had a number of them in my tanks for some time and have no visible algae.


Brackish tank? How did you get them to successfully reproduce?


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

75 gallon said:


> i have been dealing with what i think is hair algae. let me tell you a little about my set up so that you have more context.
> 
> my tank (125 gallon)
> 
> ...


I used to have furry plants when I had 6 T12s over a 50 gallon tank with no CO2 and no NPK+micros. Once I had CO2 it went away and I haven't seen it since. I suspect you have it half right, reduce lights, keep up the CO2 and adjust the dosing and do the water changes and the fuzz should go away.


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## 75 gallon (Dec 19, 2011)

Ok i added 48 shrimp some have been lunch for my red chromides.  and i also added 12 snails today. i plan to add at least 10 more snails in a week or so. also i am going to do a triple does of excell next week to choke out the algae and hopefully get it under control.


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## Sierra255 (Sep 13, 2007)

75 gallon said:


> Ok i added 48 shrimp some have been lunch for my red chromides.  and i also added 12 snails today. i plan to add at least 10 more snails in a week or so. also i am going to do a triple does of excell next week to choke out the algae and hopefully get it under control.


 What kind of snails did you get? Most reproduce so quickly there's no need to get more. Just give them time. I put a few ramshorn snails in my aquariums and in just a few weeks they had all algae completely gone. They are definitely reproducing, too, but luckily I'm not overrun with them yet.


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## 75 gallon (Dec 19, 2011)

Sierra255 said:


> What kind of snails did you get? Most reproduce so quickly there's no need to get more. Just give them time. I put a few ramshorn snails in my aquariums and in just a few weeks they had all algae completely gone. They are definitely reproducing, too, but luckily I'm not overrun with them yet.


nirite i think this is how it is spelled.


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## livingword26 (Oct 28, 2010)

You are dosing Micros, and Nitrate, but no phosphates. You have high light and diy co2. Do you have a drop checker? or do you have any way of knowing what your co2 levels are? Also what brand of light do you have? If it is a fixture with good reflectors, then you are very high light. You may need to turn of 2 of the bulbs, or up your co2 to pressurized. You also should be dosing Phosphates with the Nitrates, and doing a 50% water change weekly, with the high light. Nitrate, Phosphate, Potassium and micros all need to be in balance to keep algae problems at bay. Are you testing for the nitrates and Phosphates?

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/105774-par-vs-distance-t5-t12-pc.html

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/fertilizers-water-parameters/21944-_dosing-regimes_.html


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## 75 gallon (Dec 19, 2011)

livingword26 said:


> You are dosing Micros, and Nitrate, but no phosphates. You have high light and diy co2. Do you have a drop checker? or do you have any way of knowing what your co2 levels are? Also what brand of light do you have? If it is a fixture with good reflectors, then you are very high light. You may need to turn of 2 of the bulbs, or up your co2 to pressurized. You also should be dosing Phosphates with the Nitrates, and doing a 50% water change weekly, with the high light. Nitrate, Phosphate, Potassium and micros all need to be in balance to keep algae problems at bay. Are you testing for the nitrates and Phosphates?
> 
> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/105774-par-vs-distance-t5-t12-pc.html
> 
> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/fertilizers-water-parameters/21944-_dosing-regimes_.html


I am currently dossing KNO3 and CSM+B i dose the KNO3 on tus, thur, sat, and i does the CSM+B on mon, wed, and fri. i do test for nitrates and phosphates as well in the past i know i had a hard time keeping my phosphates low enough. i am in the process of saving up to get pressurized co2 as well. the reflectors on one of the lights (the power compact) is very reflective but i have it elevated about 8" from the water. my t5 fixture is not as reflective also has as piece of plexiglass on the underside of it that gets lots of water spots on it. i am not sure of the brand on either of them i have had them for several years. as of today i am set up to be able to do 50% water changes, up until now i did not have a big enough water storage tank to refill gallons of water, but i do now.  i do monitor my co2 by looking at my kh and ph.


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## livingword26 (Oct 28, 2010)

I'm not sure what you are trying to keep your phosphates at, but I dose mine to around 3ppm. The KH/Ph scale for co2 estimation has many variables that are not added in. I personally think it is quite unreliable. You can get a pretty good deal on a drop checker here:

http://theshrimplab.com/store/?p=196

when they are in stock, or there are hundreds of them on ebay


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## 75 gallon (Dec 19, 2011)

livingword26 said:


> I'm not sure what you are trying to keep your phosphates at, but I dose mine to around 3ppm. The KH/Ph scale for co2 estimation has many variables that are not added in. I personally think it is quite unreliable. You can get a pretty good deal on a drop checker here:
> 
> http://theshrimplab.com/store/?p=196
> 
> when they are in stock, or there are hundreds of them on ebay


brain fart of the day! i have a drop checker i need to get it in the tank i will get it in tonight and i will post in the morning what it is, if you could check back and give me some advice it would be greatly appreciated. thanks for all the help!


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## 75 gallon (Dec 19, 2011)

Here is some pics of the evil algae i have been dealing with.


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## 75 gallon (Dec 19, 2011)

It looks like I'm dealing with BBA and BGA algae types.


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## livingword26 (Oct 28, 2010)

If your 4 bulb t5 light is a T5HO , and not a T5NO, and even has fair reflectors, then I agree with kathy about turning off 2 of the bulbs. 4 bulb T5HO is to much light. That in combination with the diy CO2 is probably going to keep you in bad algae. I don't think you can run a high light 125 gallon tank with diy co2. I'm running 3 to 4 bbs into my 29 gallon right now, and that is what is necessary for me to keep the bba away. 

..Do your 50%+ water changes every week religiously.
...Clean your filter media often while fighting bad algae, but be sure not to kill off your beneficial bacteria. 
...Start dosing Flourish Excel on top of your DIY CO2.
...Dose Nitrates to 10-20 ppm, (keeping your nitrates up will help with green slime algae, (Cynobacteria))
...Dose Phosphates to 1-2 ppm, (higher, 3 - 4 ppm will help with Green Spot Algae)
...Your KNO3 probably has enough Potassium so you can get by without that
...Dose your micros according to directions. 
...You need to get your co2 up over 30 ppm, probably more like 40 ppm, and remove all of the bba you can by hand. 
...Also, squirting your Flourish Excel dose directly on bba will kill it instantly. 
...I am no professional, but I am having pretty good luck right now doing things this way.


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## livingword26 (Oct 28, 2010)

There is also no shame in using Erythromycin (Maracyn) to kill the Cynobacteria. I have done it before with no bad effects.


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## livingword26 (Oct 28, 2010)

Ok one more thing. Once a month or so I will do 2 - 75% water changes back to back, to clean out anything that may have built up in the tank. That seems to help also.


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## 75 gallon (Dec 19, 2011)

i got home today to find my tank water very cloudy and it had a slight brown tint to it. last night before i went to bed a did a double dose of seachems excell (the guy at pet world said this should kill off the algae) so this is what i did this is the only thing i have changed. could excell cause my water to do this. i have done a 60% water change and there is still a fog to the water. i lost 2 fish but other than that all of the other fish and plants look totally fine. i ran some test and im waiting on some others.

nitrite - .3
ammonia - .0
ph - 7.6 i know it is hi (the dang co2 ran out ugh)
kh - is very high it is at 120 (hope the ph will take it down some)

more tests to come...

any help would be great!


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## 75 gallon (Dec 19, 2011)

I have just purchased my co2 system! i should be in this week.


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