# HELP! Brown Hair Algae/Diatoms Taking Over The Whole Tank!



## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

For low tech that's too much ferts. Cut back to macros and micros like once at most twice a week. Start on the lower end. And you do not need full EI level just half. Are you doing weekly 50% wc? What substrate are you using?

I would cut the photoperiod back to 6 hours till you figure out the issue. Also what is your phosphate and gh level? 

Also I would really retest your nitrate. What brand of ferts are you dosing? If you really are dosing that much your nitrates would be much higher. And you typically want 10-30ppm nitrates. Less than 10 can give plants a hard time. 

And remember when you fert dose you want to dose based on gallons of water not tank size. So with substrate and everything you are probably at 7 gallons of water. And again I would EI dose half that so for like 4 gallons of water micros and macros twice a week each at most. 


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## Kenji (Jul 27, 2017)

Thanks for the reply clownplanted!

Okay, I will cut it back with the ferts and the photoperiod. I do water changes twice a week, 25% every Wednesdays and 25% again every Sundays.

Sorry I forgot to mention that it's a Walstad tank hybrid, about 1/3 of the tank I used eco-complete substrate.

I'm going to re-test my nitrates when I get home. I don't have a tester for phosphates and gh. The ferts that I'm using are local brands here. Macro ferts has NPK in the label and the micro ferts has Iron, trace minerals.


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## geektom (Dec 17, 2012)

clownplanted said:


> For low tech that's too much ferts. Cut back to macros and micros like once at most twice a week. Start on the lower end. And you do not need full EI level just half. Are you doing weekly 50% wc? What substrate are you using?
> 
> I would cut the photoperiod back to 6 hours till you figure out the issue. Also what is your phosphate and gh level?
> 
> ...




Good reminder about testing for water volume, not tank size.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Kenji said:


> Sorry I forgot to mention that it's a Walstad tank hybrid, about 1/3 of the tank I used eco-complete substrate.


So is the rest of the substrate soil?


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## slipfinger (Jun 8, 2016)

This is what I'd be doing If I was in your shoes.

To much light for that size tank. I'd remove one of those bulbs and probably raise the other two up.

Unless I was cycling the tank to add fish, I would not even bother testing for anything. The amount of algae in the tank is telling you everything you need to know about your nutrient levels. They are too high.

I'd stop dosing completely. Can't tell if there are fish in the tank, but between the soil substrate and feeding the fish your plants will need very little added ferts. This honeymoon period will not last for ever and you will need to add a *little* of something at some point. Let the plants tell you when the honeymoon is over, trust me they will tell you.

To start on the road to recover. 

Remove some light, lower the photo period for the time being (6hour), manually remove as much algae as you can, a couple of 80% water changes this week to reset the tank, do not dose anything for a bit, dose excel after each water change. 

Rinse and repeat until you have the algae under control. Once its under control, start very slowly with everything, the tank and plants will tell you everything you need to know, if you see algae returning time to back up again. 

The thing you have to remember with smaller size tanks, you have less room for error. Everything seems to me magnified in nano/small tanks.


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

Kenji said:


> Hi Everyone!
> 
> This is my first time posting here! :grin2:
> 
> ...


lol major algae

lights = too high, set it it to 4-6 hours instead
ferts = too much, dose once a week or every two weeks

to wipe out all that algae you will need to physically remove as much as you can and then use a hydrogen peroxide nuke for 15-20 minutes and big water change.


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## Kenji (Jul 27, 2017)

houseofcards said:


> So is the rest of the substrate soil?


The rest of the substrate is black sand with topsoil underneath.

Bump:


slipfinger said:


> This is what I'd be doing If I was in your shoes.
> 
> To much light for that size tank. I'd remove one of those bulbs and probably raise the other two up.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the advice.  I already reduced the photoperiod and stopped dosing ferts for now. Removed as much algae as I can and now the tank is looking better and the algae is growing much slower.

There is one guppy in the tank with 3 dwarf rainbows.

Bump:


IntotheWRX said:


> lol major algae
> 
> lights = too high, set it it to 4-6 hours instead
> ferts = too much, dose once a week or every two weeks
> ...


I haven't tried nuking with H2O2. :bounce: I'm afraid that it might hurt my plants and fish. lol :hihi:


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## gaurav (Jun 19, 2017)

Hi Kenji,

I am also new to this hobby and i did face same issue with my tank.
but now things are fine, i tried below and it did work for me.

1) Try to remove as much algae as you can with hands.
2) 50% water change every week for next 3-4 weeks.
3) Add 4 otocinclus , they are awesome against diatoms.
4) Do not add any fertilizer till the algae is gone.
5) Complete blackout for a day or so and then increase the light (7 am to 3 or 4 pm).
6) Take fish our and try to increase the CO2.
7) IF water flow is not enough then add a air stone for some time.

Regards,
Gaurav


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## Kenji (Jul 27, 2017)

gaurav said:


> Hi Kenji,
> 
> I am also new to this hobby and i did face same issue with my tank.
> but now things are fine, i tried below and it did work for me.
> ...


Thanks for the pointers Gaurav! I have 1 oto in the tank though I haven't seen him for a while now so I'm not sure if he's still in the tank, probably hiding/eating algae behind my driftwood. :hihi:

Unfortunately, I can't remove the fishes from the tank as I only have 2 tanks in my house, the other tank is a 9 gal long bowfront pico reef tank.  Not to mention that they are also hard to remove since the tank is moderately planted. :bounce:


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Usually when tanks look like that when they are new it's almost always too much light. I'm not familiar with the lighting you have, but it's probably too much. Not sure why you used soil if your dosing the water column. Soil-based tanks will limit your bandwidth even further in regards to light since they contain alot of organic material. Organic material + too much light = Algae.


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

Kenji said:


> The rest of the substrate is black sand with topsoil underneath.
> 
> Bump:
> 
> ...


dont be scared. I have sprayed h2o2 on my algae under water and the fishes swim over to check out the bubbles. no harm.


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## Kenji (Jul 27, 2017)

houseofcards said:


> Usually when tanks look like that when they are new it's almost always too much light. I'm not familiar with the lighting you have, but it's probably too much. Not sure why you used soil if your dosing the water column. Soil-based tanks will limit your bandwidth even further in regards to light since they contain alot of organic material. Organic material + too much light = Algae.


At first I decided that I don't want to dose ferts and do a low maintenance tank that's why I set it up as a NPT, then I got impatient because my DHG isn't carpeting fast that's why I started dosing ferts, the DHG started to spread faster but then the algae bloom started. Atleast I learned from my mistakes and the advices of you TPT guys. 

Bump:


IntotheWRX said:


> dont be scared. I have sprayed h2o2 on my algae under water and the fishes swim over to check out the bubbles. no harm.


I will try that with the remaining algae that clinged to my DHG's. Do I need to do a WC after?


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Kenji said:


> At first I decided that I don't want to dose ferts and do a low maintenance tank that's why I set it up as a NPT, then I got impatient because my DHG isn't carpeting fast that's why I started dosing ferts, the DHG started to spread faster but then the algae bloom started. Atleast I learned from my mistakes and the advices of you TPT guys.


When you have nitrate naturally occurring in your soil as a result of the nitrogen cycle ammonia is released. When you dose nitrate through KNO3 you are not releasing Ammonia. The difference is night and day. Dry ferts generally do not cause algae. It' the release of ammonia before you even see the algae that put's it there.


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## Perch02 (Jul 26, 2017)

Diatoms are easily controllable ottos are great for that. Like others said cut back on light and nutrients should help. I also battle hair algae and in my tank it's the phosphate levels that I have to watch carefully or it will explode. Remove it with a hair brush works great for me bit you have to get it all or it will just come back not as fast if you shorten light and nutrients but it will still stick around. It is hard for me to rid it completely out of my tank but it's definitely manageable and has frustrated me for quite a while till I got things dialed in. Also have 3 sae that eat it to so that helps. Best of luck algae is a pain to deal with but with patience is manageable


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## pds (Jul 13, 2013)

I had diatoms in a MTS tank I had with a Blasting sand (black sand) cap. The diatoms appear from the silicates realeasing into the water column. This is a process (growing pain) that your tank will go through. Once the silicates are done leaching into the water column the diatoms will disappear. As mentioned before continue with manual removal of the diatoms and regular water changes.


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