Daylight Tubes And Black Hair Algea

[jrussuk]

Hi
I have a cube tank with 4 15inch t8 tubes. The front 2 are Arcadia original tropical lamps the back 2 are daylight tubes. I'm having trouble with black hair algea but only in the rear of the tank. Could this be the daylight tubes. My lights are on for 2 x 4 hours with a 2 hour break. I don't run co2 ands dose ferts daily.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Livewire88]

Is the water flow in the rear of the tank less than the front? hair algea is usualy caused as a result of poor circulation IME.

 

[jrussuk]

No I have better circulation at the back of the tank than the front !!

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Could be low CO2 causing it. Got a lot of surface movement in the tank?

 

[jrussuk]

Yes I have a good ripple at the top of the tank

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Well it could be your gassing off any CO2 that's in the water, it is also caused by low nutrients and ammonia spikes so have you disturbed the substrate? Also what is your tank size and how many watts are your tubes?

 

[jrussuk]

My tank is 125 ltr I have 4 x 14w t8 tubes. Ammonia is 0.0 I dose ferts daily. Worked out how much ferts to put in weekly and have divided it by 7 to make sure nutrients are stable only time I disturbe substrate is when cleaning

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Your light could be too high for what your dosing, this means your plants are using up the nutrients and CO2 so quickly that the low levels are causing algae. If your dosing trace ferts then your N&P will be low along with the CO2 levels and if your dosing N&P your CO2 will be low. As with the higher light your basically forcing the plants to photo synthesise faster using up the things hey need to do so. Might be worth dropping a tube if you can.

 

[jrussuk]

[sup]i will give that a go. would upping the ferts also work [/sup]

 

[SO19Firearms]

[sup]i will give that a go. would upping the ferts also work

[/sup]

Not if it is a CO[sub]2[/sub] situation. Although they won't hurt.
Droping a light as above is prob the best option - If you've got plenty of plants you could even try increasing your siesta - IMO that may allow the tank to claw back some CO[sub]2[/sub] before the second half......helping to stabilise levels. Has to be a good dark period tho....

IMO

 

[jrussuk]

Great I will try that. Many thanks