Hc Covered In Algae Help!

[creg]

2 x 24w t5`s for 7 hours a day
2ml of tpn+ and 2ml of excel daily
water change once or twice a week about 50%

what can i do to get rid of this algae?

 

[lljdma06]

Well, first, remove it manually. Then, let's address the cause so it doesn't come back. This algae has been present for some time. I've seen pictures of it. I'm suprised you didn't attempt to remove it initially. The growth underneath it, though, looks good, so the plants can be salvaged.

How's the flow in that area? I'm not asking what you have total with regard to turnover, but watch the flow in that specific area. Do the plants sway? They should.

 

[creg]

the flow is good all my plants sway alot from the powerhead. i tried pulling some out last time i did a water change but it was hard to do and i was trying to be really careful not to uproot the hc. im gonna do another water change today and ill try to remove some then, its been present for awhile like you said but only a small amount. it seems to have spread rapidly over the last week.

 

[StandbySetting]

Can you run a single tube? 48 Watts of T5 is a hell of a lot of light over a tank of this size, you'd easily be able to grow the HC with just one tube, I had a struggle with algae around my HC, adding a powerhead that dosed it in CO2 fixed the problem.

 

[RadaR]

Need more CO2 and nutrients. The structural failure in the plants in the background (and the hair algae) point towards lack of carbon. The discolouration in the plants points towards lack of nutrients.

 

[creg]

i can try running 1 tube of light

 

[creg]

been a week of reduced light and not any difference if anything its actually worse, every time i remove as much as possile its back within a couple days, does anyone have any other ideas of things i can try? was thinking of reducing the amount of tpn+ im using to the recommended dose, maybe theres too much.

i dont have a timer on my lights and ive been leaving them on for too long by mistake alot lately, could this be the cause of the problem?

 

[RadaR]

been a week of reduced light and not any difference if anything its actually worse, every time i remove as much as possile its back within a couple days, does anyone have any other ideas of things i can try? was thinking of reducing the amount of tpn+ im using to the recommended dose, maybe theres too much.

i dont have a timer on my lights and ive been leaving them on for too long by mistake alot lately, could this be the cause of the problem?

Keep at it mate.
Continue manually removing it daily.
I'd keep TPN+ dosage the same. This isn't causing the algae and if you reduce the amount then you run the risk of nutrient deficiencies which causes the plant to break down, leach ammonia and cause more algae.
It's very important to keep a constant photoperiod. Leaving the lights on excessively will not be helping. I'd really invest in a decent timer and keep the lights for 7hours a day.

 

[SlimboyFat]

Not clear from the image, when you pull it away does it look like strands of green cotton.

I had quite a problem with it (it's a planted tank but I don't add anything specific for the plants such as food or CO2).

After a couple of months of trying to manually remove it I opted for the chemical route. Got something called AlgExit.

Dose once a week for 4 weeks (continue if it persists). My 4th dose was done 5 days ago and 99% of it has gone.

I have had no dead or poorly looking fish in the tank (although I did re-house a frog before dosing as it didn't mention on the box whether it would be safe and this died ). Just a few bits left on the heater housing so would probably give it a 5th dosing then it should be fine.

 

[RadaR]

This is a planted tank though and thus finding the cause of the algae is our goal, not a silver bullet. Algae tells us that the plant health is suffering.

 

[SlimboyFat]

Point taken RadaR.

I read a few posts like this when I started to get the problem and I have taken on board some of the suggestions, (Reduced lighting hours, increased flow etc) but this didn't get rid of the algae. The chemical fix got rid of the algae without the risk of up-rooting the plants.

I am hoping that once the dosing is completed then the other changes will stop the problem returning (else I will be back asking more questions ).

 

[creg]

manually removing is really hard as its so fine and slimy, ive uprooted loads of hc which is very frustrating so i dont like doing it. its growing really well underneath the algae though. im getting some shrimp next week do you think they will ea this stuff?

 

[RadaR]

Amano shrimp should help out.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Reducing the lighting slightly, investing in a good timer and even doing a daily water change for a couple weeks will help. Maybe getting more flow to the HC too.

 

[creg]

thanks for the advice guys ill try daily water changes and 6 hours of light, may go back to 2 lights instead of 1 aswell that dosnt seem to make any difference and my rotala dosnt look as good.

will try and find some amano shrimp too