Problems removing algae

[Ste_J]

I seem to have had a near miss the other day when i tried to rid my tank of algae.
A recent visit to my lfs found me buying a bottle of Algen killer(German product) this was meant to rid my 28ukg of hair algae, this plan however nearly backfired when i returned home the next day to find all of my fish gulping at the surface
Lucky enough my nextdoor neighbour had recently given me an air pump so i was able to introduce a quick source of air.

So does anybody have any ideas as to what happened? my tank is a 28ukg being filtered by an eheim 2213 and Co2 being supplied by 2 hagen units.
The only things that changed in the tank prior to my fish nearly dying was that i removed the carbon pad from the eheim and i switched the hagen ingredients over to a homemade mix of yeast bicarb and sugar.
I'm now slightly concerned about the changes that i have had to make incase they spoil my plans for a nice planted tank. I have upturned my spraybar so that the surface is moving now and i have introduced an air bar for occasionally running the air pump.
water test show that my Kh readings are the same 7 drops to turn the water yellow and my nitrates are still reading 0ppm

I now dont want to run my spraybar turned down incase my fish suffer but i don't want to run my Co2 levels down due to loss from surface movement.

Any suggestions for a new fish keeper?

 

[thapsus]

I your tank cycled? Or is nitrate low because of small amount of fishes? Usually nitrate and old water is the reason to algae problems... Algae killers often effect to fishes too so one should avoind them and preferably detect the reason to algae growth.

I think CO2 is not the issue in this case. Do you have enough light and nutrients to plants? Are plants growing properly or not? Are you sure that your nitrate test is right?

What kind of fish do you have? Making water more acidic and softer usually decreases algae growth. Your water is quite soft already thought. How long are your lights on? Most plants contrive with 8 hours of light but algaes don't. You can also try lightinbreak. Shut lights for few hours in the middle of the day.

thapsus

 

[Ste_J]

The tank was cycled by using the filter gravel and bogwood from a 3yr old tank and i perform weekly water changes of 25%
Fish wise i have more than enough in fact i need to trade my clown loaches due to potential overstock.. 2 swordtails, 3 black mollies, 4 platies and 1 fry and 3 clowns(small)

The plants are growing spot on with nice green leaves and pearls to be seen, the lights are on over a 12 hr period with 2 18w arcadia originals and a 20w life glo although ihav estarted to break up the time with a gap mid day.

As to the algae killer it aint going anywhere near my tank again but i need to get rid of that horrid hair and my nitrates need to increase but i'm not sure if my test is right!
Will adding regular doses of fertiliser help me acheive higher nitrate levels?

 

[thapsus]

No, fertilizers makes your plants grow faster and compete with algaes more effective. Keep lights on shorter time period. Gap is good way to do it. If your nitrate test is right then nitrates obiously are not the reason for your algae. But if you don't have nitrate you don't have too many fishes either.

thapsus