string alge

[inkslinger]

does raising co2 to 30ppm and adding kno3 and po4 should clear up the alge, i lower my ph to 6.6 w/controler , i have to check my kh , my po4 is at 1. and my kno3 is at 5 ,my lights {6 t5 ho 54w} are on for 10hr of 216wpg and another 108w for noon brust for 3hr , 110g tank w/co2 reactor and controller i don't add ferts and i do water changs 1 time a month

[Hoppy]

Unless you have a really large fish population in that tank you do need to fertilize. I assume you have a lot of plants? You need them if you want to avoid algae outbreaks. Don't use uncalibrated test kits to decide whether or not you need to fertilize. If you try the EI method I suspect you will be much more satisfied with the results.

[inkslinger]

no i don't have alot of fish , i only have 6 and they are under 1/2 inch , i only have a few plants too, i know i need add a alot more plants

[Hoppy]

May I suggest that you get a big bunch of cheap stem plants and at least float them in the tank? Algae seem to rely on chemical signals to tell the spores to start the growth process. One of those signals is ammonia. If you have a lot of plants any ammonia spikes will be almost instantly used by the plants, but if you don't, those spikes can be just what the algae are waiting for to start growing. (You can get almost free stem plants here at the swap n shop forum almost any day.)

[g8wayg8r]

I have a ten-gallon tank with a flourite substrate. I also use DIY CO2 to get the pH in the mid six range at 3 dH. It loaded full of plants and I never get any algae except hair. Here's my fish load: one oto, one harliquin rasbora and recently, one platy and one xiphophorus variatus, which have had no effect on the algae. No green spot, film, brown, red, grey or whatever algae - just big balls of green hair. Much of it grows off the substrate as well as the plants.

I also have a five-gallon no-tech tank with a soilmaster substrate. It's full of young xiphophorus variatusis and platies. There is significantly less algae on the substrate and plants. I suspect the iron and the addition of CO2 is the only physical difference other than the plants. To me, it looks like the high iron and CO2 levels promotes the growth of hair algae. I could add nitrate and phosphate but I've been resistant because I don't want to introduce other problems. I just pull out any clumps of hair alage I see during the water change.

I will never use fluorite as the substrate again. I may use it as a first layer, but never alone again.