Staghorn Slowly Taking Over…

[Isaiah Aviles]

Hey everyone!

    Staghorn is starting to crush my tank right now. As well as green spot algae on my Anubias. Ive heard Easy Carbon can fix the Staghorn but I don’t want just short term solutions. 

    I hear very inconsistent answers on what causes Staghorn algae  

Any tips? 

• Light Duration: 4.5hrs
• Plants: Anubias & Dwarf Sagg I believe 
• Easy Green: 2 pumps per week
• Root tabs: Once a month
• Nitrate: 25-50ppm
• GH: Bright Purple (Above 300???)
• KH: 40ppm
• PH: 6.5
• 20 gallon 
• Light: Stingray 2.0 

 

[Beach Cruiser]

You can certainly start of with an algaecide. The Anubias you can also remove & dip in a bleach or hydrogen peroxide solution. Worked great for me. Plenty of info on those with a quick Google. 

Keeping algae at bay long term is mostly finding a good balance between light/fertilizer/plants in your tank. Light drives needs of a tank. You don't mention co2, so I'll assume it's more of a low tech setup. That's a relatively strong light pretty close to a slow growing plant.  They don't like that in most cases. I'd raise that up 3" or so. By doing so, you can probably get away with a longer photo period. Say 6 hrs or so... increase your timer 15 mins a week. You could also add some floating plants to mellow the light. I'd keep the same fertilizer schedule. 

You don't mention water changes or other tank maintenance. Decaying organics (fish food/waste & dead/yellowing leaves, etc) are also a cause of algae problems. Frequent water changes (25% weekly is a good starting point) & a clean tank and filter (at least rinse the sponge/floss in old tank water every 2 weeks) helped me a lot. & Don't over feed. 

A couple otocinclus cats & nerite snails would help a bit too. 

So, i would:

Clean as much algae as possible everywhere, dip the anubias & toothbrush clean the sag. 

Clean the filter & vacuum the substrate surface with your siphon hose while doing a 50% water change. 

Dim the light a bit. 

Dose the algaecide of your choice (Excel worked pretty good for me) per the instructions for at least a week! 

Keep up regular maintenance after that. 

GSA is really hard to totally eradicate, but nerite snails keep it to a bare minimum for me. 

Best of luck! 

[Pepere]

I have a Stingray 2.0 and it does put out a lot of light.

 

I use a Nicrew inline timer dimmer that allows you to throttle back the light intensity to a percentage of full power, ie 1 to 100% and also ramp up or down from on to off vs instant on…

 

https://www.amazon.com/NICREW-Channel-Digital-ClassicLED-BrightLED/dp/B07WT8VK28/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2LO7GCENYIW9L&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XQ90iiDeO8xRKPgQSpMXWKNC9HjRhuertpa678Ed1OTMnSL4KTDLUaVjK9PMsI7-6_fd896NDL9Zff49zP8_XqI2b1FjyrixQlM_Q1RZ_pVWsQT0FOgc6wCzua52ZjqeiocyqkjRe_A9wAVgXOoNBJusnki0PXFQU3InGCNjo3hd_4NcxZ2OV-7uVOCW-tnOqw0u7EzSGg8wcRf-CB5wnrHN3Mo8pR09o0rJrK_9ryCETpB1JibHj_lRdwDJe4UXGh8vdTeVYHdqd_jiJJO1VrgUDtVXtkNG1sE9R3AuoJs.efry6c3s3z7KBCpJXRonSizUqyfYEk2cgiEuXB5QysA&dib_tag=se&keywords=Nicrew+inline+timer+dimmer&qid=1717045104&sprefix=nicrew+inline+timer+dimmer%2Caps%2C310&sr=8-1

 

best fifteen dollar upgrade I ever spent on tank…

what does your water change schedule look like?

 

what is your substrate?

[Isaiah Aviles]

On 5/29/2024 at 10:05 PM, Beach Cruiser said:

You can certainly start of with an algaecide. The Anubias you can also remove & dip in a bleach or hydrogen peroxide solution. Worked great for me. Plenty of info on those with a quick Google. 

Keeping algae at bay long term is mostly finding a good balance between light/fertilizer/plants in your tank. Light drives needs of a tank. You don't mention co2, so I'll assume it's more of a low tech setup. That's a relatively strong light pretty close to a slow growing plant.  They don't like that in most cases. I'd raise that up 3" or so. By doing so, you can probably get away with a longer photo period. Say 6 hrs or so... increase your timer 15 mins a week. You could also add some floating plants to mellow the light. I'd keep the same fertilizer schedule. 

You don't mention water changes or other tank maintenance. Decaying organics (fish food/waste & dead/yellowing leaves, etc) are also a cause of algae problems. Frequent water changes (25% weekly is a good starting point) & a clean tank and filter (at least rinse the sponge/floss in old tank water every 2 weeks) helped me a lot. & Don't over feed. 

A couple otocinclus cats & nerite snails would help a bit too. 

So, i would:

Clean as much algae as possible everywhere, dip the anubias & toothbrush clean the sag. 

Clean the filter & vacuum the substrate surface with your siphon hose while doing a 50% water change. 

Dim the light a bit. 

Dose the algaecide of your choice (Excel worked pretty good for me) per the instructions for at least a week! 

Keep up regular maintenance after that. 

GSA is really hard to totally eradicate, but nerite snails keep it to a bare minimum for me. 

Best of luck! 

My water changes are kinda “as needed”. Once I see the nitrates go above 50 I’ll do a 75% water change. This is typically 3-4 weeks. Sometimes longer. With the KH and PH being low I try not to do too many water changes, is that correct?

On 5/30/2024 at 1:08 AM, Pepere said:

I have a Stingray 2.0 and it does put out a lot of light.

 

I use a Nicrew inline timer dimmer that allows you to throttle back the light intensity to a percentage of full power, ie 1 to 100% and also ramp up or down from on to off vs instant on…

 

https://www.amazon.com/NICREW-Channel-Digital-ClassicLED-BrightLED/dp/B07WT8VK28/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2LO7GCENYIW9L&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XQ90iiDeO8xRKPgQSpMXWKNC9HjRhuertpa678Ed1OTMnSL4KTDLUaVjK9PMsI7-6_fd896NDL9Zff49zP8_XqI2b1FjyrixQlM_Q1RZ_pVWsQT0FOgc6wCzua52ZjqeiocyqkjRe_A9wAVgXOoNBJusnki0PXFQU3InGCNjo3hd_4NcxZ2OV-7uVOCW-tnOqw0u7EzSGg8wcRf-CB5wnrHN3Mo8pR09o0rJrK_9ryCETpB1JibHj_lRdwDJe4UXGh8vdTeVYHdqd_jiJJO1VrgUDtVXtkNG1sE9R3AuoJs.efry6c3s3z7KBCpJXRonSizUqyfYEk2cgiEuXB5QysA&dib_tag=se&keywords=Nicrew+inline+timer+dimmer&qid=1717045104&sprefix=nicrew+inline+timer+dimmer%2Caps%2C310&sr=8-1

 

best fifteen dollar upgrade I ever spent on tank…

what does your water change schedule look like?

 

what is your substrate?

My water changes are kinda “as needed”. Once I see the nitrates go above 50 I’ll do a 75% water change. This is typically 3-4 weeks. Sometimes longer. With the KH and PH being low I try not to do too many water changes, is that correct?
 

My substrate is about 3years old. From a cold water stream in upstate NY. The gravel is probably clay based since you can carve the larger rocks with water and friction. It’s super interesting.

[Pepere]

I do 50% water changes weekly and clean out my canister filter monthly.

my tap water GH is 1 degree and I boost it to 3 degrees with Seachem Equilibrium and my tap water KH is also 1 degree.  I do not supplement  that at all.. I have heavily planted tanks and dose Easy Green to 20 ppm after water change.   At weeks end before water change my nitrates will be around 15-25 ppm.  By doing a 50% water change it drops to about 10 ppm and dosing 20 ppm it rises to around 30 ppm.  This is in my co2 injected tanks,

in my non injected tank I dose 15 ppm after 50 % water change.

I am not convinced by the mantra that algae is mostly an issue of balancing light and nutrients… I have found having good flow through the tank, cleaning substrate and filter, and weekly 50% water changes very helpful to reducing algae.  As leaves die they release waste organics from the margins that attract algae.  Waste metabolics leach from plants and build up in water that is not changed..  at least that is the theory

 

I suffered through 8-10 months bowing down to the mantra of tweaking light schedule and nutrients and minimal water changes.  I tried algae eating livestock, and daily gluteraldehyde products as well as spot treating gluteraldehyde and spot treating hydrogen peroxide and whole tank treatment with hydrogen peroxid.   Once I started implementing the techniques described on the 2 hr Aquarist, I finally got my tanks to be free of visible algae. ….   significant plant mass, weekly manual removal , trimming and discarding infested growth and replanting healthy new growth, 50% water change after   Doing manual removal/trimming and glass cleaning  to remove as much free floating fragments as reasonable, good water flow, cleaning canister filter monthly, keeping water parameters, growing conditions stable and not making frequent changes..  

 

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/algae-control

 

I dont know that the explanation of the theory as to why this works is true or not.  I do know these techniques finally got my tanks looking the way I wanted them to all along where prior efforts were not reducing algae at all…

[Beach Cruiser]

Many plants don't mind pH & kH on the low side. 

I totally agree with the above post that regular moderate water changes, keeping a clean tank/filter & a stable routine is key to a happy tank.  

[Isaiah Aviles]

On 5/30/2024 at 9:33 PM, Pepere said:

I do 50% water changes weekly and clean out my canister filter monthly.

my tap water GH is 1 degree and I boost it to 3 degrees with Seachem Equilibrium and my tap water KH is also 1 degree.  I do not supplement  that at all.. I have heavily planted tanks and dose Easy Green to 20 ppm after water change.   At weeks end before water change my nitrates will be around 15-25 ppm.  By doing a 50% water change it drops to about 10 ppm and dosing 20 ppm it rises to around 30 ppm.  This is in my co2 injected tanks,

in my non injected tank I dose 15 ppm after 50 % water change.

I am not convinced by the mantra that algae is mostly an issue of balancing light and nutrients… I have found having good flow through the tank, cleaning substrate and filter, and weekly 50% water changes very helpful to reducing algae.  As leaves die they release waste organics from the margins that attract algae.  Waste metabolics leach from plants and build up in water that is not changed..  at least that is the theory

 

I suffered through 8-10 months bowing down to the mantra of tweaking light schedule and nutrients and minimal water changes.  I tried algae eating livestock, and daily gluteraldehyde products as well as spot treating gluteraldehyde and spot treating hydrogen peroxide and whole tank treatment with hydrogen peroxid.   Once I started implementing the techniques described on the 2 hr Aquarist, I finally got my tanks to be free of visible algae. ….   significant plant mass, weekly manual removal , trimming and discarding infested growth and replanting healthy new growth, 50% water change after   Doing manual removal/trimming and glass cleaning  to remove as much free floating fragments as reasonable, good water flow, cleaning canister filter monthly, keeping water parameters, growing conditions stable and not making frequent changes..  

 

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/algae-control

 

I dont know that the explanation of the theory as to why this works is true or not.  I do know these techniques finally got my tanks looking the way I wanted them to all along where prior efforts were not reducing algae at all…

This was all super helpful thank you!!

On 5/30/2024 at 9:43 PM, Beach Cruiser said:

Many plants don't mind pH & kH on the low side. 

I totally agree with the above post that regular moderate water changes, keeping a clean tank/filter & a stable routine is key to a happy tank.  

Thank you so much!

[Tanked]

 

On 5/29/2024 at 8:55 PM, Isaiah Aviles said:

• Light Duration: 4.5hrs
• Plants: Anubias & Dwarf Sagg I believe 
• Easy Green: 2 pumps per week
• Root tabs: Once a month
• Nitrate: 25-50ppm
• GH: Bright Purple (Above 300???)
• KH: 40ppm
• PH: 6.5
• 20 gallon 
• Light: Stingray 2.0 

The most common cause for Staghorn is excessive nutrients.  The most commonly mentioned is Iron.  Your rooted plants do not obtain nutrients solely from either the water column or the substrate.  Your Easy Green dosing is probably correct, your root tab dosing is probably double what is required.  Both contain Iron.  Coupled with the detritus and monthly water changes makes for a buildup of excess nutrients.

25-50% weekly water changes will help.  A clean up crew will help with the Staghorn and other algae.  I found SAEs to be a good investment. @Beach Cruiser @Pepere already mentioned spot treating with Peroxide and whole tank peroxide treatments. 

[Isaiah Aviles]

On 5/31/2024 at 12:40 PM, Tanked said:

 

The most common cause for Staghorn is excessive nutrients.  The most commonly mentioned is Iron.  Your rooted plants do not obtain nutrients solely from either the water column or the substrate.  Your Easy Green dosing is probably correct, your root tab dosing is probably double what is required.  Both contain Iron.  Coupled with the detritus and monthly water changes makes for a buildup of excess nutrients.

25-50% weekly water changes will help.  A clean up crew will help with the Staghorn and other algae.  I found SAEs to be a good investment. @Beach Cruiser @Pepere already mentioned spot treating with Peroxide and whole tank peroxide treatments. 

Thank you! Gonna see what I can do with all this help