Green hair algae in low nutrient tank.

[CT_]

I'm getting increasing green hair algae.  Right now its confined to a few spots in the aquarium and it likes the glass but its slowly growing out and spreading.  I'm doing what I can to manually remove it but that's not a long term solution. 

 

I read it can be from an overabundance of phosphate so I bought a kit and I have 0 phosphate 5 nitrate.  When I add ferts, I've tried 1 and 3 squirts of easy green per 10g, it grows denser and spreads out the next day.  If I let my phosphates go to 0 it stops growing but then I assume my plants will be deficient.  I've already dropped to an 8 hour split photoperiod.  should I go shorter?  I'm trying to grow a montecarlo carpet and after a month I'm finally seeing some new growth (I started with a culture and I assume it wasn't adapted to submersed life), so I'm afraid to lower intensity and kill my carpet. 

 

Other solutions I've read are lower the pH (not gonna happen) or raise co2 (i don't do co2 injection, and I'm not keen on starting). 

EDIT:

parameters are:

ammonia: 0

nitrite: 0

nitrate: 5 (before dosing easy green)

phosphate: 0

ph: 7.8

gh: 7

kh:4

 

 

Edited March 16, 2021 by CT_

[Eric R]

What light are you running and at what strength? People seem to have good results with midday siestas, though I personally don't do it.

[Brandy]

You are going to see the algae thrive at first when you add nutrients. Your plants are deficient tho. If you continue to add nutrients the plants will catch up and start gowing. You will need to hold the line with manual removal for probably a week or two while they catch up. Hang in there and it will work. It is like weeds in the yard, they are quicker on the uptake at first, but eventually a healthy lawn will crowd them out. 

[CT_]

1 hour ago, ererer said:

What light are you running and at what strength? People seem to have good results with midday siestas, though I personally don't do it.

I've got a siesta for my own sake so I can see it morning and night.

I'm running a nicrew classic plus.  Supposedly par 70@12"  but IDK given the Chinese brand. I think is about 14" from the bottom.  I've turned blue down one click which I think means 80% on blue.  2 hr in the morning and 6 in the evening

 

 

[Mmiller2001]

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/algae-control/how-to-control-misc-green-algae

[CT_]

59 minutes ago, Mmiller2001 said:

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/algae-control/how-to-control-misc-green-algae

Interesting link with information I hadn't seen before.  Most of my hair algae is on patches on my rock/substrate and on the original montecarlo leaves which I cut back a bit to take the algae out.

 

The thing about nutrient spikes in interesting too.  I wonder if it means spikes above a threshold or any fast upward change.  0 to some is definitely a spike. 

This sentence makes me question the author a bit but he's probably just either confused or plants do something really weird that I didn't know about (I'm constantly find this is the case; I spent all my time in grad school with prokaryotes so anything with a nucleus is a mystery to me):

Quote

Plants under harsh/fluctuating conditions continually re-program their enzymes to try to adapt to new conditions - older DNA is ejected from the leaves as organic waste & ammonia.

 

Between this and what @Brandy said I think my plan is to monitor nitrate/phosphate (because those are thing things I can test for) and dose as needed to keep them up for the next two weeks.  If I find my plants are eating too much and I have to dose like crazy I'll lower my light again and shrink down the "floater zone" to house less floaters.

 

Edited March 16, 2021 by CT_
fixed incomprehensible sentence.

[Streetwise]

I run all my planted tanks the the same way, with the same substrate and lighting, but only one has hair algae. The only thing different is the room; it has way more windows and ambient light. I bought light-blocking curtains, and it has helped. This might be something to consider.

Edited March 16, 2021 by Streetwise

[Brandy]

3 hours ago, CT_ said:

 

This sentence makes me question the author a bit but he's probably just either confused or plants do something really weird that I didn't know about (I'm constantly find this is the case; I spent all my time in grad school with prokaryotes so anything with a nucleus is a mystery to me):

"Plants under harsh/fluctuating conditions continually re-program their enzymes to try to adapt to new conditions - older DNA is ejected from the leaves as organic waste & ammonia."

 

 

Probably a typo. should read RNA. DNA is in the nuclei, and is the master plan. It is transcribed to short mRNA to make "temporary" copies which are a scaffold template for building proteins (enzymes are proteins). When the surroundings change, mRNA copies can be downregulated and tagged for deletion to make room for the new, more pertinant mRNA for more relevant protein building. This happens in plants as well as animals, and is how every protein is built. 

[Brandy]

However, I would not call that a significant source of ammonia in the scale of an aquarium. Unless we are talking about plants fully melting back...Which is more than the subcellular process I just described.

[1moretank]

I think I have to agree with @Streetwise , my tanks that have /had hair algae all get light from a window.  I tested this theory by making a brown cardboard "curtain" to cover the top, sides and front of the aquarium that received window light.  I left my tank light on the same schedule, but covered the tank with the cardboard curtain - only taking it off if the tank light was on - the hair algae completely disappeared in a few weeks.  I have one tank that gets lots of window sun in the morning before the tank light turns on in summer but not an issue in the winter at all, since I don't want to move the tank, I try to remember it's "curtain" before I go to bed.  Good luck in finding your solution.

[MartyO]

19 minutes ago, 1moretank said:

I think I have to agree with @Streetwise , my tanks that have /had hair algae all get light from a window.  I tested this theory by making a brown cardboard "curtain" to cover the top, sides and front of the aquarium that received window light.  I left my tank light on the same schedule, but covered the tank with the cardboard curtain - only taking it off if the tank light was on - the hair algae completely disappeared in a few weeks.  I have one tank that gets lots of window sun in the morning before the tank light turns on in summer but not an issue in the winter at all, since I don't want to move the tank, I try to remember it's "curtain" before I go to bed.  Good luck in finding your solution.

 

On 3/16/2021 at 3:30 PM, Streetwise said:

I run all my planted tanks the the same way, with the same substrate and lighting, but only one has hair algae. The only thing different is the room; it has way more windows and ambient light. I bought light-blocking curtains, and it has helped. This might be something to consider.

Same my saltwater tank is right next to East facing window so it gets blasted by morning to mid day sun. To help I placed a piece of cardboard next the tank. Once the tank was able to balance out I have then since had zero hair algae issues. May also help to get a snail or two or amano shrimp.