Hair Algae turning red.

[yellowfish]

So I had a friend tell me I had a beard algae in my freshwater plant aquarium. So he recommended excel from seacam to help get rid of this algae. Well not sure this the excel is the cause of it turning red, but is this a red slim algae? How can i get rid of this in my aquarium?

Thanks
Christopher

[Strider199]

How much of this algae are you dealing with yellowfish? The old tried and true method of removing the rocks effected and scrubbing them with tap water and your hand is what I use to clean stuff, but if your problem is tank wide then you may be in for more elbow grease. Scrap off the algae and use a gravel cleaning tool to suction up the offending substance. It may take more than a few tries and water changes. You may also want to research your lighting after you have some time to try and figure out how to stop beard algae from forming in the first place. Is the tank in direct sunlight? Are you fertilizing too much? Just some questions that come to mind.

[yellowfish]

Well it's kind of helping using the Excel but now the algae has a maroon/red coloration to it. The lighting system that I have is a odyssea T5 system. the system has 4 10k bulbs. I only run my lights for 8 hours a day. It doesn't see any sunlight.

[Lady Hobbs]

Yes, turning red means it is dying. Best thing you can do for BBA is just what you're doing. Trying to rub it off sends spores around the tank and causes spreading. You will also probably have to do some trimming of the plants once finished dosing, as well.

[yellowfish]

Awesome thank you Lady Hobbs!!thumbs2:

[Strider199]

Yellowfish if you have some time, go to the "other topics" section and than to the "Algae" section. Read the sticky; Algae- a how to primer, by Dave66.

It explains alot.

[yellowfish]

Will do. Thank you.

[Lady Hobbs]

Add oxygen if needed and be careful with it. I would not go over a double dose and even work up gradually to that.

[yellowfish]

Should I turn off my CO2 when adding the oxygen?

[dmagerl]

How big is the tank? Are you using all 4 bulbs at once? Is the light sitting on top of the tank? Do you dose fertilizers & CO2?

You could have way too much light, which would explain the algae.

[Lady Hobbs]

I'm surprised to hear you have BBA with CO2. You should be able to get rid of the BBA by increasing the CO2 and eliminating the Excel. But an imbalance in nutritents cause it. I wonder if your phosphates might be too high? Are you perhaps dosing too much in ferts.

Every now and then I get a bit of BBA but I simply cut it off because I get so little of it. I get it a lot less now that I stopped using fertilizer. I use no CO2 at all. Lights on 8 hours.

But it's all a balancing act.

dmagerl......No lights were mentioned at all much less 4 bulb lights..... and he already said he uses CO2.

[yellowfish]

Yes I use fertilizer and CO2. When My lights turn off I shut down my CO2 system. I only fertilize once every other week with seachem flourish plant food, Iron if needed and potassium. They recommend to use them twice a week but I know that in some cases you don't necessarily need to follow what the company recommends. The lighting yes is very intense but it's only on for 8 hours a day.

[dmagerl]

I was responding to this sentence from further up:
"....I have is a odyssea T5 system. the system has 4 10k bulbs. I only run my lights for 8 hours a day. It doesn't see any sunlight. "

I see the mention of the CO2 now.

[yellowfish]

I tested for Phosphates and It came out to be 1.0 PPM. It is high :(

[Lady Hobbs]

I was responding to this sentence from further up:
"....I have is a odyssea T5 system. the system has 4 10k bulbs. I only run my lights for 8 hours a day. It doesn't see any sunlight. "

I see the mention of the CO2 now.

We're even steven! You missed one and I missed one. :hmm3grin2orange:

Yellowfish......phosphates are high, IMO. Should be closer to .25-.50 I believe. I think I read somewhere 1/10th of what the nitrates are.

How much you fertilize can also depend on if you have fast growers or slow growers.

Are you using pressured CO2 or DIY?

[yellowfish]

No I have the lighting system has brackets that I use. No I use 2 bulbs for 4 hours and the other two for the last 4 hours. I do use CO2 and fets but I also had this problem before I started using CO2.

[yellowfish]

I'm using pressurized CO2.

[dmagerl]

I'm not understanding where the lights are situated.

Unless its a really huge tank, 4 T5HO bulbs would be classified as super high light unless elevated some distance above the tank.

The first posting of the following link has an interesting table about light intensity vs distance from tank.
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[Lady Hobbs]

Is it set to give you about 30ppm?

Also I'm wondering how high your nitrates are and if you're doing large water changes regularly. You'll get it figured out by tweaking as you go. Everyone has idea's of how to control it probably better than I do but for me, keeping my nitrates and phosphates down and fertilizing less worked for me but I also didn't have high lights and CO2. You could try running those lights on only two bulbs, as well.