I see. Would it be a safe assumption to make then that if one's nitrates and
phosphates are nearly undetectable (nitrates *are* undetectable, actually, at
least according to my AP test kit - I have a very low fish load which I plan to
gradually increase), then overfeeding is probably not happening? My algae is
the long thin green threads that tend to get attached to and bunch around and
between my plants. I hesitate to name it since even after perusing various
algae description webpages I don't seem to be able to fit all of it into a
single category. I probably have a couple types; green threads and hair are the
common elements. Long ago I used to have massive amts of BBA (and had extremely
high nitrates and low water quality), but I don't have any BBA at all anymore.
Fish load is lower, and water quality is much higher. Now I actually do water
changes. :-) Back then - couple years ago when I was a complete novice - I
didn't understand the great good that they are.

I couldn't get plants to grow to save my life back then, but now I have more
success. Easy plants to be sure - vals, anacharis, 1 red melon sword, 1 crypt,
but the tall ones perl O2 and grow well enough that I have to continue to prune
them.

55gal, 80W

pete

Bruce wrote:

Its possible that he's over feeding the fish, and that he could have excess
phosphates and nitrates from that. A lot of people over feed their fish
without knowing it.

As for my algae, I've decide to keep it in check, with the hope that
eventually the plants will out compete it and it will not be too noticable
(I'm not the original poster of this thread.)

Bruce.
"pete" wrote in message
. ..
What function does cutting back on feeding serve? Just curious.
pete

Bruce wrote:

Good suggestions so far. I have had hair algae in my tank for 2 years,
and
its a real pain, and never really goes away, just slows down. I pinch
it
out here and there, and keep it looking ok.

The best offense against algae is to get the plants growing like mad.
Add
some fast growing plants. My favorite weed is hygrophilia. You don't
have
to plant it if you don't want to, just throw it in, and don't pull any
off
it out for a while. Stop adding phosphate removers (do you have high
phosphates in the water? If you have phosphates in your tap water, stop
doing water changes for a while. This is my major problem, phosphates
out
of the tap are off the scale of my test kit.) Stop the algae
chemicals --
they typically kill anything green. Cut your fish feeding in half --
maybe
even stop for a few days.

PMDD: What are you basing your dosage on? You have two options with
fertilizer either add more or add less. More may enable the plants to
grow
better, but might boost the algae too. Less could allow the algae grow
better too. If the plants don't have a 'balanced diet', they will run
out
of some nutrients and leave an excess of others. Algae has fewer needs,
and
can take advantage of an excess of one or two nutrients.

"jgreene" wrote in message
om...
I have been battling what has been diagnosed as hair algae from my
local fish store, for several months now. I have a 55gal with 2X55W
compact fluorescent on 7hr a day. I dose daily with PMDD, but I am
careful not to dose too much, only about 7-10 drops. I have tried
algaefix for several weeks making sure all of the activated carbon was
out of the filter. I have used phosphate remover several times and
nothing works. I am spending over an hour a week removing the algae
from my frill and a few other plant species but it just keeps growing
back. My local store always suggests turning on the lights less, but
I have never heard that anywhere on the internet and I am afraid that
my plants might not be getting enough light if I turn them down any
more. For some reason the algae has only invaded certain species of
plants, so I am about ready to rip up all of the infected plants and
get more plants to replace them. Is there anything else I can try?

Jason