Having managed to finally eliminate the hair algae in my 75 gal tank (no
CO2, low lighting), I added just 2mm of Seachem Flourish Iron to the tank
and within two days the damn algae is coming back. Is the fertilizer
encouraging this? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

blank wandered in from the void and babbled something like:

Having managed to finally eliminate the hair algae in my 75 gal tank (no
CO2, low lighting), I added just 2mm of Seachem Flourish Iron to the tank
and within two days the damn algae is coming back. Is the fertilizer
encouraging this? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

It has been suspected that algae outbreaks may be caused by high iron
levels. That would be levels so high in relation to other nutrients
that the plants cannot use it before the algae takes hold. Algae
tends to be very opportunistic...

Greg wrote in message . ..
blank wandered in from the void and babbled something like:

Having managed to finally eliminate the hair algae in my 75 gal tank (no
CO2, low lighting), I added just 2mm of Seachem Flourish Iron to the tank
and within two days the damn algae is coming back. Is the fertilizer
encouraging this? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Woof woof!

Algae are not limited by iron ion your tank or anyone's.
The plants are.

A plant will become limited long before almost all algae.
I add 15mls 3x a week to my 75 gallon tank, I have no algae.
Surely the algae are not limited by Fe in my tank yet they do not grow
and this is consistent year after year.

So, I'd work on CO2 the most. Gas CO2 system? If not, get one. Xmas is
next week

My routine for a 75 gal with high light, 330w.
50% weekly water change
Prune, scrub, trim, clean FIRST! Then do the water change.
Dose the nutrients back in afterwards.

Add: 1/2 teaspoon of KNO3 for NO3.
1/8th-1/16th teaspoon of KH2PO4 for PO4
1/2Teaspoon of K2SO4 for K+.
15mls trace, for ll the traces.

Add KNO3/KH2PO4.Traces 3X a week at these dosages.

50% weekly water change and repeat.

Consider Rosey barbs, cherry bards, SAE's, Amano shrimps in mass.

Check your CO2 to be certain that you have 20-30ppm the ENTIRE time
the lights are on, so check pH 2x, once in the AM and once before the
lights go off.

Do this for 3 week
You tell me what you think.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Tom,
I hardly ever post. But I couldn't help it this time. My tank specs
I almost like yours except I have 300W. I have been trying for 8
months or so to have no ALGEA! Im still trying to figure out nutrients
though. I have always been a beliver in adding plenty of nutrients.
Currently I use the whole line of Seachem plant ferts(liquid and root
tabs)I use double what the bottle says. From what I read you seem to
use a little more. The algeas I have now are by no means out of
control but Idont like any. One algea is a dark brown-red on sword
leaves. And a light colored green fuzz. Do you think that I should
increase nutrients? I dont have a PH controller yet but I leave the
Co2 on all the time and the co2 stays between 15-20ppm.I do water
changes about every 1-2 weeks at about 50% Any info would be great.

mATT In IL







My routine for a 75 gal with high light, 330w.
50% weekly water change
Prune, scrub, trim, clean FIRST! Then do the water change.
Dose the nutrients back in afterwards.

Add: 1/2 teaspoon of KNO3 for NO3.
1/8th-1/16th teaspoon of KH2PO4 for PO4
1/2Teaspoon of K2SO4 for K+.
15mls trace, for ll the traces.

Add KNO3/KH2PO4.Traces 3X a week at these dosages.

50% weekly water change and repeat.

Consider Rosey barbs, cherry bards, SAE's, Amano shrimps in mass.

Check your CO2 to be certain that you have 20-30ppm the ENTIRE time
the lights are on, so check pH 2x, once in the AM and once before the
lights go off.

Do this for 3 week
You tell me what you think.

Regards,
Tom Barr

I agree, I don't limit anything in my tanks and haven't had any algae
problems since I started doing so. I do however get an increased
amount of dust and green spot algae if I raise my iron level too much.
My tanks don't require any additional iron other than what they get
from the substrate and trace mix and I can quickly tell when I add too
much traces at once as they have the same effect as when I try to
raise FE levels alone.

The idea of limiting nutrients in the water column seems to work well
for me in my low light tanks where I heavily fertilize the substrate
and nothing in the water. But when it comes to high light, I find
Tom's method of providing everything the plants need, without
obviously overdoing it, to give me the best results. I still fertilize
the substrate even in the high light tank however.

Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio

Just follow the routine, 20-30ppm of CO2
Prune and trim off any algae you see, then do the water change.
Add the nutrients back.
Add nutrients 2x more during the week.

Repeat water change and pruning.

Alage can only grow so much in a week, if you keep after them, they
will give up(except for small algae like Green water/BGA etc, these
can be beaten other ways though)

Typically 3 weeks is the maximum time I've ever had an algae hang
around by doing this method.

Adding amano shrimps really help but you need 50-100 to do the job on
a 75Gal.

But if you buy 50-100, you should get them at 1$ ea or less.

Just go in there each weekend for a couple of weeks and attack the
hell out of the algae. Go crazy with the pruning that no algae is left
on anything.
Buy some cheapy plants if you need to after a large pruning.
Remove them later.

Be agressive with your manual removal methods. It's very effective.
Bleach any wood/rocks, equipment etc, clean filter, up the CO2 etc.
Use all of these methods together.

Regards,
Tom Barr



(spun 12) wrote in message om...

Tom,
I hardly ever post. But I couldn't help it this time. My tank specs
I almost like yours except I have 300W. I have been trying for 8
months or so to have no ALGEA! Im still trying to figure out nutrients
though. I have always been a beliver in adding plenty of nutrients.
Currently I use the whole line of Seachem plant ferts(liquid and root
tabs)I use double what the bottle says. From what I read you seem to
use a little more. The algeas I have now are by no means out of
control but Idont like any. One algea is a dark brown-red on sword
leaves. And a light colored green fuzz. Do you think that I should
increase nutrients? I dont have a PH controller yet but I leave the
Co2 on all the time and the co2 stays between 15-20ppm.I do water
changes about every 1-2 weeks at about 50% Any info would be great.

mATT In IL







My routine for a 75 gal with high light, 330w.
50% weekly water change
Prune, scrub, trim, clean FIRST! Then do the water change.
Dose the nutrients back in afterwards.

Add: 1/2 teaspoon of KNO3 for NO3.
1/8th-1/16th teaspoon of KH2PO4 for PO4
1/2Teaspoon of K2SO4 for K+.
15mls trace, for ll the traces.

Add KNO3/KH2PO4.Traces 3X a week at these dosages.

50% weekly water change and repeat.

Consider Rosey barbs, cherry bards, SAE's, Amano shrimps in mass.

Check your CO2 to be certain that you have 20-30ppm the ENTIRE time
the lights are on, so check pH 2x, once in the AM and once before the
lights go off.

Do this for 3 week
You tell me what you think.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Just follow the routine, 20-30ppm of CO2
Prune and trim off any algae you see, then do the water change.
Add the nutrients back.
Add nutrients 2x more during the week.

Repeat water change and pruning.

Alage can only grow so much in a week, if you keep after them, they
will give up(except for small algae like Green water/BGA etc, these
can be beaten other ways though)

Typically 3 weeks is the maximum time I've ever had an algae hang
around by doing this method.

Adding amano shrimps really help but you need 50-100 to do the job on
a 75Gal.

But if you buy 50-100, you should get them at 1$ ea or less.

Just go in there each weekend for a couple of weeks and attack the
hell out of the algae. Go crazy with the pruning that no algae is left
on anything.
Buy some cheapy plants if you need to after a large pruning.
Remove them later.

Be agressive with your manual removal methods. It's very effective.
Bleach any wood/rocks, equipment etc, clean filter, up the CO2 etc.
Use all of these methods together.

Regards,
Tom Barr



(spun 12) wrote in message om...

Tom,
I hardly ever post. But I couldn't help it this time. My tank specs
I almost like yours except I have 300W. I have been trying for 8
months or so to have no ALGEA! Im still trying to figure out nutrients
though. I have always been a beliver in adding plenty of nutrients.
Currently I use the whole line of Seachem plant ferts(liquid and root
tabs)I use double what the bottle says. From what I read you seem to
use a little more. The algeas I have now are by no means out of
control but Idont like any. One algea is a dark brown-red on sword
leaves. And a light colored green fuzz. Do you think that I should
increase nutrients? I dont have a PH controller yet but I leave the
Co2 on all the time and the co2 stays between 15-20ppm.I do water
changes about every 1-2 weeks at about 50% Any info would be great.

mATT In IL







My routine for a 75 gal with high light, 330w.
50% weekly water change
Prune, scrub, trim, clean FIRST! Then do the water change.
Dose the nutrients back in afterwards.

Add: 1/2 teaspoon of KNO3 for NO3.
1/8th-1/16th teaspoon of KH2PO4 for PO4
1/2Teaspoon of K2SO4 for K+.
15mls trace, for ll the traces.

Add KNO3/KH2PO4.Traces 3X a week at these dosages.

50% weekly water change and repeat.

Consider Rosey barbs, cherry bards, SAE's, Amano shrimps in mass.

Check your CO2 to be certain that you have 20-30ppm the ENTIRE time
the lights are on, so check pH 2x, once in the AM and once before the
lights go off.

Do this for 3 week
You tell me what you think.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Thanks for the info you seem to be an active particpant in the
group.It a good thing that theres people like you around. Im going to
try this and hope the we can have the same results I know Im close to
where Im content with my results.

Matt in IL


Just follow the routine, 20-30ppm of CO2
Prune and trim off any algae you see, then do the water change.
Add the nutrients back.
Add nutrients 2x more during the week.

Repeat water change and pruning.

Alage can only grow so much in a week, if you keep after them, they
will give up(except for small algae like Green water/BGA etc, these
can be beaten other ways though)

Typically 3 weeks is the maximum time I've ever had an algae hang
around by doing this method.

Adding amano shrimps really help but you need 50-100 to do the job on
a 75Gal.

But if you buy 50-100, you should get them at 1$ ea or less.

Just go in there each weekend for a couple of weeks and attack the
hell out of the algae. Go crazy with the pruning that no algae is left
on anything.
Buy some cheapy plants if you need to after a large pruning.
Remove them later.

Be agressive with your manual removal methods. It's very effective.
Bleach any wood/rocks, equipment etc, clean filter, up the CO2 etc.
Use all of these methods together.

Regards,
Tom Barr