So... My friend algae, you may know him

[sfarkhan]

It's been nearly a month and the string algae isn't gone, less but not gone. Very little GSA on the glass, literally one or two spots, but I get enough hair algae on the glass to clean every couple of days.

I've raised the lights to 32" from the substrate.
The lights are on an 8 hour photo period with a 3 hour burst in the middle.
Started PPS fertilization daily using this https://sites.google.com/site/aquaticpl ... me/pps-pro to mix.
Added a Koralia Nano 240 to increase flow.
Edit: (Daily) Clean the hair off with a tooth brush. I've been removing the leaves that are infested with it as well.
10ml of Excel dosed daily.
6ml of Flourish iron daily.
6ml of Flourish 2x a week. (I'll switch to a dry mix once it runs out)
CO2 is flowing at 3bps - I had to increase it with the new filter output. I'm switching back to the lily pipe because it was better at keeping the drop checker lime green with less bps.
I'm about to drop another order for amano since there are a few amano alive and the RCS survived. My water is not toxic to inverts.

Any suggestions?
Reduce the photo period even more?
Increase the K dosing from what I'm already dosing currently?

[Aaron]

Pictures? It helps to identify possible deficiencies.

[krisw]

You could try the mid-day ciesta approach with the lights. (Run for 4 hours in the morning, turn off for 3 hours, run for 4 hours after that. Throw your burst in there in the second half. It's just like a cloudy morning with the sun coming out then.) It can sometimes help break up the algae photo period. No guarantees, but what's to lose?

[sfarkhan]

Pictoral evidence.

Edit: Wow! It looks worse in the pictures than in the tank, lol

The tank

The tank

IMG_3053.JPG (195.57 KiB) Viewed 3599 times

The rest of the images are zoomed in on bad spots. Not everything is covered - these are the worst areas.

string algae

IMG_3062.JPG (207.18 KiB) Viewed 3599 times

more string algae

IMG_3065.JPG (167.32 KiB) Viewed 3599 times

IMG_3067.JPG (146.5 KiB) Viewed 3599 times

[jweis]

When I had an algae problem, I did a three day total black out (I covered the tank with a black trash bag) with daily doses of Excel and daily water changes. When I removed the bag, I was thrilled to see the algae gone.

Also, I only run my lights for 6-7 hrs a day. You may want to consider cutting back on your lights.

[sfarkhan]

When I had an algae problem, I did a three day total black out (I covered the tank with a black trash bag) with daily doses of Excel and daily water changes. When I removed the bag, I was thrilled to see the algae gone.

Also, I only run my lights for 6-7 hrs a day. You may want to consider cutting back on your lights.

3 days of black out didn't kill you plants? Did you have issues with your plants? I'm considering reducing the photo period even more but I'm afraid it will kill off my plants.

My pants are growing well, all things considered

[jweis]

When I had an algae problem, I did a three day total black out (I covered the tank with a black trash bag) with daily doses of Excel and daily water changes. When I removed the bag, I was thrilled to see the algae gone.

Also, I only run my lights for 6-7 hrs a day. You may want to consider cutting back on your lights.

3 days of black out didn't kill you plants? Did you have issues with your plants? I'm considering reducing the photo period even more but I'm afraid it will kill off my plants.

My pants are growing well, all things considered

Your plants will be fine during the blackout. Algae dies without light much more quickly than the plants do.

p.s. You know this a decent forum and we don't want to hear about your "pants" growing! Ha, ha.

[krisw]

Shahriar, a 3-day blackout is just like shipping plants from California to here, which happens all the time on the forums. The plants arrive, might look a little weary, but bounce right back.

[Aaron]

Shahriar, a 3-day blackout is just like shipping plants from California to here, which happens all the time on the forums. The plants arrive, might look a little weary, but bounce right back.

Yup, what he said.

How is your CO2 distributed? Water changes, water changes and more water changes. Unfortunately, when outbreaks like this happen it's a bit of work to turn things around.

[sfarkhan]

When I had an algae problem, I did a three day total black out (I covered the tank with a black trash bag) with daily doses of Excel and daily water changes. When I removed the bag, I was thrilled to see the algae gone.

Also, I only run my lights for 6-7 hrs a day. You may want to consider cutting back on your lights.

3 days of black out didn't kill you plants? Did you have issues with your plants? I'm considering reducing the photo period even more but I'm afraid it will kill off my plants.

My pants are growing well, all things considered

Your plants will be fine during the blackout. Algae dies without light much more quickly than the plants do.

p.s. You know this a decent forum and we don't want to hear about your "pants" growing! Ha, ha.

Mental spell check didn't catch that, haha