Anyone Help With Staghorn Problem?

I run the CO2 around 45ppm (its difficult to get very fine adjustments on such a small tank), so its not that.

I've heard the america flag fish will eat it, but they'd eat the fish in the tank too! And its not a long term solution IMO, a tricky fish to find in the UK as well.

Sam

Themuleous said:

I run the CO2 around 45ppm (its difficult to get very fine adjustments on such a small tank), so its not that.

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If you're using the KH/pH charts to calculate the CO2 then the chances are that your calculated levels are wrong. If it really was 45ppm then your fish would be suffering. To give you an example my KH is 5.5 and pH is 6.2 (using a calibrated pH meter) giving me a level of 104ppm CO2 which is ridiculous really. I know if I lower my pH down to 6.0 giving 165ppm CO2 then the fish are starting to show signs of stress but not yet gasping at the surface. So I know what my limits are and I keep my pH at 6.2 which keeps the fish happy and algae at bay. Some time ago I spent months battling algae thinking my CO2 levels were good, 40-50ppm. It was only when I increased CO2 that the algae went. I always now suggest slowly increasing levels and observing the fish very carefully. When the fish start showing stress then you know your limit and you can cut back a bit to safe levels. This IMO is the only way to successfully determine correct levels. Take those charts with a pince of salt.

I have a five-gallon cherry and crystal red shrimp tank set up a couple of months with diy Co2 and no ferts. Its got loads of staghorn algae and thread algae, it had bga but I did a blackout for that and its gone. I have used barley straw in the pond before and its quite useful. The snails and water ‘wood lice’ and other critters seemed to like grazing on it. So I put in a bit of straw over an area of moss that was completely covered in staghorn. So far it’s been maybe 10 days, I soaked the straw for a few days just to clean it and start the decay. It seems to be working only on the staghorn that was very close to it. The algae went white and brittle. Here is a pic, some of the algae has been clipped. I was afraid for the health of the shrimps but so far they seem to like the straw and graze on it. First shrimp eggs appeared yesterday so I guess they are happy. This is far from scientific but it seems to work so far, it is letting something rot in the water but ammonia or oxygen depletion hasn’t been a problem yet.

Have tried to take some pics of the algae just to check it is staghorn.
I couldnt really get close enough to focus on the algae and this is the best I got.

If anyone recognises this blur as being staghorn, please could you confirm for me.
Cheers.