About To Tear My Hair Out Over This Algae

[stubzy]

about my tank: 55ltr cube. Substrate: colombo flora base. Co2 pressurised usually running at about 4bps but have been running it much higher due to the algae. Lighting: arcadia eco aqua 30watt Led tropical
water parameters: ammonia = 0 nitrite = 0 nitrate = 40ppm ph 6.7.
fertilser: i dose nuetro Co2 and nuetro +
 
daily routine: Co2 on at 10am, lights on at 12pm, Co2 off at 6-7pm, lights off at 8-9pm giving a 8-9 hour photo period.
 
This algae is really making me just want to tear the whole aquarium down and sell it. I have a full carpet of HC baby dwarf tears, and for 4-5 days the were doing great and pearling like crazy, then all of a sudden this algae starts to creep in. i remove it every day with a toothbrush and tweezers, but it comes back with a vengeance overnight getting worse and worse and worse. i have been told to increase my Co2, i have done that but still this algae is just totally taking over the tank. I have spent so much money on this tank yet i just want to give up. really frustrating!
 
 
http/img341.imageshack.us/img341/5002/algae001.jpg

 

[DerpPH]

Do many water changes. Reduce fert doses and increase lightin about 1 hour. Had that situation before. My algae was worse. Consider getting nerites...

 

[SO19Firearms]

Identify you algae here and work from there. Drop your lighting back to 6 hrs so if it turns out to be a lack of CO2/distribution the effect will be lessened.
I can't find out what's in Neutro+ so don't know if you're dosing enough.
Is your drop checker lime green all day?

 

[stubzy]

yes drop checker is lime green, but atm its close to yellow as i have been told to put in loads of Co2. 

 

[SO19Firearms]

Loads of CO2 or dropping the lighting has the same effect for CO2 related algae, except gassing the fish

 

[betta fish]

Yes get nerites! then sit back and do nothing they will do all the work for you they do not eat live plants and do not breed in home aquariums so the ideal lodger really, I have two and continually swap them between my tanks so they always have algae to eat 

 

[snazy]

How is your flow and what filter do you have? Do you use a spray bar and where's the intake, output?

 

[stubzy]

well i have now ripped all the plants out it got so bad that there was no point in removing it by hand, i was taking it all out and it would double the next day. the filter is i think 1000 litres per hour, the intake is top right and the powerhead output is top left. the tank is an aquanano 40. I am gonna give it one more go in a week or so with new plants and use some flourish excel as recommended by some friends but this is still not a fix as i really dont know what is causing this algae, i have good circulation, very good lighting, pressurised Co2, i dose nuetro Co2 as a liquid carbon supliment and nuetro+ for micro nutrients, my water perameters are ok with 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and quite low nitrate 30-40 ppm. its just so frustrating, i cant take a clear pic as my camera isnt great but here is an image that i could find of the exact same thing. http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/skmacdonald/100_0757.jpg   its this stuff, and it is totally out of control, daily water changes, higher dosing of Co2, manual daily removal with a toothbrush and aquascaping scissors. 

 

[snazy]

Do you have a full shot of the tank? Don't worry, we've seen algae...

 

[DerpPH]

It may be due to excess lighting. I had algae before. My tank was so filled with algae in the glass I had no choice but to buy ottos and nerites! I made the lighting time a bit longer but it grew even more and my algae disposers couldnt handle it. That is where I found out it was due to excess lighting...

 

[stubzy]

Do you have a full shot of the tank? Don't worry, we've seen algae...

i dont, the only pic of my tank is the 1 in the first post, and now i have taken all of the plants and algae out of the tank now, so it is bare atm with just the rocks and substrate in, but that hair algae was really really bad its like in the other pic i linked and it is totally covering everything, the thing i dont understand is its not green hair algae, it is totally brown, i do have diatoms on the rocks and lower parts of the glass but from what i have read diatoms isnt a hair algae?. its not a phosphate issue as i have a non planted aquarium and that has no algae problems. 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Staghorn?
 
SO19Firearms posted this link, but I'll post it again.
Have a look at this:

 

[stubzy]

the thing i also do not understand is that the cause of hair algae is low Co2, yet i have a drop checker that is always green-yellow (green being ideal) i dose nuetro Co2 and nuetro+ ferts


no it is defff not staghorn, its very light brown and very very fine and looks silky but its quite slimey to the touch


ok i was just looking for some pics that are the same as mine and came across this thread - http/www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=100989  he had the same problem as me, scroll down to the brown hair algae on his HC, seems its a photoperiod issue, i will look into lowering my photo period when i get to replant the tank again. Thanks for the help, still would like more input though from people who know.

 

[snazy]

Have you tried moving your dropchecker where the algae is to see if it's still green?
 
Whatever the algae, it still seems your substrate isn't getting much flow, so no matter how much CO2 your put it doesn't matter much.
Reducing the photoperiod will increase the available CO2.

 

[stubzy]

yes i have moved it around in 3 different places, same reading lime green - yellow, it could very well be a circulation problem though as i did have some stem plants in the background, but have removed them and i am going to go for just a full carpet of HC this time so maybe that could also remedy the problem, as i did notice the algae was worst at the back of the tank on the long stem plants