hair algae problem brewing..

A few bad things here. The solution seems fine.
Test kits and reliance on them is problematic.

Drop checkers are rough guides at best, the pH, unless you have very high KH in the tank water seems really really high. Unless you run a KH of 15-20, you do not have enough CO2.

This is a CO2 issue.

I think you need to calibrate the NO3 test before you make ANY conclusion about the ppm of NO3 you have in the aquarium. No chart is going to help you escape that.

See how to make a reference solution from LeftC here(search).

Do that, then go back and measure the NO3 2-3x over a week, then see what the NO3 is(or is not).

Adjust accordingly up to about 10-15ppm NO3 using the stock solution.
PMDD or CMS+B you add via teaspoons? You can make a solution of this using 1 liter of water(or you can 1/2 this amount also) and 2 table spoons of CMS+B. Use soft low KH DI/RO water if possible. Add some Excel(say 20mls) to this or 2 mls of HCL pool acid(muriatic acid).

Get some Excel to help while you address the plant growth issue (mostly CO2) that led to the algae. Reduce the light intensity(raise the light, add some screen/shade cloth etc to about 30% less or so.

You can also do a series of 3 day blackouts, with 2-3 days of lighting, followed with another 3 day blackout etc. After 2-3 cycles, this beats the algae down.

This does not cure the root problem, it only weakens the algae.
Do a large water change each time you go from to the lighting cycle and you finish the light cycle. Better in the morning as the lights come on.

Regards,
Tom Barr




That will rule out most of the nutrient issue.

 

No, it has little if any noted direct algicidal effects on green algae.
The effect is indirect, in otherwords, it only helps plants grow.
Poor plant growth indirectly leads to algae.


Green algae, like most plants, can and does detoxify the the carbonyl crosslinking, likely via a monoxygenase at the cell surface.

It does help with BBA and other species of algae but I do not suggest adding lots of it, just wait and fix the root problem, then go from there.

Excel, Easy Carbo does this with CO2/Carbon balance in the plants, algae, green or otherwise, are not CO2 limited in aquariums ever.

Plants very often are.
CO2 balance for the plants is not an easy thing.

It moved around more than any other growth parameter, light is the most stable, with nutrients being somewhat intermediate, but comprising only 1-2% total plant biomass. Carbon is 40-45%.

CO2 is best, but if that is a management issue not yet resolved, adding Excel/Easy Carbo etc helps somewhat still.

With respect to most green algae:

I've focused strongly over the last few years on CO2.
Cladophora is interesting and seems related to low CO2, particularly in the initial stages of the light cycle. So if it takes an hour or two at high light for the CO2 system to get going, and then it's not that stable, the plants still grow okay etc, but so does Caldophora.

When the CO2 is corrected, cleaned, tank is trimmed and cleaned up, tangles of moss and other regions where Caldophora can get caught and regrow, this alga stops growing and is managable.

GDA is interesting. I've not been able to induce via inoculation from a healthy GDA infested tank to aquariums with good reference CO2. Over time, the only way I was able to maintain the GDA culture was through higher light and less CO2 with plants present.

In all cases(7 aquarium infestations), correcting CO2 was the key, as well as some patience. I did not try multi blackout cycling however, that shoukld weaken zoospores more than other green algae life stages(GDA is a zoospore stage that pesters us). I would predict the multi blackout + good re evaluation of all facets relating to CO2, adding Excel in the interm, will give the highets likelyhood of management.

As there are many things I cannot see from the web, many little hammers approach works best as often one of them will work if the other's fail, however, they all really focus more on good plant health, growth rather than algae killing.

The multiple blackout cycles (3 days of total blackout followed by 2-3 days of normal reduced intensity light, water change right after each stage as the lights come on and right before they are turned off) are designe dto weaken the algae spores and adults.

The light in between starts them up again and causes them to sporulate(wasting more energy/resources). A few cycles later, most just go dormant rather than trying to cycle every 2-3 days back and forth. Plants however, do pretty good during this time, they do not grow as much, but they have enough to make it through.

This methods works best on green species.

After a few weeks of lower light(say 2-3), the light intensity can be raised and CO2 adjusted.

Anytime more light is added, CO2/nutrients also need scaled up.

Current,O2, the rate of degassing(sump level changes, tank water level changes affect this a lot, spill over in the prefilters etc, clogging of filter etc etc), dirty CO2 disc, reactors/filter flow reduced pushing through these.

I wish it was so simple.

On the web, I cannot see 90% of the issues folks might have.
For many, it's one or two simple things, easy, they run off and are happy.
But there are always some that have many issues and just plain bad luck. No way around it, and these are the folks we read about more on line. Rarely the successes

But those successes can teach as well, and the mistakes made by others with bad luck also can teach us where we can go wrong and what other factors are at play there. So they both offer a lot of help as to getting to the root of the problem, as well as management for algae.

We are much better able to deal with and control algae today than say 10 years ago, or much better than say 20 years ago(no hope for much back then).

I was lucky but I started wondering why others had so much issue, so I started messing with things to test whether it was some factor/s.

I am not worried about correcting my planted tanks, it does not take me long to fix things back to a nice state. Even if it does, I know the algae will submit to my focus on plants, trimming and many little hammers. Patience really has advantages many folks do not have.

I also am curious and want to look at different management methods.
Nutrients where initially a strong focus, then I moved to CO2 and then light.
CO2 and light have the largest impact, master those, you master plants very easily.

Trying to solve your own issues is not hard for me. However, trying to solve all the possible issues folks have on the web?
That's a challenge!

In person, it's not too bad.

I recently beat the Spirogryra(prior Rhizoclonium) using a 3 day black out with a large water change prior, and then right after. But the Spirogyra started to regrow. So I decided to adjust the CO2 and did another blackout in the meantime to beat down the regrowth.

I know I cannot just do week long blackouts without harming the plants, so the water changes/CO2 adjustment/nutrient dosing + Blackout cycles made more sense.

After a few cycles, the algae is beaten back, and the CO2 is correctly adjusted. Lower light is used during this time ot reduce the growth rates of algae and to help manage the CO2/nutrients. So this gives more effective CO2 management as well as reduced algae growth.

Adding all these many little hammers up together, makes a synergistic method that is specific to each type of algae and flexible enough for broad use for all aquarists.

Still, they all still focus on providing good plant growth and balancing the light to the CO2.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

You only get 2 CO2's not 5 CO2 really from the Gult.
The other 3 are bacteria respiration and likely(at least most) lost to the air above the water.

At high dose, the stuff kills, no doubt about it.
Fish will be less sensitive than most inverts.

2ppm is a good target or less.


Many species of algae, are not susceptible to higher dosing of glut, no more than plants might be, I've burnt and toasted many plants trying this.

Dips, baths, sprays etc.

You also have O2 demand with Glut detoxification and respiration of the end products.

Not a lot really, but if the plants are somewhat C limited, this is a good solution and keeps many species of algae down.

So it's both, not just helping plants(does this also), but also kills many species of algae. Why green algae are not suppressed once established is curious.

I suppose some acclimation by both plants and established adult algae occurs.
Egeria does this acclimatization. I see no reason why green algae may not either.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

This paper pretty much tells you everything you need to know about Glut.
http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050003.pdf

Another:
ScienceDirect - Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety : Ecotoxicology of Glutaraldehyde: Review of Environmental Fate and Effects Studies

Some others:

http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2003/20030019.pdf

In that first paper by Sano et al, 2004, there is a nice dose response toxicity curve.

You will note that 1/2 of where that curve starts to rise is 2ppm, this is a common exposure limit for some involved in risk management.

Some use a factor of 10x the LD50 for acute, or perhaps 1/2 for long term chronic toxicity.

Depends on the organism and the risk factors.

For us, looks pretty low risk, so 2 ppm might be okay.
I go a little less personally.

Regards,
Tom barr