# EI dosing causing algae?



## Boogerboy (Sep 23, 2008)

GDA, green spot and hair algae are slowly creeping in on my month-old tank.

I've read that green spot and hair algae are caused by overdosing ferts. Right now I put 12ml for my 50 gal of NPK and then on the next day 12ml CSM+B solution. The fertilizers are mixed per the sticky in this forum.

Since the tank is still new I don't think the plants are able to keep up with the fertilizer dosing. I've been doing huge water changes weekly (60-85%) to make sure there isn't any lingering fertilizer.

My photoperiod was 7h30 and today i've turned it down to 6h30 (night photoperiod, if that makes a difference, though I'm quite sure it doesn't).

Not a crazy amount of algae but it's bothering me, especially since it comes back on the glass really quickly now even though i've just scraped it all and done a huge water change to get the algae out. Worried that the algae might move in on my HC which is still busy being slow as hell to carpet.


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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

do u use C02? whats ur lights?


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## Boogerboy (Sep 23, 2008)

Co2 at 30ppm

4x39w T5HO


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## charlie1 (Dec 1, 2011)

Boogerboy said:


> Co2 at 30ppm
> 
> 4x39w T5HO


How are you measuring your CO2 ?
since the tank is new, GDA is a common phenom with new tanks
Green spot algae can be low phosphates coupled with bright lights
Hair algae can be from the silicates from the new tank & unbalanced tank .
You can wait out the GDA it should subside on it`s own
Increase your phosphates & raise your light fixture to reduce the light intensity or if you can switch off 2 bulbs until the tank stabilizes, increase CO2.
I Usually start my EI dosing on new tanks with young plants once a week for about 3 weeks, then 2 x a week for another 3 weeks , if all is well i go to full dosing.
These are just suggestions & not must do or will work advise, it` all about finding the balance between light & nutritions including CO 2, as tanks evolves the balance changes.
Regards


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## Boogerboy (Sep 23, 2008)

Co2 with drop checker

Can't move the lights they sit on the tank, hopefully the reduced photoperiod will do some good. I'm probably going to take down the dosing a bit actually, because I don't think I'm low on anything dosing 6 days a week and for the full tank capacity which is probably too much considering the soil and driftwood in there. Might try something closer to your new tank schedule. I'll increase co2 a bit however there's one shrimp in there I don't want to kill  

Thanks


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## Boogerboy (Sep 23, 2008)

Just an update.

With the new shorter photoperiod the tank appears to be faring better. There is still GDA buildup on the glass but its slower now, and I'm doing a once-every-two-days sweep to keep the glass clean. 

The spot algae is all but gone, there wasn't too much of it to begin with. The hair algae bothers me more now, I have a suspicion it's due to the driftwood. 

This (store bought) driftwood reacted pretty strangely compared to the malaysian driftwood I've used in my previous tank. It didn't leech tannins, but instead sap (or fungus?) looking like a viscous white goop coming out from cuts or cracks in the wood. I sucked most of it out with a siphon and my shrimp/snails seem to love munching away at the rest, so I'm not too worried about that. It also seemed to form a hair-like brown fuzz on certain spots, that didnt come back (so far) after removal, but then the wood sprang up in actual green/black hair algae. Dunno what the heck is going on.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

The white fungus that grows on new pieces of driftwood is nothing to worry about. 

It is quite unsightly, but it will go away on its own after a few weeks.


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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

Darkblade48 said:


> The white fungus that grows on new pieces of driftwood is nothing to worry about.
> 
> It is quite unsightly, but it will go away on its own after a few weeks.


agreed! and apparently a well cycled tank, full of beneficial bacteria helps remove it faster


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## Boogerboy (Sep 23, 2008)

Thanks guys. Just an update, after extensive research it wasn't the fert regimen. Indeed just new tank syndrome.

The algae is all but gone now  
Just wild speculation but i think it helped moving my diffuser disc right under the inflow pipe so the bubbles are not free floating in the tank, I probably get much better CO2 dissolution now


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