Hair Algae: The Week After the Diatom

The pH level in my water was around 8.0. This is too alkaline for plants and freshwater fish, it's recommended by most to keep it between 6.5-7.5. Toronto water is fairly alkaline. I did some research on the web and read about pH down chemicals you can add to lower your pH. It was recommended by most people to not use the chemical pH down since there is a high risk it contains phosphate which is what algae thrive on when the plants have had their fill. Click here to read more about that. The alternative to using those chemicals is peat moss for your filter. I didn't follow the alternative and went ahead with the pH down stuff. I added a few drops, way under the required amount each day to make the whole process gradual, it worked, but a few days later I started to see a whole new algae develop on my plants. I'm not 100% sure if thats what sparked this new algae growth, but I went out and bought peat moss for my filter instead.

photograph of Staghorn Algae, Jan 31 '06

I never saw this kind of algae before. I searched the web for a bit and found out after reading a bunch of skewed descriptions the exact kind of algae I had. It's Staghorn Hair Algae.

A good place to identify the kind of algae your experiencing would be here.
The solution to this problem is to add a few Florida Flag Fish.

Brown Algae: the first presence of life in your water

Within the first week that I had set up my plants my tank started developing brown algae everywhere. I found out that this type of algae is called Diatom Algae, attached to this name is a link which takes you to a useful site for help on problems you might occur and advice called TheKrib.
It is recommended by everyone to get Otocinclus (suckermouth) catfish to solve this problem. In about one day they cleaned it all up and were really well fed and happy.

The First Month

I have a 20 gallon freshwater tank.
– I'm running an AquaClear filter for 30gallon
– Red Sea Turbo CO2 Bio System
– A 50 watt heater
– Another pump for more water circulation and air at night
– (2) 15watt 18" fluorescent tubes, one is a lightning rod 11,000K (daylight),
the other is an Aqua Glow
– Weekly I use Potassium supplement and Big Al's multipurpose fertilizer & Bio Support


Here is a list of the plants I added on Jan 11, 2006, the second week of setting up my tank.

– (2) amazon sword
– (1) narrow leaf chain sword
– (1) Cardamine lyrata (Bitter Cress)
– (3) Rotala indica
– (1) Cryptocoryne wendtii ''green''
– (2) Micranthemum umbrosum (baby tears)
– (2) Dwarf Hygrophila

A week later, Jan.18, I added three suckermouth catfish and so far things have been going well
in my tank. I'm starting to get a green mildew on my petrified wood, and hair algae on my cryptocoryne. The narrow leaf chain sword is starting to spread, hopefully it'll cover the foreground. I've been having a problem with the dwarf hygro's, some of their roots are becoming soft and dark at the base.

I'm adding more potassium to the water to see what happens.

I have quite a few baby snails I keep catching every other day, will have to get a clown loach to eat them since they're eating my plants.

This week will be my fourth week.

Week Number 3

This site will be a record of my plant aquarium's progress. I'm a beginner, so watch me make mistakes & learn with me.