Black Hair Algae - Will CO2 Help?

FreshyNut · Jan 21, 2018

I have had a black hair algae outbreak lately and I read online that this can be attributed to a lack of CO2 in your tank. I have a decent amount of plants in my 75gal tank and have also had very high nitrates the past couple of weeks. I dose with API Leaf Zone after every water change (weekly if not twice a week due to nitrates).
-Will cutting back on Leaf Zone help with less hair algae?
-Would adding a CO2 system help get rid of it? Would that also help fix some of the nitrate problem if the plants are photosynthesizing more?
-What CO2 system (DIY or kit) would be best for a 75 gal tank, most systems I see are only for up to 40 gal.

TheWolfman · Jan 22, 2018

I’m no expert but first thing that stands out is that you have high nitrites, in a planted tank there is usually virtually no nitrate at all. How long has the tank been running? What fertileizers are you doseing and how often? How much light are you giving the plants. Co2 is usually is not needed for most Low medium light plants.

FreshyNut · Jan 22, 2018

TheWolfman said:
I’m no expert but first thing that stands out is that you have high nitrites, in a planted tank there is usually virtually no nitrate at all. How long has the tank been running? What fertileizers are you doseing and how often? How much light are you giving the plants. Co2 is usually is not needed for most Low medium light plants.

Honestly the tank is probably a little overstocked right now and I'm working on getting a bigger one running and leaving some of the fish in the current tank. This tank has been up for about 6 months now, I did a fishless cycle and used a product from Dr Tim's aquatics to jump start it. I only use the leaf zone once a week usually and I have a finnex 24/7 as my lighting

skjl47 · Jan 22, 2018

TheWolfman said:
you have high nitrites, in a planted tank there is usually virtually no nitrate at all.

Hello; As with most things having to do with water quality here is a balance. Plants can and do take up some nitrate compounds during growth. However if the tank is truly overstocked it can be that the plants cannot take up enough nitrates for their rate of growth.
I keep planted tanks and have gone to a practice of removing damaged or dead plant leaves so they do not decay in the tank and release nitrogen compounds that way. I also "harvest" either plant parts such as clipping leaves and removing some whole plants. The nitrogen compounds are in the plant bodies and by harvesting the plants those bound compounds are removed from the tank and hopefully this will allow more new growth by the plants remaining.

FreshyNut said:
the tank is probably a little overstocked right now

TheWolfman · Jan 22, 2018

It sounds like you answered you own question. Aquarium co-op has some great u tube videos for diagnosing problems with plants, that will help you better understand whats going on in your tank, give it a look. The algae is growing because of the extra nitrate in the water caused by too much bio load.