UV Sterilizer On Freshwater/Planted Tank?

[jandb]

I wondered if anyone had an opinion on the usefullness of adding a UV sterilizer to my freshwater planted tank. It is up and cycled, 340 gallon planted with about 2.5 watts a gallon. No phosphate, very low nitrate but have either hair algae or cyano bacteria. Started on the gravel so I have been vacc'ing it 3x a week with water changes, added carbon, filter socks/floss and 2 addional power heads for more circulation. I cut back the lights to 5 hours a day. Since I added the powerheads a couple days ago I have noticed very small, straight, green rods of algae floating. I'm at my wits end! UV seems to be my last resort. Any ideas?

 

[jcardona1]

UV will only address green water. It does nothing for any algae growing on the glass, plants, rocks etc. A UV light is like a band-aid; just a temporary solution. You need to address the underlying causes, and not treat the symptoms. Algae in a planted tank is caused by too much light and/or not enough co2.

 

[anarekist]

prolly shouldnt use carbon since it takes nutrients for the plants out of the water column. You want your plants to out compete the algae. try dosing with some florish Excel, pretty much it's liquid CO2 for your plants.

 

[jandb]

Thanks guys, here's a couple pics. The one you can see the green rods is a real close up. The red thing streaking by is an inch and a half rummynose. I posted a little longer overview on the planted forum. Could my substrate have too much nutrient for the plants? I only added the carbon because the guy at Aquarium Adventure said there were "silicates" in my local water and I should do so. I do have one of those Red Sea paint ball cylinder CO2 systems I've never used. The pH is somewhere around 7-7.5. How can I tell if I have too much or too little CO2. Thanks, been having a ton of questions on this one.View attachment 721907View attachment 721908

 

[anarekist]

oh man, first off you have to physically remove that green algae to even make any progress. Try doing water changes with drinking water. or use r/o water when i had a 20 gal planted tank i did water changes once a week with drinking water from the water shop, i used 2 5 gallon water bottles. 2 bucks at 20cent per gallon. just a pita to take it to the watershop. untill you bring your phosphate and silica levels down you still might have a problem with algae.

what kind of substrate are you using? i used flourite cause it contains alot of iron, green plants love it. you dont really need co2 unless you plan to have a heavy plant load. just having a airstone was enough for the moss in my tank to completely fill the tank.

injecting co2 can dramaticlly increases your ph values. so be careful if you wana go that route

also, what kind of light are you using? certian color promotes more algae than plant growth, prolly go with something with a color temp 6000k or higher

 

[MyGiants]

Hair algae is almost impossible one to get rid of once it starts. If its gotten to the point of growing on the gravel like a carpet you'll never get rid of it. You don't have much plants in your tank from the 2 pics I see. Adding more co2 will not get rid of it adding more fertilizer will not do it either. In fact it will just make it grow more. Prevention is the key when you first started the tank denser planting more plants with lots algae eating fishes like Siamese Algae eaters are the best and lots of shrimps will keep it from ever starting. Lots of time its brought into the tank from plants. Over feeding the tank can cause it to start. I know you don't think you overfeed and probably don't. But you keep lots of fish so you are feeding the tank a lot. I don't care what cures or claims are out there that say it will get rid of it. Nothing really works without killing your plants too. You just about have to tear down your tank and start over.

There is one fish I've read that eats hair algae. But you have to starve this fish not feed it anything forcing it to eat the algae. The Golden topminnow killifish.

 

[jcardona1]

injecting co2 can dramaticlly increases your ph values. so be careful if you wana go that route

Decrease, not increase. And it's not a dangerous type of PH-swing, as it does not affect TDS. Co2-induced ph swings are completely safe.

As for the algae, that doesn't look like hair algae. Look like some type of BGA/cyanobacteria. Hair algae in my experience looks like strands of fishing string, and is the DEVIL. Like My Giants said, once it takes hold, it's nearly impossibe to get rid of. Hair algae can be temporarily killed by squirting it with hydrogen peroxide using a small syringe.

 

[anarekist]

ahh, you dont have to tear down your tank, you may never compleltly get rid of it but you might be able to get it undercontrol. i had hair algae in my planted tank too, mostly from me getting lazy with water changes but i just removed the plants that were covered in it, added more plants and consistent water changes with drinking water and eventually it came under control, just a few bits were left on my spray bar but it just turned black and didnt spread.

 

[MyGiants]

Well long strands are String algae. They grow in the current a lot of times. There are fish that will eat that like Guppies Mollies and Platy's.
But Hair algae which can be bluish or dark green in color and is very dense like a fungus there is no fish that eats that algae except the one fish I mentioned. Its a native fish in Florida.

 

[jcardona1]

Well long strands are String algae. They grow in the current a lot of times. There are fish that will eat that like Guppies Mollies and Platy's.
But Hair algae which can be bluish or dark green in color and is very dense like a fungus there is no fish that eats that algae except the one fish I mentioned. Its a native fish in Florida.

Maybe we're talking about different things. When I hear string/hair algae, I think of Cladophora, which looks like this

And doesn't look like what the OP has.