BGA and hair algae in the Do!aqua cube

[Tom]

Hi,
I've been getting some small amounts of BGA for a while now in the little cube (8 liters ish). It can't be due to Nitrates as I dose 2ml Spezial N (upped because of BGA), alongside KH2PO4, MGSO4 and Flowgrow trace. I also doubt it's flow-related, as I have a 150lph HOB filter, and a 300lph powerhead at half output. Substrate is inert sand, and the light is 9w.

The only thing I think it can be now, is excess detritus as for some reason this tank does seem to get a bit settling on the Hairgrass, Crypt and caught in the hair algae that is now growing on the moss. I'm doing daily 75% water changes each morning and re-dosing, so I don't know where the muck is coming from. The filter is well maintained too. I've been lightly stirring some of the substrate before water changes too, which kicks up loads more detritus.

As for the hair algae, low CO2? I'm dosing 1ml AquaEssentials Carbon daily after the water change, which doesn't seem low to me. George managed 18w over his nano dosing Excel.

The plants are growing (very slowly, stems included), but the algae is there. The stems are light brown below the light green tips though, which only happened after the first trim. Until then they were perfect.

Any thoughts?
Cheers,
Tom

 

[G H Nelson]

Hi Tom
Maybe you have too much flow and this is kicking up a lot of detritus and producing the ideal BGA conditions.
I would remove 80% of the water then have a general clean up with swishing the plants and cleaning the substrate.....
then remove the last 20% of water.Then refill also I would remove the power-head.
Have a look at your hob filter also you will be surprised how much gunk it accumulates after a short time.
Try slightly moving its position if you can each few days.
hoggie