hair algea on plants

[BBReef]

i have a 20 gal planted tank that im gunna be putting some anubius nana in from another tank i had set up, but converted to saltwater. the anubius has some hair algea on the leaves that i dont want to introduce into my planted tank. whats a good way of getting rid of the algea without harming the plants so i can add them to the plant tank??

 

[Gunnie]

I have a 20 long that has the same problem. I tried cleaning it off with my hands, dipping the leaves in a 5% bleach solution, and have now gone to removing the leaves when I see the algae on it. Everything I have read about this algae says it is hard to get rid of. Just keep plucking until it's gone.

 

[eykis9]

in addition to Gunnie's advice, if possible, put in several very fast growing plants. they will use up the extra nutrients in the water column and the algae will have less chance of development in the first place. to help you find some suitable fast growing plants, here's a good site: http://www.aquaplant.org/cgi/search1.plx just click whatever boxes you want and go. for example, i just selected the "easiness" & "growth" boxes and then search. also, when you get your results, there will be referrence links on the right, some work, some don't. i had good luck cross referencing at http://www.tropica.com

hope this is helpful.

 

[BBReef]

thanks a lot this helps out a lot.

 

[BillyZ]

this hair algae that you are refering to, is it a short black "hair" I'm starting to see this in my system now as well. I think i'm finaly getting enough "Stuff" in my tank for the plants, but not enough plants to use it, hense the algae. Does sound like what's happening to my system? (again, 20 gallon tank... whats up with the 20g tanks eh?! hehe)

 

[Guest]

Hair algae is very long, green, and stringy.

BBA, black brush algae, is short and black. Harder to get rid of than most algaes. never had it myself.

 

[BillyZ]

the only change to my system was an attempt at feeding algae wafers for my pleco. pleco ignored it completely but the gupies loved em! lol My money is on the wafers as the source of the BBA

 

[Guest]

Insofar as algae sources go, I think you can get almost any kind in any water. All it takes is a few spores, they could be in the water supply, come in with plants or fish, or even on your hands. Of course this is all just my theory, but it sure seems that way. Algae spores are some of the toughest living creatures on the planet.

 

[madasafish]

And as a follow-up. I think algae wafers are dead algae, no spores. I doubt that they'd be your source, as they'd be a frightfully unpopular item if they were! I'd tend to agree with corvus that anything could have introduced the algae. I'm having a problem in my 29 right now. Very few fish, little nutrient input, but plenty of algae. I swear, sometimes the stuff is a real mystery to me!

 

[dralarms]

I.m starting to see some real fine green grass like alge on a couple of "clay" type items I got from petco. Took them out and washed them in the dishwasher , now it's gone for now. only have a small amount of regular looking alge in my tank now, thought about getting a bristle nose pleco but don't want driftwood.