out of control algae !!

[dertyharry420]

yeah there is this branch like algae thats is also hair like i dunno but its on the sides of the glass and covered almost every thing of my dwarf hairgrass...and theres a little bit on everything else ....so far what i have done i took all my flourish tabs out and stopped dosing it with nutrients which i think i majory overdosed on.....any suggestions on getting this stuff to go away..? its in my 10 gallomn with 28w cf and hagen co2 , i dont have test kits either,

 

[gheitman]

Here is a link to an article that may provide some help in controlling your algae.

http://www.aquaticscape.com/articles/algae.htm

While there are chemical treatments that kill algae such as Algaefix I wouldn't necessarily recommend them. My experience is that it is better to treat what causes the algae otherwise it will keep coming back.

What types of plants do you have in the tank now? You might want to look at getting some stemmed plants that will out compete the algae for nutrients. Hygrophila and Anachris would help in this case.

How long do you leave the lights on each day? You might be providing too much light so look at reducing the number of hours the lights are on. I have my lights on for 11 hours a day right now but when I started they were on for almost 14 hours each day.

As is mentioned in the article linked to above, there are also fish that are good at eating algae. I recommend the Siamese Algae Eater (SAE or Crossocheilus siamensis) because they are a good community fish and will eat some types of algae that no other fish would. Here is a link to a profile of that fish.

http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/csiamensis.xml

I hope this helps you out.