OMG what is c ausing this brown HAIR algae ??

[candymancan]

So I had this algae for awhile now. See in the picture its on my water sprite on top and completetly took it over .. I noticed it when I switched substrates I believe.. and Someone mentioned they had the same algae in their tank with the same substrate.. I went from regular tan pebbles.. to floramax original substrate.. I had this in my 44g pentagon, and when I got my 92g corner I moved it over and add4 more bags.. and its over taking my tank.. 1 week and it everywhere it grows so fast.. and I cant keep up with it.. Its easy to remove but it smothers my plants.. It reminds me of those silk worms that eat trees..

What is causing this ? It cant be light, I tried low light and high light it doesn't effect it. I don't dose ferts.. my Nitrates are between 5 and 10... Phosphates are 0-0.5 I cant tell on the test kit they both look the same to me. Ph is around 6.6, temps 84f, GH is 120-130, KH is 20-30.

I read hair algae is caused by excessive iron.. This substrate says it has iron in it, and I noticed some of it sticks to my magnet glass cleaner.. Could this substrate simply be putting too much iron in the tank and that's why it causing this ? Before I switched substrates I had major issues with black beard algae.. I couldn't get rid of it.. then I switched.. and the black beard all died off.. and this stuff started growing lol.. I personally don't know what worse... At least this stuff I guess is easy to remove..


https://www.aquariumadvice.com/atta...205366_0_411c27c5d04acaa9e8c263c9fe884150.jpg

 

[ImACoolguy]

Looks a lot more like diatoms.


Caleb

Sent via TARDIS

 

[mikem691]

That is a big complaint with that substrate. There are a few threads about that in the planted section.

 

[Mebbid]

Either not enough ferts or not enough carbon. Likely a lack of both.

 

[Gillie]

Either not enough ferts or not enough carbon. Likely a lack of both.

I have it on my planted tank too, the only thing I changed was the substrate, bit it seems to slowing down a bit but not gone.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[candymancan]

Well I just drove 40 minutes to buy some true Siamese Algae eaters. Hopefully they help with it.. I know my nerites eat it.. but they don't go on my watersprite and stuff.. they do eat it on all the other surfaces they crawl on those.. I wanted to get some Amano shrimp too but they store wanted $6 each for them lol.. I got 4 Siamese algae eaters. And yes they are real ones.. all silver with a black line going through them and the through the tail fin

 

[candymancan]

Well seems these Siamese algae eaters love this algae.. They are tearing it apart... Thank god..

 

[Gillie]

Well seems these Siamese algae eaters love this algae.. They are tearing it apart... Thank god..

Good deal, I just hope mine stays on the decline and I don't end up on that route.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[candymancan]

Yea they are ripping it to pieces.. Slurping it up like spagetie lol its fun to watch. They even catch the floating blobs, floating around in the tank and eat them too

 

[candymancan]

Omg 1 day later ALL the algae is gone, and you guys saw how much I had..these Siamese algae eaters are the terminator of algae That was only part of the tank too.. They even cleaned the roots of my plants.. Look at the water sprite on the glass.. see how clean those roots are ? Same with the roots on the red telenthara plant.. its spotless they go in together as a group and pick and pull every spec off.. its cool to watch