Help! I Need A Shave

[talenzmeier]

Greetings Fellow Aquarists and Aquatic Gardeners!

I have a reasonably well planted 58 gallon tank and I've got a hair algae problem. Can anyone give me an idea on how to rid my tank of it? The other water quality factors are good: NH3 = 0, NO2 =0.3, pH = 6.75, and PO4 is negligible. I'm running my lights about 10 hours per day.

 

[justDIY]

i'm not sure on chemistry, but american-flag fish did the trick for me

i had the red/black hair growing on eveything in my 10 gallon, hardware, plants, even the gravel

the flagfish cleaned the hardware right quick, then the plants, and now even the gravel.

I also put some in my 30 gallon to head-off any potential problems.

 

[Guest]

i'm not sure on chemistry, but american-flag fish did the trick for me

Did you find them in your lfs or did you have to order them online? I haven't looked at my local stores much lately, but dont recall ever seeing them in my area. I'd like to try something other than SAEs.

 

[talenzmeier]

I Have One

I have two American Flag Fish that I got from my LFS, but they don't seem particularly interested in the hair algae. Maybe the hair is too greasy.

 

[justDIY]

well, put your fish on a 7 day fast, it might re-inspire them to eat the algae ... might be hard on the tank mates though the flag-fish in my 10 gallon have done so well that they're out of algae and began eating flake ... need to move them to another tank now

@cc

I ordered them through my LFS ... payed about $22 for 8 of them. It was a great deal since I didn't have to pay any shipping or play games with the delivery guy.

looks like I got a good mix of males and females, need to figure out what they need for breeding now

 

[wabyrd]

I got a couple of SAEs in my tank and they are slowly putting a dent in the hair algae. I looked for some chemicals to take care of it, but found nothing. I prefer the natural way better anyhow.

 

[madasafish]

Some plecos killed off my hair algae problem lickity split. Any species should work if you like plecos (though dwarf plecs are ultimately a better idea).

 

[justDIY]

great to hear about the pleco working for you

neither pleco nor oto would touch my blackish looking hair ... but the flags love it

 

[talenzmeier]

Another Way

Some folks might be apprehensive about this, but I found that it worked. I mixed one part bleach and twenty parts water and dipped the plants in the mixture for about three to four minutes. When the time had elapsed, I rinsed them thoroughly and then soaked them in a plain water bath with a dechlorinator added to it. I must say it worked like a charm! For fragile plants you just need to reduce the amount of time they soak in the bleach mixture.