Hair Algae

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sujith gopi

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Dec 23, 2011
Messages
17
Hi Friends,

I Started my planted tank with lot of hope but now i am very sad Hair algae is destroying my aquarium please help me in removing it.

Hope ill get a positive response before it is Late...

Thanks.

My Specs:
Co2 Injection
12000k 39x4
55 G
Neon Tetras, ottos other algae eater.
 
Last edited:
I had that hair algae in my 55 gal I put plecos in they did nothing then I put in a Chinese algae eater in and in two days 95% of all my algae was gone
 
hi jetajockey,

I was using lights for 8 hrs firstly then after algae outbreak i shortened it to 6 hrs.... unfortunatly i dont know the CO2 PPM rate i inject it at 2 bubbles per second..
Please help me on this.....

Hope you will
 
Sounds like you probably have a lot of nutrient imbalances going on here, being driven by an excess of light for the fertilizer you are using.

What does the fert you are using have in it?

What is your nitrate testing at?

Any idea what your PO4 is testing at?

2 bps unfortunately doesn't tell us much... you can use a KH and pH test kit to determine what your CO2 concentration is... google "KH pH CO2".
 
Plant Health Formula;
chelated iron,zinc, copper cobalt,manganese and boron.

Plant food:
Nitrogen,pottasium,
 
Ok, you are close on what you should be dosing... most likely you need some kind of phosphorus supplementation as well with that lighting. However, just because the ingredients are there doesn't mean they are at the right levels.

Any idea what your Nitrates, or PO4 are testing at?
 
No idea Abt nitrate and phosphate as no testing kits are availabe here....
Forgot to mention that I have a 9 w UV LIGHT Along with my outside filter
 
To balance a high light high tech planted tank, especially as a beginner, I would highly recommend nitrate and phosphate tests. Without it it is tough to offer you any recommendations.
 
Sure ill upload the photos.. nitrate and phosphate kit not available in my country...i dont know what to do I am done here
 
This is the picture of the algae..
Please check this and try to give me a solution
 

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Hmm, I cant get a positive ID on it from those pics, but they definitely help. Here's my recommendations for you.

I've found Excel to be a great product in the algae war. Long term, it would be unpractical to use to fight algae, but it can act as a reset button for when you try something else. I'm not sure where you're from, but if you're from Europe, I think the product you have will be called Procarb. It's a shortcut, sure, but it will help.

Second, however much you're dosing, cut it in half. I get hair algae in my tanks when I OD on nutrients (like when my autodoser malfunctioned and dosed a weeks worth of ferts in my tank when I was on vacation). How much of that solution are you adding per day and per week? I suspect that excess fert levels might be your issue. I would probably do a 50% water change and stop dosing everything for 2-3 days (sooner if you see deficiency issues), and then start dosing again. We need to know the volume you're adding to make sure that it's withing normal parameters.

I would recommend pushing up your CO2 levels, but without a drop checker, that could get hairy. They're like $10 on ebay and are definitely worth it. You might try edging up your CO2 slowly, but watch for signs of distress in your fish (panting, erratic swimming, swiming at the top of the tank). This will also head off BBA if that's your problem. Excel will help kill brush algae as well.
 
I am from india and here I cant get good quality testing kits here. .if I use ebay heavy shipping charge even for small items....

Aqua chemist,
I add ferts only when 50% water change biweekly and dose it with 5 ml only both plant health formula and plant food.

I just ordered a drop checker guys upon your suggestions....lets see what happens...


Excel is not availble in india friends.
 
I gree with Chem on this one. I also had a bad outbreak of the black hair algae.

1. reduce your light. cut back to about 9hrs a day. How much natural light does your tank get. The combination of natural light + tank lights may be a factor.

2. dose with flourish excel.

3. If the problem persists, pulling the infected plants and giving them a wipe down in a Hydrogen Peroxide and water bath. Also you could inject Hydrogen peroxide directly on plant's infected area using a syringe. It will not harm your fish.

4. consistent PWCs
 
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