well, after taking advice from many of you on this forum, I have finally rid my tank of that nasty hair algae. I thought it would be nice to post up my experiences with what works. It took about 2-3 weeks to get rid of this stuff once it took hold in the tank. It was covering most of my plants and stringing itself across the tank. I pruned as much out of there as I could but it just grew too fast. First thing I did was cut back the lighting. I was leaving them on for 10-12 hrs a day while at work but I went through a 5 day blackout and after that I turned them on for 3 hrs a day. In addition, I dosed with Flourish, Excel, and Iron every other day to keep the plants healthy. I also ordered 4 sae's and 2 florida flagfish to eat the hair algae. I've found that the sae's tend to munch on the finer new growth and the flagfish will eat any of it. They like to violently rip off chunks of the stuff. With the sae's and flags in the tank for a little under 2 weeks, they've taken care of nearly all of the algae.
It's definitely a combination of these three things; reduced lighting, healthy plants, and good algae eaters; that all helped me get rid of this stuff. I was given other things to try, but these are what seemed to be the most effective. I hope that no one here ever has to deal with this nasty mess!
It's definitely a combination of these three things; reduced lighting, healthy plants, and good algae eaters; that all helped me get rid of this stuff. I was given other things to try, but these are what seemed to be the most effective. I hope that no one here ever has to deal with this nasty mess!
Ive also heard that rosy barbs are good with hair algae also that is if you dont mind having a pink fish in your tank :] i have a pair there just fun fish ..