Just sharing my battle with hair algae!

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FishFanMan

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Jun 13, 2013
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Naperville, IL
This is my Fluval Spec V that I started couple of weeks ago. Bought a plant with hair algae on it and now it's all over the place!

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Have had 3 otos in here now, but they haven't done much to this algae

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Even threw in some snails...

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Today, I bought 15 Red Cherry Shrimp to fight our battle!

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RCS are pretty small, so not sure if they will be able to help that much at this point.
Any other ideas? I've stopped dosing Flourish at this point until this is under control! I hesitate to shorten the photoperiod because I think these plants need as much light as I can give them. Any other critter I can try? Maybe more snails? BTW, this tank has 1 cory, 3 otos and one tetra in it at the moment. The betta that used to be in here is now back in his old tank until this is resolved...

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axelrod12

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How long is the current photoperiod?

Flourish Excel or Hydrogen Peroxide can be used to combat algae as well. Just be very careful if you dose it to the tank not to overdose. It can have negative effects on stock. I would recommend removing the plants and spot treating the algae with a syringe or cotton swab. Or do this during a water change. Some plants are sensitive to excel as well. Specifically mosses and vals. Although I don't think I see either of those in there.

Also this can sometimes only be a temporary solution. The algae will often return if the underlying issue is not addressed. I have treated tanks with excel to kill BBA in the past though and without changing anything it never returned.
 

FishFanMan

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I have the light on for 12 hours. It's not a great deal of light so I figure it needs a long photoperiod I might try liquid CO2 in this tank to help the plants grow more. I've never tried peroxide, maybe It's time. Will it hurt the shrimp?
 

jpappy789

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Feb 18, 2007
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Don't expect otos to go after anything large and fuzzy or stringy...from what I've seen, they pretty much only eat soft films attached to a surface and associated microfauna ("aufwuchs").

I'd consider toning down that photoperiod a few hours, at least. In short...a longer photoperiod wont make up for lower light so no point in potentially helping the algae.
 

FishFanMan

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Ok, I'll try 8 hours and see how my plants and the algae do. Might get another led bar if that doesn't work. That would be about 2 x 5 watts for this 5G tank.
 

jpappy789

Plants need meat too
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What LED fixture are you using, the one that comes with the spec? I'm not very familiar with those as I've never tried one myself but keep in mind that wattage is misleading for LEDs since they are designed much differently from tubular fluorescents. Lots of people have these aquariums though so I don't doubt that you could do some searching online for some setups and see which plants and other aspects of the tank were successful for others.
 

axelrod12

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What plants do you have in there. I see a couple crypts and anubias which are both low light. I'm not all that familiar with the Spec V. I do however have a spec 2 and the stock light is low light. However, I have had success growing M. Mattogrossense, S. Repens, and H. Glomeratus, plants which wouldn't necessarily all be classified as low light, with a 8-10 hour photoperiod. I aim for 8 hours but admittedly leave the light on longer because its next to my computer and I like watching the shrimp haha. And I have some algae to show for it.

The liquid co2 you mentioned is flourish excel which will help with the algae problem. Personally, I have never used peroxide, only excel, some people think it is safer/better though. Call me cautious but I am hesitant to use much of anything with shrimp in a tank. I even cut my excel dosing in half if there are shrimp present.
 

authmal

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Aug 4, 2011
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Lesson learned? QT a plant that has algae on it to treat the algae before adding it to your tank.

Wow, that sounded more smart assed than I intend, but that is the lesson I learned from your pain.
 

FishFanMan

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The other plant is a java fern. So they're all low light plants. The light it came with is pretty dim I think for plants so I'm using a Marineland hidden LED bar which should be fine for these plants. My QT currently has my 6 CPDs that I bought a month ago and doing very well. Don't want to add anything new at this point.

Since the Spec V is brand new, I decided to add everything in there at once. With reduced photoperiod, no ferts, minimal feeding of the fish in there and addition of liquid CO2, I'm hoping to beat it.

This morning the 3 otos had full bellies so I'm hoping they've got a taste for hair algae!
 

FreshyFresh

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I have the light on for 12 hours. It's not a great deal of light so I figure it needs a long photoperiod I might try liquid CO2 in this tank to help the plants grow more. I've never tried peroxide, maybe It's time. Will it hurt the shrimp?
What are you using for a carbon source? I'd dose a liquid CO2 supplement and cut back the lighting time. Sounds to me like your light/carbon balance is off, thus the algae growing more than the plants.
 
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