Hair Algae AGAIN??

Good luck. :)

Thanks, I'm going to post when I get it, and put it in the tank, then await the results, likely give daily updates.
 
I'm starting to get a some hair algae on some of my plants. I don't want to have to dose Excel because of the anacharis but I might have to. I'll just keep the doses well below the recommendations.
 
I'm starting to get a some hair algae on some of my plants. I don't want to have to dose Excel because of the anacharis but I might have to. I'll just keep the doses well below the recommendations.

My hair algae, is getting further out of control it is about an inch to an inch and a half, I don't think that my SAE can keep it under control, still no sign of my pressurized CO2, making me a little peeved, but nothing I can really do at the present time.

About your dosing of Excel, it seemed to help me when I had small amounts of it, but it is doing nothing now. If you're going to put it in at all, I'd say do it in small amounts, and dilute it during a water change.. that is what I usually do, and it doesn't seem to harm my vals anywhere near as much as it had done when I dosed the full amount the first time.
 
Interesting, thanks.

I have no plans of going with CO2 since I'm only running about 1.8wpg. At first I thought the hair algae was a result of the ferts (I was thinking the phosphate levels were the culprit) I was dosing so I cut those out about 3 weeks ago and combined that with a 72hr blackout. Everything looked good after the blackout but it's slowly creeping back.

Nitrates stay consistent at 10ppm.
 
One thing I have heard/read is that if you introduce more plants into the tank, that could take all of the nutrients, etc. away from the hair algae growth.. I haven't tested this method, but maybe that could work?
 
I have a good amount of anacharis which is a pretty fast grower. A handful of different anubias, some java fern and a couple amazon swords. Once things grow in there won't be room for anything else. :)
 
Well that throws the theory on that right out the window! haha. So I'm a little peeved off now.. Just found out today that the Pressurized CO2 that I ordered, is "SOLD OUT".. I ordered it 2 weeks ago, and they weren't able to tell me anytime until now that it's sold out, I'm not very happy with this, and now I'm going to have to see what other alternative I can do to try and get rid of my hair algae.

And to top that.. I called my LFS, who said they would have some Red Cherry Shrimp in by yesterday night or this morning, yeah, they said they didn't get any after I was told they would order some for this week, and I now have to check in next week!! GAH, bad day for my aquarium! :(
 
I'm pretty sure just by having more plants in your tank will not solve your algae problem. May be you need fast growing plants, don't know. My tank now has lots of Java Moss and they are thriving. But hair algae is also doing quite well... lol. They are doing especially well inside the clumps of Java Moss so I have to pull apart Java Moss during each water change and remove handful of hair algae. At least after starting this routine, hair algae looks fine and water is crystal clear.
 
Alright, so I've been able to finally get some half-decent pictures of my hair algae.

Here they are, as you'll be able to see I have a nice mat of it growing.

P1010135.JPG P1010137.JPG P1010138.JPG P1010139.JPG P1010140.JPG P1010141.JPG
 
Yeah, I hate those....

It must be the amount of light. When I reduced hours further, it is now under control but I still remove some manually when I do water changes. Currently I have no algae eating fish in the tank.

I am still going to reduce the light to 1.5wpg and see if that helps. I think I will buy my own SAE this time and add may be just one in the tank.

I saw your other post too - I am also thinking of some shrimps. Cherry and/or Amano.
 
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