green Hair Algae

AC2020x

AC2020x

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Dec 31, 2008
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State College, PA
Hey, i'm starting to get some green hair algae in my 29 tank and I want to get rid of it before it takes over my tank. I've heard way too many sties of people who have let it get away from them and it has ruined their tank. Does anyone know of a good way to get rid of it or get it under control that has worked for them in the past??? I'm doing my best right now not to overfeed or keep the lights on very long. Any other ideas on what to do?
Thanks for any help!!!
 
What's your water temp? Try lowering it to the lowest temp tolerable to your most temp sensitive resident. Growth rates for lots of algae are as dependent on temp as they are on light and phosphorous. Oh yeah, have you checked your phosphate levels?
 
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Clean up:
Siphon out 25% Or greater in your tank ...use that water in a bucket and scrub off the rocks and rinse them in it.

Next:
maintaining the tank requires you to do these things.
1. Use RO water source that is Phosphate nitrate nitrite etc etc free...
2. feed lightly...pinch a day ...if floating around 5 min later you over fed.
3. Photo periods over 8 hours not recommended
4. Get clean up crew for substrate and rocks/walls. Nessy snails for the sand for instance. (if you have sand)
5. keep your eye on Phosphates...that stuff really boosts rapid growth. Keep that at 0 and you will see a big difference.

How to keep phosphates down:
Rinse your frozen food off (the juices contain a lot of phosphate )
Use RO water source for top off and mixing salt water.
The other option:
Using a Phosban reactor and media...lasts several months and absorbs phosphates for you.


The initial clean up will help a lot...doing a huge water change with a good water source will get you in the right direction. Don't expect it to be gone fast though. You are going to have to starve it out by reducing nitrates below 10 at all times and keeping phosphates at 0. Also occasionally scrubbing the rocks they are rooted into.

The rocks can be troublesome ...if you have enough flow try to keep that on the rocks to keep detritus from settling on the rocks ..or itll feed the already rooted algae in them. The other choice is killing the rocks or putting them in a sump if you have one...keep them in darkness for a month. To kill whats left of the algae. OR boil it but the rock will be dead...it will take a month for it to fully seed back up with bacteria.

after all that:
Maintain a strict schedule on maintenance... 10% change weekly...if you dont have flow ...get some...do you skim? if not can you get one? Notice a build up of algae starting on the sand..siphon off toplayer to remove the detritus build up..... Do you use a FW hob filter...clean that every few days to keep detritus from building up...canister filters same thing...they build up detritus inside...which in turn pollute your tank water even more.
 
well live food if you feed them that has stuff in it (not sure what) but it causes hair alagae and so does some frozen foods flakes are okay but if you over feed them that can cause hair algae too :)
 
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