Hair algae HELP!!!!

Tabbykat9698

Tabbykat9698

AC Members
Aug 4, 2010
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Downtown Nashville, TN
Ok I've put up with it too long, I have hair algae and I want it to go away. I did a 3 day blackout and it didn't help. My tank has a lot of plants. I have high output lighting. I have root tab fertilizers and use the flourish liquid with every water change (50% change once a week). Its the 20 gal High in my sig. The otos don't eat the algae, and I was thinking of getting amano shrimp... Help?
 
I think you need some added co2... HO lighting with ferts is happy place for algae, they're out competing your plants for the nutrients. Manual removal with a toothbrush helps...

Or reduce your lights (run 1 bulb instead if 2 or raise your lights... I'm sure others with experience with HO can give better suggestions.

Adding SAE or amino shrimp will not stop your problem.
 
number one thing!!!!!..... get your lighting right. sounds like you have plenty, so that's a good start. now you just have to adjust it so it's not too overpowering.

light drives growth. growth drives nutrient uptake. plants can outgrow their health (grow so fast they starve to death, basically). once the plants can't take the rest of the light, the algae will.

number one nutrient is carbon. you could use some. diy, pressurized, excel, gluteraldehyde, easy carbo, florin axis... do what works for you... or lower your light intensity.

next comes N, P, K, micros and iron. you can get them in dry form, save a bundle and make life much easier at the same time. bobstropicalplants.com, aquariumfertilizer.com, rex grigg's site, green leaf aquariums... a bunch of places on the net sell them nowadays.

with that comes regular maintenance. you see dead plant material... remove it. keep the filters clean... etc., etc..

might want to try fertcicles when you run out of root tabs. $5 lasts a LOOOONG time in comparison.

www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm
 
Very interesting and helpful comment about plants growing so fast that they outgrow their health and are therefore unable to absorb as much light as before, which leaves a surplus for algae. A short time ago my plants seemed to respond well to some Mg dosing, but then algae developed along with increased growth. Just didn't understand how both could occurr simultaneously, but now I think I'm getting it. Needed to up my CO2 to account for accelerated growth. It had previously been at the maximum that my fish could tolerate without symptoms, but obviously I needed to reevaluate.
 
yep... in my case i'm constantly acclimating my plants to a low co2 environment. they get to a certain mass and seem to start suffocating. i let them grow, trim them back and let them grow in some more. the new growth seems to be more tolerant of lower co2 levels and provides for more mass than the last grow-out phase. at least that's my theory so far...
 
i had bba and took some advise from guys here(and girls) and used flourish excel its works like a bomb, it killed it off in 2 days and moy mollys trimmed it off the leaves for me.(helpfull little buggers)
 
If you want to keep your high light I'd highly recommend a pressurized CO2 setup. I had horrible hair algae problems until I added forced CO2. I haven't seen any since.
 
How long is your photo period? I found I had to cut back on how long my lights are on. That may help
 
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