I’ve got this algea in my tank , mostly on my plants and a little on my rocks. None on glass. It’s hair algea I suppose but it’s not green. It’s gray in color. It literally looks like an old ladies hair or something. I tried removing it by hand but all I ended up doing was breaking off pieces of my jungle val, this stuffs really on there I’d attach a photo but this thing won’t allow me to. I’m trying a 2-3 blackout period now , upped my water changes and once I turn lights back on I plan to dial back from 8 to 6. Any other ideas ??
Hair algea ?
- Thread starter DerekO24
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Yeah , I do have relatively hard water in the area of CT that I’m in... my water checks out consistent , on all fronts. I did a 3 day blackout , and just added a couple Siamese algea eaters. Excited to see how they do. This is why we keep fish , sucks having some algea on my beautiful plants but it’s all about the challenge I suppose
The short term answer is to manually remove the hair alga with a toothbrush, Q-tip, chop stick, etc by twirling it around the alga as best you can.
Yes, turn your lighting photoperiod down to 5 or 6 hours...unless you have higher light plants. Then you might try 2 x 3+ hour lighting, plants won't care much but the algae might. As with many things, water changes may help too.
Dosing Excel can help for some algae if nothing else is working but try other "treatments" first.
Can you post a pic?
Yes, turn your lighting photoperiod down to 5 or 6 hours...unless you have higher light plants. Then you might try 2 x 3+ hour lighting, plants won't care much but the algae might. As with many things, water changes may help too.
Dosing Excel can help for some algae if nothing else is working but try other "treatments" first.
Can you post a pic?
Oh, I just reread your post & it sounds like it could be staghorn alga. It's usually grayish, grayish green or white-ish...not pale or bright green like hair alga. But I still stand by my earlier suggestions.
Unlike tl, I have never tested for phosphate, but if you can, it might be a good idea.
Unlike tl, I have never tested for phosphate, but if you can, it might be a good idea.
