# What causes Hairalgae?



## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

I have no idea, only speculations.

What I can tell you is that the nutrients N and P are not the only variables. The only sure-fire conclusion I've made is that lots of healthy plants = NO hair algae.

Case: Water parameters were the EXACT same in the tank for all photos. Well, what I should say is that the water parameters we TEST for (N, P, CO2, pH, KH, GH, etc) were the same. Undoubtedly, something was different, and the healthy plants were the cause of that.










3 weeks later:











Plants flourish, algae doesn't. That's the limit to my interpretation.


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## Georgiadawgger (Apr 23, 2004)

What a great way to explain...plants outcompeting algae...once water parameters and plant growth/establishment has been stable!!


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## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

unirdna- did the algae just melt away as more healthy plants grew in?


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## Martin (Jan 15, 2005)

I'm still looking for the cause itself. I would assume that finding the cause, would also cure the algae...


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

Symbiot,

I can appreciate your tenacity, and I hope that you get a sufficient answer to your question. But, I do not possess that answer, and I am not being standoffish. I simply do not know. And I doubt anyone has a hard and fast answer (albeit, we'd like one).

Marc,

That is exactly what happened. I did not even remove the algae (as it was "attached" quite securely to the plant tissues). It simply died and melted away. Stopped growing ; turned to mush; disappeared.


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## Martin (Jan 15, 2005)

unirdna said:


> Symbiot,
> 
> I can appreciate your tenacity, and I hope that you get a sufficient answer to your question. But, I do not possess that answer, and I am not being standoffish. I simply do not know. And I doubt anyone has a hard and fast answer (albeit, we'd like one).
> 
> ...



You know how it is. When you keep having to remove algae each day... you get more & more desperate... and tenacious....

I once had the same problem. When on a 7 day canooing trip, and came back to an algaefree tank..... very nice..and very annoying, seeing as the only thing i did different, was not do anything.....


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

Symbiot said:


> You know how it is. When you keep having to remove algae each day... you get more & more desperate... and tenacious....


Yes, I certainly do. I've yanked out (cumulatively) a wad the size of a baseball out of my 46g in the last 3 weeks (see uni's 46g bowfront journal "). Never had any hair algae prior to removing that massive java fern. The DAY I removed it (the fern), hair algae started to grow. Keep an eye on my 46g journal. I will post all observations. Hopefully, we can properly and precisely home-in on the reasons for the algae outbreak. Why on earth does algae grow in the absense of that fern, and not in the presence (when the water params are EXACTLY the same) I do not know. And, given the lack of thorough scientific analysis of the subject, I doubt anyone does. But, we are waiting and hopeful....


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## Martin (Jan 15, 2005)

unirdna said:


> Yes, I certainly do. I've yanked out (cumulatively) a wad the size of a baseball out of my 46g in the last 3 weeks (see "uni's 46g bowfront journal"). Never had any hair algae prior to removing that massive java fern. The DAY I removed it, hair algae started to grow. Keep an eye on my 46g journal. I will post all observations. Hopefully, we can properly and precisely home-in on the reasons for the algae outbreak. Why on earth does algae grow in the absense of that fern, and not in the presence (when the water params are EXACTLY the same) I do not know. And, given the lack of thorough scientific analysis of the subject, I doubt anyone does. But, we are waiting and hopeful....



Perhaps the fern had allelopathic abilities..? and no.. i probably didnt spell that correctly....1 ;-)


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

Symbiot said:


> Perhaps the fern had alleleopathic abilities..? and no.. i probably didnt spell that correctly....1 ;-)


Indeed. Allelopathy is a very real, and very esoteric aspect of the hobby. Diane Walstad touched on the subject in her book, and I believe the topic needs much more investigation.


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## Martin (Jan 15, 2005)

Can algae thrive simply because of a dirty filter? I clean my filter rarely, hoping that the bacteria will work it's magic... but could I be to lazy? will it perhaps affect algae issues?


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## defdac (Dec 28, 2003)

> Indeed. Allelopathy is a very real, and very esoteric aspect of the hobby. Diane Walstad touched on the subject in her book, and I believe the topic needs much more investigation.


It is real but not significant to the hobby: http://www.tropica.com/article.asp?type=aquaristic&id=531

If it was significant we would have anti-algae snake oils based on allelopathy out on the market already.



> Can algae thrive simply because of a dirty filter?


Algae senses competion by the ammonium levels. To heavy bioload and too small/non-working bio-filter and unhappy plants => Ammonium => Algae blooms.


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

defdac said:


> It is real but not significant to the hobby: http://www.tropica.com/article.asp?type=aquaristic&id=531


That article (and all articles I've seen) involve plant/plant alleopathic interactions. I was speaking of plant/algae alleopathy. If you know of any sources re: experiments on such interactions, please advise. I've been looking for a long time....found little to nothing that could help the hobby.




defdac said:


> Algae senses competion by the ammonium levels. To heavy bioload and too small/non-working bio-filter and unhappy plants => Ammonium => Algae blooms.


Many times, I've read this. My experience does not support this conclusion. I've had algae breakouts in tanks with NO fish (dosed with nitrate), and no algae in heavily-loaded tanks (no ferts needed). I've had 100+ angelifsh in a 30g tank, with no algae. You saw the photo series. As the anglefish grew (increasing bioload), the algae died off. :icon_conf 

The ONLY consistency I've ever seen is lots of healthy plants = little to no algae.

There may be something to this ammonium (fishload) = algae theory, but I believe the statement "Ammonium => Algae blooms" is way too simplified. There are unknown factors at play. If there wasn't, the algae would have increased as my fish-load grew. Agreed?


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