# Advice On Hair Algae



## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

I've been stuggling with *hair algae* for about a month. It seems a little less voracious now. Can/should I:

- Increase the lighting a little - plants aren't doing much
- Increase Flourish Comp another 25%
- Increase photoperiod 1 hour
- Add more plants
- Cut off leaves that are ok but completely engulfed

Thank you.


----------



## chew (May 18, 2012)

You should be able to manually pull of the algae on the leaves that are engulfed. Toothbrush works good for touch up spots & carpet plants. If you still have the algae problems I wouldn't suggest increasing your light any. Adding more plant mass does help but the main reason for it is too much light not enough co2, so the algae feeds off the light and excess nutrients the plants cant utilize because they are lacking co2


----------



## cradleoffilthfan (Jan 19, 2009)

what kind of fertilizers are you dosing, what kind of lighting are you using, what kind of plants are you growing? Flourish comprehensive is a general fertilizer and might not be providing the things you need, or providing things you don't need. What kind of substrate are you using? What is your current photoperiod? Your plants are obviously lacking something, otherwise they would be growing and the algae wouldn't be there if there was a balance, so your tank is out of whack right now. What is your water change schedule?


----------



## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

cradleoffilthfan said:


> what kind of fertilizers are you dosing, what kind of lighting are you using, what kind of plants are you growing? Flourish comprehensive is a general fertilizer and might not be providing the things you need, or providing things you don't need. What kind of substrate are you using? What is your current photoperiod? Your plants are obviously lacking something, otherwise they would be growing and the algae wouldn't be there if there was a balance, so your tank is out of whack right now. What is your water change schedule?


Fertilizers: just Flourish comprehensive, with Equilibrium (not a fert)
Lighting: 2x 13w CFL filtered down
Plants: planted Water Sprite, 2 low crypts, 1 small sword, Cabomba, Wisteria, Pygmy Chain Sword.
Substrate: big ol' natural gravel 
Photoperiod: 8 hours
Water Change: 25% weekly

This is a 10 gallon tank. Natural sunlight has been a problem, so I covered the back with wrapping paper (blue). You can see the blue lit by the sun from the front of the tank. I wonder about there being a problem there.

I have added 25% of Flourish Comprehensive over suggested dose.

13w CFL lights are too bright - I am using two thin plastic shopping bags each over the dome reflectors to cut down the light. Algae appeared around the same time as I got the lights, although another guy here tells me he uses them on the same size tank without problem.

Thanks.


----------



## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

I found a problem. I have been overdosing Flourish Comprehensive by at least 3X. Would this cause the algae? I think it might be a reason for the plants not doing anything much. Tell me what this would do to my tank.


----------



## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

I've been googling dissolved organic nitrogen tonight. I'm wondering if that's contributing to the hair algae. I'm probably looking in the wrong place - I don't have too many fish, and they eat up all the food in 30 seconds. I clean the sponge in my AquaClear once a week. Can't do anything where there are plants, though, or under my piece of bogwood. I'm going to lift it up tomorrow and see what's under it. Nitrates were down after I did a 50% water change last Saturday. I'll do another one tomorrow. That should completely finish the overdosed Flourish Comprehensive.

I got 10w cfls yesterday and I put one with a 13w above the tank. Now I just have to stick with the 8 hour photoperiod. I don't know how anyone can go less than that and still look at the tank.

Oh and tomorrow I'll try manually removing the hair algae. It's supposed to work well.


----------



## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

CO2 is the main issue IME.

I also found if I added some infested plants to some tanks, it would infest the tank, but in the tanks with higher CO2, they never got it.

I can easily kill hair algae with Algaefix(it will kill shrimp and inverts also, so you need to remove them if you use it, but it's 100% effective IME).

So testing the causes becomes much easier for green hair algae species. 

So you have a few things:

1. Way too much light(Sunlight)= > CO2 issue often times.
2.Inoculation of the hair algae and decent CO2, but not enough to prevent a relapse
3. Most algae is caused by not taking care of the plants.
4.AC filters work well, but they degas and change the CO2 if the water level changes even a small amount due to evaporation.

Mostly CO2/light related, very little to do with nutrients.


----------



## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

plantbrain said:


> CO2 is the main issue IME.
> 
> I also found if I added some infested plants to some tanks, it would infest the tank, but in the tanks with higher CO2, they never got it.
> 
> ...


Hi Tom,

I have a ten gallon tank with no injected CO2 and an Aquaclear HOB that I'm trying to get to make less agitating. I guess I have to reduce the lighting intensity. That's alright, I just got 2 10w cfls. I have the photoperiod down to 8 hours.

May I ask you what you mean by not taking care of the plants?

Thank you.


----------



## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

Django said:


> Hi Tom,
> 
> I have a ten gallon tank with no injected CO2 and an Aquaclear HOB that I'm trying to get to make less agitating. I guess I have to reduce the lighting intensity. That's alright, I just got 2 10w cfls. I have the photoperiod down to 8 hours.
> 
> ...


prune them, clean them of debris during water changes, give them their required nutrients


----------



## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

I'm working on the nutrients. I don't know how many weeks I overdosed them. The dose is 1/4 teaspoon per 30 gallons, and I have a 10 gallon tank. I'm wondering, as I'm doing my calculations, if I can dilute the fertilizer by 3 and then dose the original 1/4 teaspoon instead of .71 teaspoons or something like that.

I got a lot of the algae off manually, but the planted Water Sprite was too hard. Threw out a good-sized bunch of floating plants. Looked under the wood - nothing there except roots.

I figured out that the fertilizer would have built up over the weeks, so I'm doing another 50% water change today.

btw, N03 was 0 this morning.


----------



## concepts88 (Oct 4, 2012)

Consider dipping the plants in h2o2 instead if you are going to chuck them anyway.


----------



## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

That's a good idea. Do you mean dipping them in H2O2 out of the bottle or diluted to some level? How long should they be dipped for? Should I rinse off with tap water before I put back in the tank? Thanks.


----------



## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

I just thought of an unusual question that I thought I might bounce off you. I have an AquaClear 30 filter on my tank. I wanted the bacteria to be just in the tank, so I took out all the media except the sponge for mechanical filtration and started washing it out every week with tap water (before the algae started). Think one has anything to do with the other (algae)? My guess is probably not.


----------



## concepts88 (Oct 4, 2012)

Django said:


> That's a good idea. Do you mean dipping them in H2O2 out of the bottle or diluted to some level? How long should they be dipped for? Should I rinse off with tap water before I put back in the tank? Thanks.


I would do google search and see what works for your plants. I had hair algae and I dipped my plants in 3 percent h2o2 from Walgreens for 3 mins Not diluted. I also dose 1ml per gallon directly with Walgreens 50 ml syringe next to thermometers from walgreens right onto my glosso and rocks. The hair algae instantly melted. The glosso algae melted and turned all gray. I have Amanos and Rcs which was right next to my syringe and nothing happened. Funny thing is I saw a snail ride up on huge bubbles from the h2o2 from the glosso all the way up to the top of the tank. I also shut off my filters for 30 minutes

First day everything melted. No water change first day
2nd day. Repeat. Water change 50 percent. All my rocks went back from green to gray original color
3rd day nothing left and just did a dose to make the rest of my rocks to gray again

My Rcs are still berried. Nothing died. I have over 30 fish. Cory dwarf, neons, har ras, britt ras, Rcs, Amanos, oto cats, rummy nose

I would research first for h2o2 in google before you commit. But i always dip my new plants in h2o2. I even dipped a new batch of hc and glosso and dhg for over 5 mins, no side effects. The stuff is expanding already after 2 days. 

Some people dislike chemicals. Sometimes it is bad. Weigh your risk. 

Research first. What works for me may be different for you, but why throw away plants. Bleach well, needs to be dechlorine. H2o2 is hydrogen and oxygen and turns back into water and oxygen.


----------



## inthepacific (Oct 21, 2012)

i have heard that siamese algae eaters are the best for this unless you're not looking to get fish for your tank


----------



## Django (Jun 13, 2012)

inthepacific said:


> i have heard that siamese algae eaters are the best for this unless you're not looking to get fish for your tank


The saga of the Hair Algae continues. I'm accepting the premise that the balance in my tank is out of whack, and treating the symptoms (algae) will not bring it back into whack. I will continue to keep the Hair Algae in check by manual removal.

My intuition, what little I have, is telling me the current imbalance is either with the ferts or the lights, or possibly both. I don't want to get into CO2, so maybe I'll end up raising the lights. I've done five 50% water changes in the last two weeks to get possibly a lot of ferts out of the water. I dosed 4 drops/20ml. of Seachem Flourish Comprehensive yesterday after a 50% water change and will do the same thing on Saturday. After that I will double the dose by dosing twice a week, and fall back to one 25% water change weekly. I have to recheck my figures for the Flourish.

As I have never seen any symptoms of macro nutrient deficiency, I will hold off on dosing NPK for now. These elements should exist in the water supply, although perhaps not in as high quantities as NPK ferts. The only thing that worries me about this is the plants' not taking off. I'm getting slightly faster growth instead of none, but not what it should be.

All comments welcomed


----------



## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

Django said:


> I just thought of an unusual question that I thought I might bounce off you. I have an AquaClear 30 filter on my tank. I wanted the bacteria to be just in the tank, so I took out all the media except the sponge for mechanical filtration and started washing it out every week with tap water (before the algae started). Think one has anything to do with the other (algae)? My guess is probably not.


yes

most algaes are fundamentally caused by ammonia, OR reproduce faster with ammonia present. the faster it can be converted to nitrates, the less of a battle u will have with algae... this is an important reason to have a strong healthy bacteria colony


----------



## PortalMasteryRy (Oct 16, 2012)

I remember something I read on these forums that helped me in combating algae. That is to focus on growing your plants. The first thing I would do is check the Nitrate and Phosphate levels. Get a good test kit like the API Kits and start logging your levels. You have to remember that it is not only the deficiency that you need to look out for but excess which also leads to an imbalance. I mean you can have a good level of Phosphate but also an excess of Nitrates which would give ammo for algae.

Also having no CO2 is like having a car without the fuel. If you have an abundance of the nutrients even with the correct light setup then the algae are the only ones really utilizing it because your plants do not have the carbon source to grow. 

Based on what I've gathered is that you need a balance of Lighting, CO2 and Nutrients to properly grow plants.


----------



## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

PortalMasteryRy said:


> I remember something I read on these forums that helped me in combating algae. That is to focus on growing your plants. The first thing I would do is check the Nitrate and Phosphate levels. Get a good test kit like the API Kits and start logging your levels. You have to remember that it is not only the deficiency that you need to look out for but excess which also leads to an imbalance. I mean you can have a good level of Phosphate but also an excess of Nitrates which would give ammo for algae.
> 
> Also having no CO2 is like having a car without the fuel. If you have an abundance of the nutrients even with the correct light setup then the algae are the only ones really utilizing it because your plants do not have the carbon source to grow.
> 
> Based on what I've gathered is that you need a balance of Lighting, CO2 and Nutrients to properly grow plants.


 

200 ppm nitrates will not cause algae, 10 ppm phosphates will not cuase algae

algae can grow even when ur test kits read 0-0-0 because its a basic simple organism and can survive off minute levels of nutrients undetecale by basic titration kits. but you are correct in saying the focus should be on growing healthy plants, the rest will get taken care of because of this.
plant care is a method, if u want fast growing plants, you must invest more work. much like terrestrial plants, most of them can be put in the ground and water'd plus fertilized and nature wil ldo the rest, but growing an orchid requires diligence and strict care.. and tank is this way, its a closed system it only gets what u give it


----------



## wheatiesl337 (Mar 30, 2011)

plantbrain said:


> Mostly CO2/light related, very little to do with nutrients.


Lots of mischaracterizations and complicated answers in this thread. Re-focus on the answer from the expert.

"Also having no CO2 is like having a car without the fuel. If you have an abundance of the nutrients even with the correct light setup then the algae are the only ones really utilizing it because your plants do not have the carbon source to grow."

Really? I guess my non-C02 injected tanks didnt know that.


----------

