# Hair Algae/No growth - Updated with pics



## Yiannis (Apr 25, 2009)

Hello,

I have trouble with brown algae on the second week of life of my new tank. Its now spreading on the rocks and Eleocharis Parvula.

Tank specifications - 60x30x45 70L
Lighting - Hagen Glo T5HO/48W - 8 Hours on
CO2 - Pressurised paintball cylinder
Filtration - Hydro/ 900 L/h
Fertilisation routine - EI

I have added 2 amano shrimp today. I can wipe off the algae from the glass but I can't do that on the rocks or eleocharis parvulus.

Any suggestions?

Thanks


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## Yiannis (Apr 25, 2009)

It seems that the tank also is beginning to have green spots on the glass but also a few threads of algae 1-2cm long that are on the gravel,glass and a few plants. 

I have added Excell, reduced the light period from 8 to 7 hours, upped the CO2 from 1 bps to 2.5 bps.

Also when using the EI I need to add 7ml of my solution according to Jame's Planted tank but I think I might be dosing around 6ml. I will pump the solution 4 time instead of 3 which will give me around 8ml of the solution.

Sounds good?


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

Sounds good! 

If you can get a hold of otos they adore the brown stuff. Many dislike snails but I wouldn't like a tank without them. If you see any let them do their thing - eating algae and dead plant matter.

You are running a lot of light and might try using even more fertilizer than suggested. Try the 4 squirts for a week and see what you think, add another and see what happens. The stuff isn't poisonous, you are just wasting it if the plants aren't using it. At quite a high amount of phosphate I stop seeing green spot algae in my tank.

Since you do have shrimp in the tank keep track of the pH so you don't gas them with CO2. I wouldn't be increasing by so much at a time, just a tiny nudge every other day or so.

If your plants are growing fine don't worry about a bit of algae, they will out compete the algae and you won't notice a green spot here or there.


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## tbarabash (May 18, 2011)

Haha I'm in the same situation. I'm running very high lights and having a diatom problem on my HC  It's spreading excellently but looks like the outside of prolly 30% of the leaves are having a bad problem with the diatoms. Got 3 otos and 8 amanos in 36g but they dont seem to be munching on it too much so I stopped feeing them haha, feeding only fish flakes for my fish. My cories should be okay without their sinking pellets for a while 

Also have GSA on the glass... however just started EI dosing about 4 days ago so excited to see the results


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## kubalik (Jul 8, 2011)

Have you added bacteria on the startup ? if not you can add it now. I had a problem with brown alga + gsa+ gda , after i cleaned the filters i put bacteria in them + i put pura complete in the canister , it stopped all the algae growing , now 2xdaily dose of excel for 2 weeks and everything is nice and clean , as a matter of fact never been that clean.


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## Yiannis (Apr 25, 2009)

The situation is getting worse. More diatoms algae and its starting to cover the eleocharis parvula like slime. It is easily removed by disturbing it but I dont know why this is happening. Its the 3rd week of the tank. Should I leave the lights as they are or remove a bulb?


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## Yiannis (Apr 25, 2009)

Hello,

The tank is 3 weeks old now and it has Eleocharis Parvula. No fauna.

The tank is full of diatoms algae and a bit of hair algae. Now the glass is covered with green spot algae. 

I added 2 amanos a week ago but they died so I am not adding any more livestock yet untill I know whats wrong.

I am measuring Ph and Kh with those multipurpose strips and I get 6Kh and 6.8 Ph. I dont trust the readings though since they measure exactly the same when testing my tap water.

Any ideas on what to do? Is it because of the 48w T5HO?

Thanks


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## Yiannis (Apr 25, 2009)

Should I add a couple of otos or is it risky?

My kH hardness is between 7 and 8. Is this too high?


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## Yiannis (Apr 25, 2009)

I believe that the brow/diatoms algae is now gone! However I have the following problems:

1. Hair algae is observed to grow on the Eleocharis Parvula mostly situated in the four corners of the tank. I thought of water circulation but a 70 litre tank powered by a 900 L/h filter seems good enough to me. Plus I only have 24w over my tank at the moment.

2. I have noticed a small patch of cyanobacteria (BGA). I don't know what to do with this.

3. Hair algae grows on the glass.

4. The Eleocharis parvula doesn't seem to spread alot but it gets denser and denser in certain areas of the tank. For example it is very dense near the filter output but doesn't spread near the filre input. The best growth is exactly in the middle of the tank!

5. Some bundles of Eleocharis Parvula seems to have a good rooting system but others, mostly the ones affected by hair algae, seems to get plugged out very easily. 

P.S: I have increased my CO2 levels but maybe not enough and also I have increased my EI dosing so as to ensure adequate amount of nutrients e.g from 4 pumps to 5 pumps. Light levels were dropped from 48w to 24w and it seems that sometimes part of the tank is hit by direct sunlight which I took care of today.

Any advice people?

Thanks!


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## Higher Thinking (Mar 16, 2011)

Real sorry to here about your algae problems and even more sorry no body responded recently. The diatom algae is of no concern because it happens in new tanks ALL the time. The diatoms feed off your silicates and once they are used up, then the diatoms disappear. Dealing with this algae is more of a waiting game than anything else.

The BGA could be caused by a stagnant area of water where no circulation occurs. Also could occur when there is nitrogen deficiency as they are able to fix nitrogen. Although considering you upped your dosing this is not likely. Remove this with your gravel vac and hope to heck it doesn't return. If it does just bomb it with erythromycin. That will kill it every time.

People do say that green spot algae can occur with phosphate deficiencies, but I have not experienced this yet so I couldn't confirm that. When going thru the diatom phase, this is kind of what you want because once this happens is usually when your tank is more established and the diatoms have died off.

I don't much about hair algae except that i have it in one of my tanks. It is one of the more neglected tanks, but I have just given it new life recently. I think there is a nutrient imbalance somewhere, are you sure your dosing solutions are accurate?


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## Yiannis (Apr 25, 2009)

Very accurate. Weighted the dry salts with electronic balance...


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## Yiannis (Apr 25, 2009)

Anyone?


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## ghotifish (Feb 16, 2009)

Welcome, To the wonderful world of Algae!

Is Eleocharis the only plant in the tank? Elocharis is a pretty slow grower. The best thing you could do for your tank would be to get a bunch of cheap quick-growing stem plants. The quick-growing plants will absorb extra nutrients and contribute to establishing a balanced tank. The more plants the better when you are getting a new tank up and running. Basically, you want some plants in there that will outcompete the algae.

I think reducing the light was a good call. With less light, your plants may need less fertilizer, but if you put in a bunch of stems, they will take care of the extra ferts. 

Counting bubbles is an inaccurate way to measure CO2. I highly recommend that you get a drop checker right away. Since you don't have any critters in there you don't have to worry about too much CO2. 

Speaking of critters, you should get some! Shrimp are awesome algae eaters. The Amanos that you put in died because the tank isn't cycled. A tank has to build up certain kinds of bacteria that are needed to breakdown fish/invert waste products, otherwise it's like they are swimming around in a dirty toilet. There are several methods for cycling a new tank. Professor Google can fill you in on the details.

How's your oxygen situation. Adding oxygen, especially at night, helps the plants and the good filter bacteria. This is good for the overall balance in the tank. I use an airstone at night for aeration. Some types of filters, like HOBs add enough O2 that no supplementation is needed. I'm not sure about the type of filter you have. Is it a canister filter, or something else? 

The kh in your tank should be the same as the kh of your tap water unless you are adding something to your tank to raise the kh.

I've mentioned balance several times because the more balanced your tank ecosystem is the healthier your plants will be and the healthier your plants the less algae problems you will have.

Good luck!

PS. Everything you are describing is pretty normal for a new tank, so don't worry!


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## Yiannis (Apr 25, 2009)

Hi,

this is the current sittuation of the tank, no growth, lots of hair algae and brown dead areas of the grass:
notice how in the middle of the tank the grass is the healthiest!



This is how CO2 gets distributed in the tank:



This is the bad hair algae:



This is the dead brown area of the grass:





What do you guys think?

Thanks.


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## sapphoqueen (Feb 9, 2010)

I think: Someone save this tank!!!


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## FlyingHellFish (Nov 5, 2011)

How the tank now? What about razoring the glass and doing wc until it stops.


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