# Green thread algae - How to get rid of it



## james0816 (Jun 26, 2008)

Just found this recently in one of my high tech tanks of all places. 

Stuff is pretty strong for algae. Haven't found a whole lot that mentions of erradicating it. I have some pretty sensitive plants in there as well. Is there a safe dip that I can make to help out?


----------



## jmowbray (Dec 20, 2009)

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm


----------



## nvladik (Jan 12, 2012)

I am using Flourish Excel, triple dose. Seems to work. Also spot treatment with still water for 30 minutes seems to work well.


----------



## james0816 (Jun 26, 2008)

nvladik said:


> I am using Flourish Excel, triple dose. Seems to work. Also spot treatment with still water for 30 minutes seems to work well.


I have Otos and high grade CRS in the tank. Not sure I can do the Excel OD thing.


----------



## james0816 (Jun 26, 2008)

jmowbray said:


> http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm


 
Hmmm...I was thinking Amano shrimp. Just unsure of the water parms.

Anyone keep Amano is very soft and acidic water as in < 6?


----------



## nvladik (Jan 12, 2012)

james0816 said:


> I have Otos and high grade CRS in the tank. Not sure I can do the Excel OD thing.


Yeah, in that case you want to stay away from Excel.


----------



## justdrew (Jul 7, 2010)

I've had an ongoing battle with this stuff myself for the last few months.
I read one of gordon richard's post on the subject of hair algae that recommended breaking up the photo period to 4-2-4 with an hour or 2 break in between. This seems to be helping a lot, but it's a slow recovery for me.
I'm pretty sure my problem comes from being overly enthusiastic with the root tabs when I set up this 9 gallon aquastyle. I just have to wait for the tank to digest all the ferts in the substrate. I do DIY CO2 in a 2 liter.
So 4-2-4 would be my inexperienced contribution to yet another hair/thread algae thread.
And keep the tank out of direct sunlight.


----------



## james0816 (Jun 26, 2008)

I'll have to look at other timers to mess with the photo period like that. Definately no worries of direct sunlight. It's in the basement on the bottom shelf of the rack.

I do EI dosing and CO2 injection. The plants grow like weeds which surprises me a bit with the algae growth.


----------



## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

I had some pop up when I did some dumb things and then came back when I had the CO2 gas tank run out and did not catch it for several days after.

Single strand, non branching, attaches to plant leaves, glass, wood etc.
Has preferences for some plants and fine needle plants.

Can be anywhere from 1" to 6" long.

I trimmed infested species back and allowed for more flow in the tank.
Manually pulled off as much as possible within reason.
Adjusted CO2(this prevented it from growing further).
Then I did a 70% water change daily for 2-3 days.
As I turned off the pumps, I'd dose the H2O2 3% solution at 1 ml per gal, so a 70 gal would get 70mls total. I spot treated the infested areas.

I'd refill the tank and then spot treat again........about 1/2 as much, then turn everything back on. Done daily for 2-3-4 days, this should harm the algae pretty good.

I dose ferts back after each water change.
Some folks do not add ferts, but healthy plants with good CO2= best defense.

I have been critical of H2O2 and while I KNOW it's an effective method for BBA, I wanted to find something specific for this species. It does not seem to work on Cladohora, but that's more like a moss as far as growth and issues in our tanks. This species is much more annoying.

Like fine hair, but not softer of gelatinous like Rhizoclonium and not as curly and with the chloroplast like Spirogyra(this method should easily work on this two species as well as the next) or Oedogonium(these are typically on leaf margins about 1/2 to 1 cm long).

So I went back and forth with H2O2 a few times recently and decided rather than dosing a higher concentration, say 2mls per gal of tank, I opted for lower dosing over a longer time frame combined with daily water changes.

Was it the water changes?
Not likely, since those can be done without dosing H2O2.
Was one single treatment enough? Not IME.
Are doing 2-4 treatments daily more effective than a single?
Yes.
Are doing 2-4 treatments at a lower dose........less harmful to plants/livestock than 1 harsher treatment? Certainly.

Patience, persistence and good basic care has long been my main tenant.
Not merely dosing more of liquid death.

H2O2 is the cheapest algicide we have available also and breaks down into O2 and H2O. Typical cost for good sized tanks might run 1-2$.

Water changes are very good to clean up and fix problems also.


----------



## Minnow2012 (May 24, 2012)

I had horrible hair algae problems until I did 2 things, went to injected co2 and introduced Siamese algae eaters. In the past 4 months, not 1 strand. The bba disappeared as well.


----------



## Rolex (Aug 6, 2005)

I just set up my 50 Gallon about 4 weeks in now.
The green hair algae appeared mid way into week 2, i lowered my lighting from 10 hours per day to 4 hours on 2 hours off 4 hours on and triple dosed excel. Also removed as much as a i could during water change.

Its pretty much all dead now, just go easy on the excel it started to eat away at one of my crypts and started on the HC.

Nonetheless the 2 hour siesta is a big part as algae cant turn its photosynthesis on and off pretty much immediately as plants do, remember to keep dosing ferts according to your lighting and co2 levels as not dosing can make it even worse.


----------



## Linsanity (Feb 23, 2012)

hi guys, algae is killing my Anubias nanas, I bought SAE few days ago but I haven't noticed any changes... I have a 2 liter diy co2 and I'm double dosing excel but it didn't help either. The only change I've seen is some stem plants grew faster...
Can I take out the Anubias nanas put them in a pot to spot treat them with excel?


----------



## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Linsanity said:


> hi guys, algae is killing my Anubias nanas, I bought SAE few days ago but I haven't noticed any changes... I have a 2 liter diy co2 and I'm double dosing excel but it didn't help either. The only change I've seen is some stem plants grew faster...
> Can I take out the Anubias nanas put them in a pot to spot treat them with excel?


Try the method I did.
Spot treating with H2O2 works better for this plant and you do not need otr remove it.


----------



## Linsanity (Feb 23, 2012)

plantbrain said:


> Try the method I did.
> Spot treating with H2O2 works better for this plant and you do not need otr remove it.


 Is this h2o2 good? Thanks!!!
http://www.amazon.com/Nutrilife-H2o2-Gallon/dp/B007RQSTGC/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1339091060&sr=8-8


----------



## Em85 (Apr 16, 2009)

justdrew said:


> I've had an ongoing battle with this stuff myself for the last few months.
> I read one of gordon richard's post on the subject of hair algae that recommended breaking up the photo period to 4-2-4 with an hour or 2 break in between. This seems to be helping a lot, but it's a slow recovery for me.
> I'm pretty sure my problem comes from being overly enthusiastic with the root tabs when I set up this 9 gallon aquastyle. I just have to wait for the tank to digest all the ferts in the substrate. I do DIY CO2 in a 2 liter.
> So 4-2-4 would be my inexperienced contribution to yet another hair/thread algae thread.
> And keep the tank out of direct sunlight.


How is this working for you? Any better?


----------



## farrenator (May 11, 2011)

Just go to the local supermarket/drug store/bodega and pick up a bottle. The 3% stuff is dirt cheap, even in NY. My local supermarket has 1/2 quart size bottles of the generic stuff for sale ALL the time - less than $1. Pull up the cushions on your couch, scrounge the change and go buy some :icon_roll



Linsanity said:


> Is this h2o2 good? Thanks!!!
> http://www.amazon.com/Nutrilife-H2o2-Gallon/dp/B007RQSTGC/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1339091060&sr=8-8


----------



## Linsanity (Feb 23, 2012)

farrenator said:


> Just go to the local supermarket/drug store/bodega and pick up a bottle. The 3% stuff is dirt cheap, even in NY. My local supermarket has 1/2 quart size bottles of the generic stuff for sale ALL the time - less than $1. Pull up the cushions on your couch, scrounge the change and go buy some :icon_roll


 LOL, Ok I'll go check out the local drug store. Thanks!:icon_smil


----------



## justdrew (Jul 7, 2010)

Em85 said:


> How is this working for you? Any better?


Breaking up the photo period has slowed what was an unrelenting advance to a crawl. The stuff is still growing, but much more slowly. This is in a heavily planted 9 gallon where the stuff went wild for a couple of months, so there are bits of it everwhere. Recharging my DIY CO2 more often is also helping. I'm still pulling threads off plants, but I am not pulling bundles of threads anymore. 
All movement in the right direction. It is getting better slowly.
I'm thinking about losing the 2 hour in the 4-2-4 scheme. Totally on the fence there.
The only thing I have changed with this is ratchetted the "lights on" time back a little bit to get closer to natural light......by that I mean it's lights out at 11 instead of midnight.......I can't say that that is all that natural.....


----------



## Stevenicoloconnor (Feb 21, 2011)

...had it, duckweed, Tom Barr's Estimative Index fertilization, 50% weekly water change, and CO2 in the 15-50 ppm range has wiped it out; now, I have to always deal with that bloody duckweed! 
Red Cherry Shrimp, lots of Java Moss, Java Fern, elodea, and aponegeton ulvaceus, help keep things in balance for our tank.

Regarding photo periods, we run 12 on, 12 off on our 29 gallon with a high-output T5 150W fixture.

Good luck!


----------

