# hair algae



## Rob in Puyallup (Jul 2, 2009)

Heard and read in a number of places that alga of most types are encouraged to grow due to too much available nutrients (ie: over feeding fish) and/or light (either day-length or too many watts).

I've found the best way to rid it from my tanks is by hand removing it as often as necessary.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

IME most algae are a result of some imbalance between lights, nutrients, and plant mass. Often we have too much light and missing nutrients (with C from CO2 being one of them).

Keep in mind that new tanks often go through various algae spurts, and if there are enough plants, and balanced nutrient dosing, they will disappear after some time.

Hair algae can be a bit tricky because they do well in somewhat similar conditions as our plants. Just by giving plants the best conditions you win the battle.

Mechanical removal (twisting chopsticks to collect them) and some algae crew (Amano/Cherry shrimp) can help, but are no match for a full blown hair algae infestation.


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## itzjustjeff (Apr 27, 2009)

phosguard might help as well.


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## Frogmanx82 (Dec 8, 2009)

Anyone find flourish excel to have any impact?


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## defiant (Dec 1, 2009)

nope im having the same problem and excel doesn't get rid of it. but then again im doing the normal dosage due to having crs and cbs in my tank. don't want to overdose and kill them.

if you find the answer please let me know too:thumbsup:


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## Mr. Fisher (Mar 24, 2009)

Best all round info page for algae:

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


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## PHalas (Oct 27, 2005)

Rosy barbs ! They just love hair algae.


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## happi (Dec 18, 2009)

i havent found any good answer so far but i am guessing that the hair algae is caused by low co2. i have riccia plant also which is dying off under the metal mess, i wonder if this could cause the algae. other than that the riccia plant seems to be growing very well. actually it is the fastest growing plant in my tank. 

i use riccia plant as a good indicator of how much co2 there is in the water. it would normally have pearls on it when i had allot of co2 (the drop checker also shows lime color at that time).


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## Green024 (Sep 19, 2009)

I think its called "spot treating". Squirt some excel directly onto the hair algae. Do not exceed double the dose recommendations. Not that it should take that much.


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