# Black hair algae and brown diatom algae



## Coldwater King (Jul 23, 2013)

Please help me out and give me some advice on the best way to remove it.

My water is perfect, I over filter and my lights are on 8 hours a day. Do I not have enough plants and have extra nutrients?

(this is not bba)


----------



## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

Do you have a picture of said algae? 

What are your water conditions ("perfect" is very vague)? What about fertilization and CO2?


----------



## Coldwater King (Jul 23, 2013)

I'll try to get a pic, no fertz yet and no co2

Ammonia= 0
Nitrite= 0
Nitrate= 4ppm

This is before water change.


----------



## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

I also forgot to ask what your lighting is like (type of lighting, wattage, depth from substrate, etc)


----------



## Coldwater King (Jul 23, 2013)

Current USA satellite LED not the plus version. The light is about 18" from the substrate.


----------



## TDerivan (Jan 3, 2014)

How long has the tank been set up?


----------



## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Could this 'black hair which is not BBA' be staghorn? New setup? Stag and diatoms can both show up early on and usually disappear on their own.


----------



## seaotoo (Oct 31, 2013)

What is your phosphate though. That is an important parameter, especially in relation to nitrate.


----------



## Coldwater King (Jul 23, 2013)

I set up this tank back in July, I recently added a new fish though.

I don't know what my phosphate as I don't have anything to test for it.


----------



## puopg (Sep 16, 2012)

I got staghorn too. Yea its like short black filaments, almost branch like. Usually in areas that have a lot of flow. Luckily, its not spreading fast and i just hit it with some excel and it dies. I've never 100% eradicated it, but its completely manageable.


----------



## TDerivan (Jan 3, 2014)

Diatom is usually not a big deal. It's a sign that your tank has reached a new stage of maturity. You can try to siphon it out with airline tubing, but I wouldn't bother unless it's doing damage to your plants. Every time I've gotten a diatom bloom it has gone away fairly quickly on its own.
As far as the black hair goes the only thing I know to do for hair algae is to increase water circulation and decrease phosphates and nitrates, but I've only ever dealt with hair algae in saltwater aquariums so I don't know how much help that will be.


----------



## Coldwater King (Jul 23, 2013)

The diatom algae is on the leaves and the black "hair" only comes from were the diatom algae is.


----------



## TDerivan (Jan 3, 2014)

Do you have any pictures of the problem?


----------



## mnemenoi (May 28, 2012)

I had a powerhead that was offgasing my CO2 (non injected, naturally found type) in my low tech tank. Once I removed the air line it drastically reduced the diatom and other algae. Just a thought...


----------



## Coldwater King (Jul 23, 2013)

mnemenoi said:


> I had a powerhead that was offgasing my CO2 (non injected, naturally found type) in my low tech tank. Once I removed the air line it drastically reduced the diatom and other algae. Just a thought...


I don't use a power head but I do have a lot of current.


----------



## Coldwater King (Jul 23, 2013)

The diatom algae is spreading fast. Could the triangle not be equilateral? I have low light, no fertz and I think high co2 from my goldies (Is this even possible from the fish?). The black Hair algae is not spreading so I'm not worried about it any more.

Pics:


----------



## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

As TDerivan mentioned, diatoms is part of a tank maturing, as the excess silicates become used up. They usually go away on their own shortly after. Since you say you have goldfish, I think your options for algae eaters is limited, so I would suggest that you clean off as much as you can and wait it out. You can also use a micron filter but those can get expensive.

BTW, I've never known livestock to produce so much CO2 in the water that it would be considered high CO2. Otherwise, we wouldn't need CO2 injection in our planted tanks if we had lots of fishes...


----------



## Coldwater King (Jul 23, 2013)

Asu1776 said:


> BTW, I've never known livestock to produce so much CO2 in the water that it would be considered high CO2. Otherwise, we wouldn't need CO2 injection in our planted tanks if we had lots of fishes...


Ok just was wondering. The algae is now on the leaves!


----------



## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

What type of sand are you using? It may be that your sand is containing lots of silicates, which fed the diatomic algae...


----------



## Coldwater King (Jul 23, 2013)

Play sand.


----------



## thefishguy (Apr 3, 2013)

you will be fine. should start disappearing as the tank matures. just scrub a little daily with a scrubber like a magnetic scrubber and it will help it from taking over.


----------



## Coldwater King (Jul 23, 2013)

How long will it take for my tank to mature enough?


----------



## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Coldwater King said:


> Play sand.


Check if your play sand is silica free. If it contains silicates, which I remember is the typical type of sand you get, you may be in for a long haul as it continues to leach silicates into the water. :/ It can take your tank a while to mature...usually 6 months of more.


----------



## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Sand is quartz, aka crystalline silica. Play sand is finely ground and washed quartz. I've used it a hundred times, the diatoms will pass the same as any other sand.


----------

