# Hair algae on moss in shrimp only low tech tank



## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

That is interesting. It is rare to see algae with that much light. How long are you running your lights. I suggest reducing your photoperiod to no more than 8 hours and if that does not work, split the photoperiod. 4 hours on, 2 hours off, and 4 hours on again. To contain the problem, get some Amano Shrimp as they are known to eat algae or even black mollies or florida flag fish. However, I heard that the mollies and fff can also take out plants once they are done with the algae, so I would stick to Amano Shrimps. By the way, that is one beautiful tank and I can hardly see the hair algae. Also, I don't know how compatible the Amano Shrimp or fish will be with your current shrimp and offspring, so that may not be an option.

It is also alleged that hair algae is caused by a nutrient imbalance. How that happens in a low tech tank is beyond me and others have venemently argued with me when I suggested dosing ferts in low tech tanks even once a week with water changes(which is what I do with and have no algae). If your hair algae is due to a nutrient imbalance, you may want to dose ferts, once a week. As always Tom Barr is right again when he suggests dosing ferts with low tech low light setups once a week. Some claim that dosing ferts in a tank is not a good idea if you are breeding shrimp and could prove toxic. So, it comes back to reducing your photoperiod as the only option and hoping that fixes the problem.


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## lotekfish (Nov 13, 2007)

I had the same problem with hair algae in the moss. I found the most effective way to eradicate it is to spot treat it with Flourish Excel. I figured out what my daily dosage should be per directions on bottle, added that and an equal amount of water in a small cup, then used a syringe to squirt this on the moss with the filter turned off. Let it sit for a few minutes, then turn the filter back on. Do this everyday, working one area at a time until it's gone. I found it took 2-3 doses to kill an area of algae.


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## Jag1980 (Sep 19, 2008)

Thank you 

I was doing a Seachem dosing schedule with Excel a while back and it killed half of my 3 species of moss I had in my tank. Not really wanting to try that again.

Maybe I should trying using a gallon of water from my main plant tank and pouring it into my shrimp tank once a week?

Can't use fish as they will probably eat the shrimp fry.

The tank does get daylight, but not direct sunlight, not sure how much of this type of light plays a role against the time the lights go on above the tank?
I normaly turn on my lights at about 3pm to 4pm and off at about 1am


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## lotekfish (Nov 13, 2007)

Jag1980 said:


> Thank you
> 
> I was doing a Seachem dosing schedule with Excel a while back and it killed half of my 3 species of moss I had in my tank.
> 
> 1am


I'm surprised by that. I have christmas moss and fissidens fontana in my tank and neither has been effected by Excel. I even squirt straight Excel on them- kills the algae, no effect on the moss.


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## coolnick (Oct 28, 2006)

I had a recent hair algae outbreak when my DIY CO2 fizzled out early. My outbreak was BAD and it was GONE in 3 days after I added 4 Amanos to my 10g. So that's what I would do. They get along great with my RCS.


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## Jag1980 (Sep 19, 2008)

Cherry shrimp wont eat it but Amano shrimp will? What a rip off.. lol :icon_roll


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## NeonShrimp (Mar 9, 2006)

Jag1980 said:


> Cherry shrimp wont eat it but Amano shrimp will? What a rip off.. lol :icon_roll


I know, too bad the Cherries can't do it all:icon_roll

Nice tank by the way:smile:


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## Jag1980 (Sep 19, 2008)

thanks :fish1:


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## o snap its eric (Jan 12, 2004)

homer is right, mollies will clean up the algae hair fast! however they will take out some plants because they dont stop eating. I thought there were a must have but after a while of cleaning up my own algae hair in my tank, my pair started to rip up my HC and tore out a new other leaves in my tank. I eventually took them out but they do one hellova job.


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

Jag1980 said:


> Cherry shrimp wont eat it but Amano shrimp will? What a rip off.. lol :icon_roll


Yes, this is why I prefer Amano Shrimp over Cherry Shrimp. While Amano Shrimp may not breed in freshwater, my priority is a little extra insurance against algae vs breeding, and for that you cannot really beat Amano Shrimp. Amano Takishi is no fool for stocking his planted tanks early on with Amano Shrimp.


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## NeonShrimp (Mar 9, 2006)

Homer_Simpson said:


> Yes, this is why I prefer Amano Shrimp over Cherry Shrimp. While Amano Shrimp may not breed in freshwater, my priority is a little extra insurance against algae vs breeding, and for that you cannot really beat Amano Shrimp. Amano Takishi is no fool for stocking his planted tanks early on with Amano Shrimp.


That is an interesting way to look at it, thanks:smile:


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## Jag1980 (Sep 19, 2008)

The reason for starting this shrimp tank was to make some money with it.
My local pet store will buy them from me for $3 per shrimp.
Amano shrimp are $6 to $7 per to buy from them... I got 3 for my main tank and one died within a couple days.. 

Breed Amano shrimp would be nice :icon_roll


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

Jag1980 said:


> ...Breed Amano shrimp would be nice :icon_roll


Lol, I hear you and cherry shrimp are much easier to breed from what I hear. But if you are ever up for the challenge of trying to breed amano shrimp, here are a couple of useful articles. 

http://mikes-machine.mine.nu/breeding_yamato.htm

http://caridina.japonica.online.fr/English/Elevage.htm


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## Aquarist_Fist (Jul 22, 2008)

Jag1980 said:


> The reason for starting this shrimp tank was to make some money with it.
> My local pet store will buy them from me for $3 per shrimp.
> Amano shrimp are $6 to $7 per to buy from them


That's insanely expensive. Do you live in Washington State or in DC? Here in Portland, Amanos go for 2.50-ish.


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## icom (Mar 14, 2008)

Jag1980 said:


> The reason for starting this shrimp tank was to make some money with it.
> My local pet store will buy them from me for $3 per shrimp.
> Amano shrimp are $6 to $7 per to buy from them... I got 3 for my main tank and one died within a couple days..
> 
> Breed Amano shrimp would be nice :icon_roll


 
For cherry shrimp ??:eek5: the store here only wants to give me .20 ea for mine..

and I cant find Amano shrimp around anyplace or I'd buy some for all my tanks..


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## RandomKayos (Oct 3, 2008)

Just a thought here but how often do you feed your shirmp? I had an issue in my Ghost tank with hair alge and after reading an excellent article about over feeding shrimp I cut back on feedings. Low and behold, the hair alge disappeared. Seems the Ghost Shrimp were getting lazy and waiting for food instead of foraging. Once they realized they had to work for a living the hair alge was back under control.
Also, excess food might be the cause for the nutrient imbalance that allows the hair alge to grow. Sort of a win/win for me.


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## Jag1980 (Sep 19, 2008)

Homer_Simpson said:


> Lol, I hear you and cherry shrimp are much easier to breed from what I hear. But if you are ever up for the challenge of trying to breed amano shrimp, here are a couple of useful articles.
> 
> http://mikes-machine.mine.nu/breeding_yamato.htm
> 
> http://caridina.japonica.online.fr/English/Elevage.htm


 
Thanks for the links. After reading about the breeding I think I will have to pass on that idea. I have no way to measure the salinity of the sea water and it will take about 5 months before they grow large enough to sell...
I like things that grow fast, and watching little shrimp take 5 months to grow... haha. I might as well just plant a oak tree and watch that grow :icon_roll

I'm waiting now on my Cherry shrimp eggs to hatch and see what happens with that. I might just try and find a good deal on some Amano shrimp and drop them in the tank, hopefully they wont eat the babies?


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## Jag1980 (Sep 19, 2008)

RandomKayos said:


> Just a thought here but how often do you feed your shirmp? I had an issue in my Ghost tank with hair alge and after reading an excellent article about over feeding shrimp I cut back on feedings. Low and behold, the hair alge disappeared. Seems the Ghost Shrimp were getting lazy and waiting for food instead of foraging. Once they realized they had to work for a living the hair alge was back under control.
> Also, excess food might be the cause for the nutrient imbalance that allows the hair alge to grow. Sort of a win/win for me.


Interesting. 
I feed just a tiny piece of algae wafer for 12 shrimp and take out anything un eaten a day later, then feed them again 2 days later. Or I drop a few pieces of Tetra crisps in the tank every 2 or 3 days. 
see no left overs in the tank.

Snails don't eat this algae either?... :confused1:


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## Jag1980 (Sep 19, 2008)

Washington state. 
I would love to have your prices, then I could afford to buy more


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## Jag1980 (Sep 19, 2008)

icom said:


> For cherry shrimp ??:eek5: the store here only wants to give me .20 ea for mine..
> 
> and I cant find Amano shrimp around anyplace or I'd buy some for all my tanks..


I asked them a couple different time how much they would buy Cherry shrimp from me and they said $3 a piece. 
They better give me that much since they sell them for $6 per shrimp. 
I would hate to go in there on sell day and have them say; Oh.. sorry, I thought these shrimp where something different we can only do .25 cents...:icon_eek:


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## cjskier (Nov 21, 2013)

Bring back an old thread with new questions.

What if you can't spot treat it because its everywhere? And dont want any ammanos in the tank. Any solutions? Ive already dialed back the lighting.


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

There may be another place to get it from, but I get it from the Bay. Giant Duckweed is much easier to deal/w than
regular Duckweed as you have dozens, not hundreds of plants breeding on you daily. I just scoop out some each
time I do a water change to keep them at the coverage I want in the tank.
A 1 bulb ten usually won't get algae if you pay attention to which kind of bulbs you use. I use 2 bulbs on my ten without algae.
T8 of course is what I'm talking about. But I have plants that use up the nutrients(with very little added)which the food puts
in the water. So my suggestion is to put a small amount of the Giant Duckweed in there to use up those nutrients which
likely are the main cause of the hair algae.
The Zoo Med Tropical sun is cheap at Doctors Foster & Smith's and won't cause near as much algae as say an Ultra sun
by the same people or a Power Glo by Hagen, but the Tropical sun has a decent amount of visible light.


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