hair algae

[wolfbane]

Hi all!! I need a little help with my planted tank. I'm having a bad problem with hair algae, it's everywhere! I pull it out with water changes, but would like to kill it once and for all, or at least for a good while.
I read about using Excell to kill it, essentially an overdose, but wondered how long to keep up the treatment, is it a one time thing? Or how many doses should I use, how often?
I don't have shrimp in this 150 gal tank, but there are snails.

[scans]

using Excell actually allows the other plants to starve off the algae. I use it at normal doses and it works, a little slower than others may like, but it works.

Right now I am trying out a producct called AlgaeFix. I'll let you know how it works out

[Dissident]

Snails should be fine. The scale-less fish and shrimps (inverts) tend to have problem with large Excel Dosage.

Start with 2X dosage and watch fish for a couple of days if no signs of stress goto 3X dosage.

It should take 10+ Days to fully kill it all off.
Hair algae is a hard battle. But once it is gone you should be in the clear as long as you addressed the cause of the problem as well.

Sunlight will cause it. Low CO2 will cause it. High Nitrates will be a factor but not much. Having lights on too long will cause it. High Fe dosage will cause it (not all will agree with that but it seems to do it for me).

Also if you could inform us on your; lighting/ferts(what kind how much and how often)/WC/filters/tank size/etc we could be more helpfull.

[Alight]

Diss, are we talking about black beard algae, here, or long, filamentous green algae that can curl up to look like curly hair?

I'm having a new problem with this latter stuff. Can't figure out what's changed. I am dosing with Excel--was 2X dose, but may drop that down as the Discus are showing some stress. Could be my DIY CO2 (going to pressurized as soon as the equipment comes) but that has been going some time and the problem is new.

I may try uping the water changes to lower the nitrates a bit more (now centering on 10 ppm, with a range of 7-14. Phophates have been consistently 10% of the nitrate concentration. I dose with flourish, and did up that for a while, and have now backed that down to only after a water change. Things seem just a small bit better since I did that, but I haven't give it much time.

Al Light

[stiver james]

I have a 55gal planted tank and I had a hair algae problem. I picked up some algae fix and did a 50 percent water change. I rubbed the leaves of the plants that were affected by the hair algae and got off as much as I could. I then dosed the tank as per directions with the "algae fix". I kept up my water changes at 50percent every week for about 3-4 weeks and bam, no more hair algae. The algae fix along with the water changes seemed to rid my tank of the hair algae and it has not returned. I use it once a week as a maintenance program along with water changes. I also use a liquid fertilizer and cheap fermentation type co2 systems. This works great for me. Jim

[Dissident]

Alight;
BBA is a ba$t4rd, it can really be a pain I have seen it. When it comes to BBA your best course of attack is manual removal and keeping up on waterchanges (typicall attack on any algae problem). NO3 ~10-15ppm is fine, PO4 should be ~2-3ppm. PO4 is essential to help plants use NO3, if there is not enough PO3 plants will not be able to use the NO3 fast ehough and then the algae will get to use it to annoy you. It is similiar relationship to Mg and Fe (20ppm Mg to .2ppm Fe).
Depending on the sevarity of your BBA problems you may consider a Bleach bath on your plants.



Using a product like algaeFix is not a good solution. It will kill algae but if you do not address the root cause it will come back. Using flourish w/out a CO2 content ~20ppm will lead to algae problems in the long-run.
Also lighting plays a big roll, too much lighting and no CO2 will be a problem. Not enough lighting and ferts is just as bad... or worse. The absolute worse is High light No CO2 and Ferts.

[wolfbane]

Whew guys, lots of info there!
My tank is a 150 gal planted in low light plants, fine gravel substrate over a thin layer of laterite, 2 AC 110s, weekly WCs of 60%, plant tabs.
plants are:
hygro angustifolia, swords, java moss, crypts. All doing well.
Livestock:
10 5 inch discus, 7 BN plecos, 10 cardinals, 3 robinae cories, 2 skunk botias
120 W flourescent light, adjacent to East window, indirect morning sun

So, dose for 10 days?

[Alight]

Actually, black beard is not my problem at present. I had a problem with it, which was cured with the Excel overdose method. It was after the black beard was bone that the green filamentous (possibly hair algae) struck. This stuff looks like it would be great food for algae eating fish, but none of mine touch it.

Another person on the planted tank forum had a similar problem that he cured by upping his phosphates. I may give that a try, since my phosphates are never above 1 ppm and often 0.5 ppm.

It's possible that since I upped the carbon, the phosphates have become the limiting factor for plant uptake of ammonia, so the algae has gotten the upper hand.

Magnesium is not a problem, but iron is always low, as I don't have an enriched substrate--only flourish root tabs to help with that.

potassium is possibly on the low side as well, as I dose enough to get it to 2 ppm, but haven't gone higher, although I've noticed that some recommend as high as 10 ppm.

Wolfbane, yes, try the Flourish Excel for 10 days. Some have found it to be a miracle additive, getting rid of their algae in less than a week.

Thanks!

[diablocanine]

BBA or any algae is a sign of low CO2 levels, improper dosing, and/or improper lighting but usually low CO2, one of the main reasons a ph controller on a pressurized system is nice, i.e., can increase the CO2 until BBA disappears and stays away. Some have dosed excel 3 times recommended amount daily for 10-14 days with success. Keep in mind algae never dies, it will surely come back again as soon as the deficiency returns.

[wolfbane]

Last night found ALL the fish at the top of the tank begging for air, did a quick 30% water change, increased the air flow to the stones, in 20 min. they were begging for food.

I had spilled the excell in the tank, guesstimated the dose, WRONG!! That was dose 3, I'll measure carefully now with a dosing syringe.

I tried to think what had changed to cause this, plants have grown, light from window has changed with the seasons, and I quit using Flourish around 2 months ago, but the algae had started by then.

[Dissident]

Last night found ALL the fish at the top of the tank begging for air, did a quick 30% water change, increased the air flow to the stones, in 20 min. they were begging for food.

I had spilled the excell in the tank, guesstimated the dose, WRONG!! That was dose 3, I'll measure carefully now with a dosing syringe.

I tried to think what had changed to cause this, plants have grown, light from window has changed with the seasons, and I quit using Flourish around 2 months ago, but the algae had started by then.

Yeah be carefull, do not 'estimate' by pouring it right from the bottle. Glad to hear you caught it before you lost any fish... and glad to know you learned your lesson ;)

[wolfbane]

Day 5 of Excell treatment, hair algae getting pale, kinda gray, beard algae looking clumpy, stuck together. Fish all look Ok, 3x dose suits them Ok. Doing major water change tomorrow, picking off what I can, should I cut off affected leaves, or leave them and see if they recover?

Dissident, Yeah, it probably will mean shutting those blinds, can't move the tank. Live and learn!

[Dissident]

It would all depend on how bad the leaves are I guess. Make your best judgement and remove the worst. You can always remove more later too.

[Spices]

It would all depend on how bad the leaves are I guess. Make your best judgement and remove the worst. You can always remove more later too.


Yeah, until you end up with a BBB (Boring Bare-Bottom) tank. ;) I went this way for now. Just find it all too cumbersome to be bothered. A nice chunk of driftwood (or a few driftwoods) with a tall shale and a piece of anubia or a pond plant suffice for me. The algae is a sure PITA.

Excell works but only if you up the water change. Without Excell, it works too if you up the water change and do the scrubbing of the interior. Oh, no carbon also helps too. :D

[Dissident]

no BBB plz :(

It takes time to ballance a planted tank. If I can do it anyone can ;)
Or just send me all your plants :D Then it would be OK

Lots and lots of plants is the trick for the best algae control. Java moss is a great nitrate eater, that will help with all kinds of algae. If No3 and Po4 is out of wack (typical in a low-tech tank) the moss will eat up excess No3.

Wysteria is a great plant for that too... looks cool too. Slow grower in low-light, great for moderate - high light.

[wolfbane]

No BBB for me, just need to learn and progress. I love my tank with plants and substrate, no going back now! Learning is what keeps the brain alive!! Goodness knows I need all the brain help I can get.:D

[briankgarrison79]

One question, I've currently have bba on some of plants and driftwood. I've recently changed my diy co2, but I've noticed that my phosphates were off the scales. I've nailed down the culprites of intoducing them into my tank. Here's the question, how do you remove the phosphates?? They are above 10ppm, nitrate at 2ppm, potassum 2ppm, lighting 192watts on a 38gal with co2 at 33ppm, and ph at 6.8. By the way, I've tried daily water part, phos ban, phos buster, and phos guard. None of these products have brought the levels low enough to see any change. Any other ideas would be helpful. I'm going to try excel to get rid of bba.

[Dissident]

Waterchanges should remove Po4, what is adding them? Get Nitrates to 10-15ppm and K should be ~20ppm.

Are you doseing ferts? If so what kind how much and how often and what is waterchange routiene?

[pcsb23]

The phosphates could be in your source water so it amy be worth checking that. RowaPhos works brilliantly and is worth a go, bit expensive but it works and doesn't dump the phosphates when it get used up.

Question here though, how do you test for K??

[senso]

I recently had a similar hair algae problem that I was fortunate to eliminate without any harm to the inhabitants using a natural approach. Not certain which factor helped most but this was the approach.

My tank is a 180g with low light intensity plants, mostly attached to driftwood.

1. Reduced lighting from 6 hrs of 130w plus 4 hrs 260w, to 130w fr 10 hrs
2. Added 2 large SAE from another tank, together with 10 ottos and a doz large cardinia japonica
3. Feed bloodworm through a cone (after defrosting and removing watered blood)
4. Reduced macro nutrients

Hope this helps

[lhforbes12]

Brian, 192 watts over a 38 gallon is an awfully high amount, I'm suprised your fish aren't stressed by it. I agree with Dissident, since your PO4 is high and your K and, NO3 are so very low you might try adding more of them and also try adding some micros (CSM +B or Tropica Master Grow or Flouish Trace). Because you have such high light it isn't suprising that you also have algae. Such high light tanks are notorious for trying to keep algae free and in balance with regards to nutrients, if it were me I would try halving to amount of light. Flourish Excel at 3 times the recommended dose for 3 days has always gotten rid of BBA for me with no discernable harm to my fish (even scaleless fish like Chromobotia macracanthus (clown loach) do well when dosing this way with Excel. You could also try hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at ca. .3-.5 ml per gallon which has also worked for me either alone or with the Excel treatment but my discus did not seem to like the H2O2 very much (rapid breathing, loss of some of their slime coat). Other algae responds well to the "black out" treatment. Cover your tank completely so that no light at all can get to it for 3 days, and this should get rid of most other algae. Again though, with your very high amount of light and little fertilizer you will probably get algae back soon.

[briankgarrison79]

I'm currently using flouish, floush pot, flouish iron, kent pro plant, kent fresh plant, and flourish tabs. I fert with flourish and kent pro plant 2x a week, and flourish pot, flourish iron,and kent fresh plant every week. Like I said I've tried all of the phosphate removers out there. It doesn't seem to remove it all. The 5 gallon gas cans where main the source of phosphates they leeched out 2.5ppm in a 10 ml sample of water. As for the lighting the lights are on 2 different timers. One comes on at 7:00am to 10:00pm and the other comes on at 2:00pm to 8:00pm.

[Dissident]

You are dosing too many trace it looks like.
I may be off here but all but Flourish Fe are trace elements:
flouish, floush pot, flouish iron, kent pro plant, kent fresh plant,

That would be a big cause for algae, I would follow the following:
Flourish Fe, Flourish, and get a source for No3 and K I like Potassium sulphate for K and potassium nitrate for No3.

Keep CO2 levels up, once the DIY is empty even a day or 2 will give algae a kick start into growing again.

BTW what kind of plants are in your tank?