Trio123

My tank was doing great for several months now it has had an explosion of hair algae and I think my mechanical removal techniques are making the problem worse. It's a 65 gallon tank, normal stocking, it has some otto cats and a bristlenose pleco that do a good job on all the other algae. It has 2 54 watt HO T5 lights. I am only using a root fertilizer from Aqua Design Amano, no liquid fertilizers. I have pulled it off the leaves of the plants several times and it keeps coming back in a more virulent explosion. It seems the only way to stop it is to throw out all my plants and gravel and start over :O. Please tell me someone has a better idea. Maybe it's time for a chemical cure? I know that is not recommended but I dont know what else to do.

My fish seem perfectly fine with have a tank covered in algae, as long as I keep syphoning out the plants as the die. They are the most important so all is not lost.

caseyholland

How old are your lights., I know in my reef when my lights start going bad i start to get algea blooms.

Trio123

about 3 months, I think they last 6 months before they start to lose thier correct lighting.

I guess Im going to have to go back to fake plants or try a chemical treatment (which probably wont work)... after $400 in lights and plants, what a waste of money.

I guess no one else has this problem in a planted freshwater?

jrtew

Trio, I have a similar problem to yours it sounds like. I've got a 55 gal planted with 130 watts of light and have bad hair algae on all of my plants. whenever i add a new plant whithin 2 weeks it seems like it starts to suffer and is begging to get the hair algae all over it. Im not really sure what the problem is. I just set up a DIY CO2 system yesterday so maybe that will help the plants and cut back on the algae? I really have no idea. Ill let you know if it seems to make a difference.

04_si

I have REALLY bad hair algae in my 35 gallon. Ottos amano shrimp and a flag fish are making any headway on it. I have 78 watts on my tank. CO2 has been set up for about a month and I have phosphate remover pads in my filter. I'm about to haul my plants out to scrub them off...

Trio123

well Im glad Im not the only one. I will tell you what has helped, reducing the light. I only have my light on for 3 hours a day now, my plants are doing fine and the algae has not grown at all (it has not died, just not grown). I was told on another forum that need to get injected CO2, that DIY system just cant handle that large of a tank. So I am investing in a tank and dual gauge regulator for my Christmas present. If it works I will tell you guys. Good luck!

04_si

hope all goes well. I'm cutting my light time down slow I don't want to do it too fast.

Hope all goes well in your tank!

bert2001

Sorry to hear about your problem. There are a couple of solutions. One is to up your CO2 or cut you lighting. The other is to get an army of hungry Amano Japonica. They should make short work of it.

04_si

can too much co2 be bad for fish or shrimp?

Beeker

I've got a hair algae problem too. I just bought a Clown Pleco to deal with it. Now that he is finally comfortable in his new home, he is starting to eat it. Last time I had this problem, I used Florish Excel. That worked great. This time, I think the problem is my lights are old. When I get some more money, I will buy new lights.

04_si

I broke down. I did some gardening.

20:1 bleach dip with non-salvagable leaves being torn off and thrown out. Big vacuum to get as much algae off sand.

1 day later. Plants are very green and healthy looking. Algae is non-existant or grey. Fish look very happy with all the kuhlis out and about at one point tonight. First time I've seen that.

I will keep updating everyone and try to get some pics

Day 3 - uh oh. the plants look a little burnt from over bleaching.... frustrating... BUT (!!!) the good news is there is ZERO algae on them. the leaves that are still there and intact are bright green, and the algae growing on everything else (driftwood, back of tank) looks to have thinned out tremendously!

Trio123

Glad that it worked without killing your plants. I went ahead and got pressurized CO2 and yes it can be dangerous to your fish it you add too much. I also got dry fertilizers. I think the light threw my tank out of balance and created an opportunity for algae to grow. Apparently if your gonna add light it often means you gotta go high tech. The nice thing is it is actually easier, I dont have to keep buying tons of sugar and mixing a new bottle every week. Just count bubbles and look at the color of my drop checker Now we'll see what happens... beautiful aquatic landscape or algae fest 2009. So far so good...

04_si

i think my next step is pressurized co2. i have the can with sugar and yeast and it sucks. a mixture was lasting about 2-3 days, then wouldnt make ANY bubbles. So i went out, and bought the pre-made packages just add water kind of thing.... its not great either. my drop checker hasnt gone out of the 'low' zone at all.....

also, i tossed most of the plants. they looked pretty burnt. bought some new ones, and they're not doing too bad...

Beeker

I just pulled out some plants and brushed and picked off the algae and dead leaves today. I replanted the freshly brushed plants and pulled out a couple handfuls of hair algae from the driftwood, substrate, and other ornaments. Then I vacuumed the gravel and did a water change. After all that, I double-dosed Florish Excel and I will cut the light to 3 hours starting tomorrow. I hope it will work. My Pleco seems to not be as interested in the hair algae as he was before. Maybe because it got so long.

dacrax07

siamese (not chinese) algae eaters work wonders with algae, especially hair algae. they're much more efficient than ottos but i prefer ottos over sae's since they look cooler.

musicman4567

SAE's work great. I had a huge hair algae problem with my 55 gal, got 4 SAE's (I like how they look. Like really long ottos) and dosed Flourish excel. My hair algae problems were over in about a week and a half. There are fairly few fish that will actually eat the hair algae. SAEs and American Flag Fish (which get aggressive as they age, so you'll probably have to get rid of them eventually). I would highly recommend SAEs

k19

keep your light on for less hrs a day and try keep it out if sunlight my tank did the same but i moved it out of the sun and redouced the time on my lights it work for me hope it does the same for you guys