Algae Identification and Possible Course of Treatment

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aquaplegic

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Hoping for some help identifying what type of algae I have in my tank. I tried taking a picture of the algae tangled in some of the Lilaeopsis brasiliensis in the tank. The color doesn't show well, but in this one it is brown in color, although there are some other clumps of it that seem to be green in color.

The tank in question is a standard 20 gallon tank, set up 3 weeks ago, with a cycled HOB filter, and I am running pressurized CO2 at a rate between 1-2 bubbles per second, with fairly bright lighting (I don't have a PAR meter or anything to accurately measure light intensity unfortunately). Photo period is 7 hours per day. I did have some Cabomba in there to start to soak up nutrients, but have since pulled that out. Plants in the tank include some Anubias nana, Bucephalandra, Alternanthera sessilis, Blyxa japonica and Rotala H'ra. In terms of stocking, I have 6 pygmy corydoras, a trio of guppies, 5 nerite snails, 2 Amano shrimp and a lone red cherry shrimp moved over from another tank.

I think it is hair algae, but would love to hear others' thoughts on what it is and how best to treat. It hasn't overrun the tank, and is only seen in a few clumps at this point, but I'd rather try and address the problem now. Any suggestions on how best to treat?

algae.jpg
 
Do you know how strong the light is (watts, lumens, anything)? If you know the model you should be able to find this information online. Not a problem if you can't though. Maybe try dimming the light, if your plants can take it, and make sure your nitrate and phosphate levels are kept in check. This type of algae hates CO2 in any form (even liquid carbon), so you can try increasing the output a bit, if you can (I presonally don't have a CO2 system so I can't give any specific advice in this respect). It might also be the case that your tank is not quite cycled yet, as hair algae tends to develop during the cycling process and/or in tanks that aren't biologically balanced yet, but Idk your parametres so it's just speculation at this point. In the meantime remove what you can manually; the amanos and nerites should take care of anything you can't reach.
Sorry I can't be of more help, hopefully someone will come along with more experience in this area.
 

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