Algae Question

[karlp]

Not long after the tank was setup planted, I had green hair/beard algae appear, which is a bit of a nuisance and needs daily thinning, but doesn't seem to be causing too many problems and I hoped would go in time.

However yesterday for the first time a new type appeared which is really unsightly. It's a grey/black colour, stringy like green hair algae but is thicker and more wirey. It's attached really firmly to the plant too. There wasnt' loads of it, it was just hanging of a few leaves like bits of wire. Not at all bushey.

do you know what this is and how to get rid of it ?

At the moment I'm removing any leaves I see that's got the stuff in the hope that it wont get a foot hold and have reduced the lighting by an hour a day.

I haven't got going with EI or the like yet because I've been waiting to install my RO unit to make the water changes easier (although my RO unit has been running for about 5 days now and has barely produced a couple of litres of water!!! )

Thanks

 

[karlp]

Just found a photo of it on the net. Looks like it's staghorn algae. boy is it ugly.

http/www.otocinclus.com/articles/algae.html

 

[RedShark]

Maybe what you need is a blackout for a day or so.Just shutting off the lights won't do, try covering the entire tank with something so that no light gets through at all. Hopefully the plants will survive, do you have a spare tank to store them in maybe???
Thats the best thing I can think of, someone here has had to of had experience with this before, im sure they'll have some better ideas.

 

[zig]

Sounds like staghorn, usually easy to fix once you work out what imbalance is causeing it, when you start with EI this will probably cure it if you start dosing correctly, it usually just breaks off in your hand and can be easily removed manually.

Its usually just a sign you are under fertiliseing, usually macros, but can also be caused by lack of CO2 as well ( im presuming this is a highlight tank)