Hair Algae, Argh..

[Tsi_User]

We currently have two tanks running:

30 gallon, 1.6 WPG, weekly liquid ferts, heavily planted with amazon sword, jungle and italian val, java moss, java fern, dwarf sag, etc.. all growing quite well. Water stats are fine and weekly 30% water change.

10 gallon, 3 WPG, weekly liquid ferts, lightly planted, with Wide leaf sag, anarchis, java fern and micro chain sword. Water stats are fine and weekly 30% water change.

BOTH tanks have problems with hair algae.

In the 30 gallon when I started getting agae I bought Amano shrimp (only 5 of them though) which temporarily fixed the problem, but within a week it was all back and the shrimp could care less. I then tried a 3 day blackout, only turning the light on for 30 minutes to feed the tank and do a head count. This killed the majority of it, but within 5 days it was all back again. I have also cut out all liquid ferts for two weeks.

In the 10 gallon over the last 2 weeks a hair algae problem has started and made my water wisteria kick the bucket.

The next thing to do on my list (after the holidays) will be to double up the number of amano shrimp in the 30 gallon and hopefully get an algae-eating fish for the 10 gallon. Could anyone suggest anything I can do to combat this problem? I'm all out of ideas

 

[wei0204]

I am having this problem too, but not too serious, it is growing on my drift wood and 2 types of plants.

I have added in 4 amano shrimps, 2 red cherry shrimps, 1 oto, 1 flying wolf about a week ago. TIll today, I can notice that the hair algae is decreasing a lot. I will continue to observe to see whether this few creatures could help me to keep the tank clean or not.

 

[nry]

Do you add CO2? In higher light tanks (1.6 is not that high, but 3wpg certainly is) no CO2 often means algae will run riot.

How long are your lights on for in each tank?