Hair Algae!!

[Voorhee]

Well im having hard time with hair algae..

i pull it out of java moss all the time and it comes back worse and worse..
Java moss look more like hair algae then java moss.. really bugs me...

now it looks like plants on bottom are get some...

i tested for iron and its Zero for both.. iron and iron (fe)

lighting is 11hours..

setup

75gal
160 watts lighting
temp 77
ph 6.8-6.9
amm 0
nitrite 0
nitrate ~1-5ppm (hard for me to keep any around lol..)
iron 0
kh 5
gh 6
3 dozen plants.. ( all growing great)

about 30 fish..

and
2 are ottos
2 are SAE's
1 bristlenose

any suggestions..

 

[konrad05]

Do you use general fertilizer? If so, how often. A could way to eliminate that factor is to stop adding for a few weeks-month.

 

[barbus]

Is it a newly setup tank ? it often happens to new tank. If you use substrate fertilizer, you don't want to add column ferts yet for the first month.
As long as you keep weekly 50% water changes for a month or two, good CO2 level (20-30ppm) and balanced nutrient, your plant will finally beat the algae.

SAE is good at eating them too, but as long as they're not full from fish food. A squad of algae eating shrimps (e.g. cardina japonica) will also help.

 

[Nisha]

Another option might be to cut down the hours of lighting. When I had this problem I put a timer on my light so that it was on for 4 hours in the morning and about 5 hours in the evening with a no-light break in the middle. This helped to cut down the hair algae considerably.

Fast flowing water can also encourge hair algae growth. If you can lower the flow of water from your filter, it might help too.

Hope it all works out for you.