Hair Alhae?

[dave_oddballs]

hi does anybody know how to get rid of what i think is hair algae?
it has just decided to appear in my main tank and its really annoying me!!
any off the shelf treatments or home made stuff?

cheers
David

 

[CTlovesKS]

i know how you feel mate its happyen to my 4-5 ft bowed front tank and we can seems to get ride of it. We take lumps of it out dailey and it grows back. Would like the answer to this one too

 

[Doohiky]

Siamese Flying Foxes are your answer. Make sure they are siamese though. I could be wrong but I'm fairly sure they are the only fish that eat hair algae. They can be bought singley in pairs or small groups and are fairly cheap. Mine cost me £5 for the pair. They grow to about 6" long depending on the room in your tank.
Do a little research before you buy them though, just incase you've got things that kill them.

 

[dave_oddballs]

i am not adding fish to my tank full of carefully chosen fish, especially not siamese flyin fox's! horrible little things!
thanks though!
i need a treatment, not a temporary measure.
if anyone knows of any treatments, algaeside or anything at all!!!!!

cheers, David

 

[AdAndrews]

i am not adding fish to my tank full of carefully chosen fish, especially not siamese flyin fox's! horrible little things!
thanks though!
i need a treatment, not a temporary measure.
if anyone knows of any treatments, algaeside or anything at all!!!!!

cheers, David

interpet do an anti- hair algae control. i havnt used this though, but it will probably work by overdosing the tank with it.. you can add some plants like amazon frogbit to use up suspended nutrients and block light levels. how many hours do you have lights on for a day?

 

[Hawkins]

some scissors? you could style it


is your tank near direct sunlight, and how long are you leaving the tank light on for each day?

 

[dave_oddballs]

no my tank is not in direct sunlight, or any type of sunlight for that matter at any time of the day. erm my light is on 10 hours (12 midday til 10pm) and off 14 hours.
i cant put frogbit in the tank, i have tried it as i have loads, the power of the fx5 just chucks it all over the place and it breaks up! i have loads of plants, id say about 75% of the 240 liter tank is full of plants and i have never ever had any kind of visible algae in the tank before! coming to think about it i had a bit of algae on the front and back a few days ago, so its all happened recently, but i havent changed anything, i havent added or taken anything away
i shall visit the lft later on this week n see if he has that interpet hair algae stuff.
any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated as if its not gone soon ima rip every single thing out of the tank and replace it as its horrible!!

cheers, David

 

[AdAndrews]

no my tank is not in direct sunlight, or any type of sunlight for that matter at any time of the day. erm my light is on 10 hours (12 midday til 10pm) and off 14 hours.
i cant put frogbit in the tank, i have tried it as i have loads, the power of the fx5 just chucks it all over the place and it breaks up! i have loads of plants, id say about 75% of the 240 liter tank is full of plants and i have never ever had any kind of visible algae in the tank before! coming to think about it i had a bit of algae on the front and back a few days ago, so its all happened recently, but i havent changed anything, i havent added or taken anything away
i shall visit the lft later on this week n see if he has that interpet hair algae stuff.
any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated as if its not gone soon ima rip every single thing out of the tank and replace it as its horrible!!

cheers, David

ok.. try doing a big water change, getting as much out as you can, and then turn off the lights for 48 hours, and then after that turning the lights down to 8hours a day(this is plenty long enough for plants) and then if that doesnt work try a med.. but i think any that you will try will not have an effect unless you overdose them, causing a problem to the plants and maybe fish.

good luck

 

[minxfishy]

Taken from Planted tank link here: http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

A range of causes including low CO2, low nutrient levels and ammonia spikes. Nothing to do with excess iron as commonly thought.
Removal Can be very difficult to eradicate at times. A high plant mass with good CO2 and a good supply of nutrients along with constantly hassling the algae seems to pay off after a while. Removal by twisting around a toothbrush or similar. Overdosing Flourish Excel can help. Amano shrimps, Rosy barbs and mollies will often eat it.

 

[loraxchick]

Aaronorth has a really great link to algae in his sig.

 

[shelaghfishface]

oh great thread as i have a tank covered in this stuff too everytime i pull some i rip up a plant

im gonna give the interpet a try
good luck David

 

[aaronnorth]

I wouldnt add any algae killing chemicals, more often ha not you need to overdose and it ends up killing your plants, and it can have an adverse affet on some fish species.
The only one i do reccomend is liquid carbon, however dont use it soley as a algae killing treatment, that is just a mild side affect it has.
You need to address the root cause, which as minxfishy pointed out is ammonia spikes, poor CO2 and poor flow/ circulation.

Cut the light down to 8hrs per day, remove as much as possible then do a 50-80% water change.
If you have only just started geting algae, then something must of been upset, which i think is an ammonia spike.

 

[shelaghfishface]

well i know in my case i had to treat the tank several times recently for diff sickness, nitrate fell very low (0)- as did the whole filter readings
lights are on too much tho, and filter outlet is under the water level - was running co2 and took it off as i thought it may be helping it grow- deff no ammonia spikes

 

[dave_oddballs]

the ammonia levels in my tank havent gone up for months and months now, i check it twice a week.
i havent changed anything at all for absolutely ages!

 

[aaronnorth]

undetectable ammonia
comes from rotting plant matter or organic waste, disturbing the substrate, overfeeding, dirty filter.