wanted-- hair algae!

[saltydog]

OK.this may sound nuts BUT I would like to have LONG GREEN HAIR ALGAE growing in my tank, the ph-->78 water temp -->78 brakish water, have brown algae starting to grow NOW, I would say I have IRON in the water for this to happen, BUT how do I get GREEN to start. some one told me to put (flourish) in what ever that is? any one can help! thank you.

 

[sgtbirch]

I add flourish to my water and all I get is brown algae. Take the hardness of your water and it gives you a co2 output. with somewhat high ph like you have(I also have) its hard to grow green plants. I think. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong(this is the shpeel I got from the LFS). Cutting down on light source can help too. Myself I fight a losing battle with brown algae it climbs all over my plants and I wash it off once a week. Not sure if this is recommended I just cant stand the ucliness of it.

 

[saltydog]

sqtbirch, same here lots of brown algae, I have had outher tanks an lots of hair algae would grow nicely, an the fish loved it. but w/ this brakish water, all I get is BROWN. guess Im stuck w/ brown algae, or maby try to take out the hardness (iron) in the water as you stated, do you know what effect if any would have on the fish? w/the iron taken out?

 

[GraemeK]

how much light you have? When my tank was on for 12+ hours a day i had more green algae than i could deal with! since cutting it back to 8 hours the problem has gone...

 

[Dubby]

Yes, get lots of light. Even if you can reflect some sunlight onto your tank for a few days that should start it off.

Also overfeeding can help

 

[Dragonslair]

Some enthusiastic replies there. I have algae in my tank that I'm desperately trying to get rid of. Whilst it looks nice on the rocks and pebbles that I have in my tank, it doesn't look attractive on the edge of the leaves of my plants. The algae I have is of a dark green nature and looks like smooth tufts of grass waving around in a field when the wind blows. It looks very soft and closely bunched up. I have a well planted tank, but this stuff is quite invasive. I can't use an algaecide as that would be to the detriment of my more fragile plants like Cambomba and the water parameters are well within tolerance levels for my types of fish. Short of pulling out all my plants which have been growing and flourishing for 3 years now, I am going to have to put up with it and keep it in check. Unless any of you out there has any other suggestions?

 

[ade1975]

To get rid of hair algae in a planted tank try Interpets Hair Algae remover as I have used it to no detriment to my plants. To get green hair algae just make sure that there are plenty of phosphates and iron in your tank, lots of oxygen (plant growers prefer co2) and really intense lighting in the green/yellow spectrum! lol. I would offer to mail you some of mine but I just killed it all with the Interpet treatment and CO2 fertilisation! lol