WHat is this and how do i get rid of it??

[Mustang5L5]

Been away for a few months from my tank and left it in the care of my sister. She did a good job and i only lost 2 fish.

But i have terrible algae growth on the glass. Guess she left the lights on too much. ANyway i've cut down on it by shortening the time i leave the lights on and manual cleaning.

But what is this stuff??? And how do i get rid of it? Is this hair algae??
http/www.pix8.net/pro/pic.php?u=11130S5RAi&i=542043
http/www.pix8.net/pro/pic.php?u=11130S5RAi&i=542044


I cut out any leaves that had it, but this stuff is growing on my filter tubes and this peice of driftwood about 6" below the surface.

EDIT: Just noticed the rubber band. I forgot about that. Was trying to get some java fern to attach right there. It looks secured so time to cut it off.

 

[zig]

Id say its a type of brush or beard algae and its usually caused by high phosphate levels, usually due to over feeding ( sounds plausable given that you havent been around ) im not sure how to get rid of it, maybe gf225 or someone else may have a better idea, but you could check out the above types to try and get some more info.

Best of luck with it.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Yeah, overfeeding is a definite possibility. All my fish look plump

I just did a major prune and cut away most of the affected plants. Some of this stuff is growing on my filter tubes and the driftwood so it's tough to clean that. Also one of my snails has it on his shell. Seems like most of it is near the surface and near the light source.

I started up DIY CO2 again (tried to simplify while i was gone) and vacuumed the hell out of the tank (wasn't that dirty). I'm gonna limit the lighting and cut back on feeding for now. I'll test the water in a couple days.

 

[Silly me]

If you can remove anything that's got the algae on it, it would help a lot. I also have BBA in my tanks, its like a virus. it grows everywhere.

To get it under control I added SAE and CAE, SAE didnt touch the BBA but it doesnt spread anymore and I just remove the plant, and clean the filter/media where is growing on. I do get a little on the glass every now and again but nothing that will concern me.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I removed 90% of it but there are a lot of little tufts here and there that i can't get rid of. They are in parts of the tank i simply can't reach due to dense plants or placed driftwood.

It's tough to get off too.

My CAE don't tough the stuff, and i can't find SAE's anywhere.

I want to try to eliminate it totally.

Plus side is in the week or so that i've been back i've managed to get the green algae under control and notice a nice decline. Now just need to clean up the BBA