Always have problem with hair algae

[Zhuoyuting]

Hi guys,

i'm very curious why does the hair algae keep coming back?
What the best way to combat them????

I kept trimming it one week later they are back again, now they are attach to my fissiden really find it an eye sore.

Temperture 25 degree.
Light on Max 6 hours
Got on Air pump and CO2 both 24/7
Why on air pump cause panda louch require lots of O2 previously die quite a few after installing a air pump problem solve.
Ammonia: Zero

Weekly water change 30 percent.

Your advice is appreciated...

[Zhuoyuting]

Search the net this are a few advice,

1) Jack up the Co2 intake, i afraid my fishes can't take it.
2) Split the interval of the lighting on 3hrs rest 3hrs on 3hrs.
3) Lower the intake of oxygen.
4) Introduce Sae,molly,yamato. I afraid the SAE will out grow in my nanotank and the yamato will bully my CRS...
5) Check water change more often.
6) Nitrate too much cannot be too high.
7) off the light for one week see will the algae turn brown.

Any other points to add on???

Hi, I had this problem previously. But after I added 1x Yamato and a few pieces of Sakura, they were eliminated after 2days.

What are the tankmates for this tank?

Ps my tank is only 1ft

[nasty12]

Bro they look more like BBA instead of Hair algae..
maybe you can try do spot elimination using seachel excel (but it might kill some of your plants)
the bba will turn reddish then white and die off.

[Zhuoyuting]

Over view...

[Zhuoyuting]

Read up on FERT too but too dangerous my mini fissiden not cheap leh...

[Zhuoyuting]

Take from seachem... website..


Tech Support JS
Seachem Employee

Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 184
Re: Flourish Excel and Black Beard Algae
Sorine,

Sorry to hear about your algae troubles! As a company, we do not suggest using Excel in any other fashion or for any other reason than listed on the bottle. Having said that, there have been some users that report great success with problems such as yours when using Excel (even at the recommended dose). Though we do not suggest it, if you do dose for algae problems it is best to gradually increase your dose. Since you have already started at such a high amount (5x the recommended dose), I would not suggest increasing it any more. The problem you can encounter with this or any reducing product is that in cases of overdose you can encounter fish health problems. Like I said, we have heard of positive results using Excel for algae control, but only by users that have done so on their own account and found out their own dosing schedule. I'm sorry I can't recommend anything or give you much more insight than that, but I would not want to recommend anything that could endanger your fish!

[Zhuoyuting]

Using hydrogen peroxyde....

I have a similar problem every once in a while. I have a trick, but I've only used it on small patches as soon as they appear. I would not recomend this if you have lots of algea. AT ALL!!!

Simply get a seringe (with no needle) and some hydrogen peroxyde. For a patch the size of a penny, fill the seringe with 4-5cc of 3% (10 volume) peroxide (the standar stuff you probably already have at home with the band-aids) and put the tip of the seringe directly in the center of the patch of algea and "pump" 0.2-0.3cc into the algea patch, then place the seringe a few milimeters next to the spot you just "injected" and "pump" another 0.2-0.3cc there. Repeat untill you've pretty much "injected" the whole patch with peroxide. You'll see a lot of small bubbles and the next day, the patch of BBA should change colors. After a couple of days, the BBA patch/clump should be gone.

I've done this 3-4 times in the last 3-4 years. It works great and I did not harm my fish. They actually seem to "play" in the small bubbles. Some of the plants right next to the injected spot did "melt" or turn yellow a little, but they recoverd quickly. I've used it next to java moss and rotalas without problems. I've read that some plants are particularly sensitive to H202, so keep that in mind.

Oh yeah, I've also noticed that BBA tends to grow in places where water circulation is low (dead spots in the corners of the tank for example). Increasing the water flow in problem areas (with a small power head for example) may help prevent the BBA from coming back. I've also noticed that high phosphate levels along with low nitrogen levels seem to increase the production of BBA (or was it low phosphate and high nitrogen... I can't remember).

I do not work for Seachem and I'm pretty certain that they do not encourage the use of peroxide to treat low levels of BBA, but it works for me.

[ted_keong]

It should be high phosphate and low nitrogen. You can buy Seachem nitrogen to dose and Seachem product (cannot remember the name. should be phosphate guard to remove phospate. Hope it helps.

Your fissiden is really nice. I just reset my tank w/o gravel.

My recommendation:

Filter
Get those internal filter/submersible pump. You can connect a tube to pump in air while the submersible pump itself increases the air flow to reduce algae issue.

Given your tank size, there is one internal filter which is around 1.8watt, if not wrong should be Boyu brand. suitable for your tank size as it does not increases the water temperature, increases water flow + O2.

Livestock
Get otto, and small Yamato/Sakura. I have yamato+Otto with my CRS once, no issues. When feeding, break the food into smalled pieces and spread within the tank corners so shrimps can move around if Yamato is feeding on the food.

You can try keeping nerite snails as well to as they eat up the particles that start the algae (i forgot what's that name)