Green Hair Algae!!!!!

[Dougie]

Hi,

I am posting here as a last resort to my issues with ongoing green hair algae.
I have a 30 gallon tank,
fluval LED 25W
Chinese LED off ebay, 25W
EI (mix as per recipe on here) 50ml per day interchanging between macro & micro
C02, pressurised, jbl bubble counter, co2art inline diffuser, on 3 hours before lights on, bright green drop checker at lights on
lights on at 4pm, off at 10pm
filtration is an eheim ecco pro 300, APS 2000lph, and 2 APS WM-2000 for circulation, everything is swirling nicely
I have a full carpet of dwarf hair grass, java moss on all my driftwood, some stem plants at the back to extract excess nutrients.
Also dose liquid co2 at 10ml per day.

GH 4, KH 4, PH 7.9 morning, 6.8 at end of photoperiod. nitrate not so sure... could be a culprit?

My issue is with my moss, I keep getting green hair algae, in abundance, I even went to the extreme the last time of replacing all the moss, only for the problem to return, I have changed to RO to mix my ferts, cleaned all my filter, etc etc.

I recently got rid of it by overdosing liquid co2 but it has now returned and it seems to have developed a resistance to the liquid co2 as it now is not subsiding with overdosing! it is clearly an underlying issue I have with something.
I also do a 50% water change once a week.

I am at my wits end with it and I cannot seem to underpin any issue as to where this is coming from?
Please any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Aqua360]

Hi,

I am posting here as a last resort to my issues with ongoing green hair algae.
I have a 30 gallon tank,
fluval LED 25W
Chinese LED off ebay, 25W
EI (mix as per recipe on here) 50ml per day interchanging between macro & micro
C02, pressurised, jbl bubble counter, co2art inline diffuser, on 3 hours before lights on, bright green drop checker at lights on
lights on at 4pm, off at 10pm
filtration is an eheim ecco pro 300, APS 2000lph, and 2 APS WM-2000 for circulation, everything is swirling nicely
I have a full carpet of dwarf hair grass, java moss on all my driftwood, some stem plants at the back to extract excess nutrients.
Also dose liquid co2 at 10ml per day.

GH 4, KH 4, PH 7.9 morning, 6.8 at end of photoperiod. nitrate not so sure... could be a culprit?

My issue is with my moss, I keep getting green hair algae, in abundance, I even went to the extreme the last time of replacing all the moss, only for the problem to return, I have changed to RO to mix my ferts, cleaned all my filter, etc etc.

I recently got rid of it by overdosing liquid co2 but it has now returned and it seems to have developed a resistance to the liquid co2 as it now is not subsiding with overdosing! it is clearly an underlying issue I have with something.
I also do a 50% water change once a week.

I am at my wits end with it and I cannot seem to underpin any issue as to where this is coming from?
Please any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I'm no expert, but perhaps you have too long a photoperiod? can you confirm how long lights are on?

 

[Dougie]

Lights on at 4pm off at 10pm so 6hours. Not too long I assume?

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[Aqua360]

Lights on at 4pm off at 10pm so 6hours. Not too long I assume?

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I don't know the answer sadly, that doesnt sound like too long a light period to me; but I'll be interested to hear the answer from others on this..

My own photoperiod is 4.5 hours a day, and I also get hair algae that I have to remove every few days manually

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

My issue is with my moss, I keep getting green hair algae, in abundance, I even went to the extreme the last time of replacing all the moss, only for the problem to return, I have changed to RO to mix my ferts, cleaned all my filter, etc etc.

I think most people who have lovely algae free moss carpets have shrimps to tonsure them.

Have a look at <"New tank green algae.....">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Dougie]

On the subject of shrimps, I cannot ever seem to keep them alive any longer than a couple of weeks? Is there an issue with my set up and water parameters above that is causing this?

**Edit**
Ok quick look OK here it seems my neon tetra and Betta may be picking off the shrimp slowly without me noticing! I may look into getting a trade at my LFS for my fish to shrimp and get something like microrasbora instead!

 

[Paulo Soares]

Good morning,
As you haven´t post any photos of the tank i can´t make any judment for shure. Photos are always a pretty good way to make an X-ray of the tank.

If you are really shure that your issue is only related with the moss, the answer with be easy : Lights.

But i don´t believe it. Please do post photos of the tank in general, a general photo to see how the lights are suitable, also macro photos of all plants, also of how you have your´s filter IN and OUT´s .

I´m quite shure that you have more things to solve. Algae is never related to one issue itself.

Is always related with BALANCE.

Compliments.

 

[Easternlethal]

I find that algae grows on moss because moss attracts detritus which rots and produces ammonia.

So try giving them regular trims right down to the bone and frequent brushes to make them super clean.

 

[Dougie]

I find that algae grows on moss because moss attracts detritus which rots and produces ammonia.

So try giving them regular trims right down to the bone and frequent brushes to make them super clean.

I think you may have given me a route to try here.

Have attached some pics to show my set up.

Moss on long shot is brown as it is only 2-3 weeks old and was sent that way, waiting on it recovering.

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[castle]

Is sunlight hitting your tank? The lighting in the last image makes it look like it could be, if so that will definitely cause algae.

 

[Easternlethal]

You can try to re-position your fans to keep a stronger flow over the moss as well in order to keep algae spores from settling.

Right now your current is flowing from left to right which means it's going along the length of your driftwood.

So you can try positioning them at the bank facing forwards. This will cause a torrent to flow down your front glass pane which more evenly distributes the flow to hit your driftwood side on and lift debris up for your intake to suck up.

 

[AndyMcD]

In my tank, the green hair algae on moss is worst in the spots where the light is brightest (close to the top and centre of the tank). I'm trying to move lower light loving plants into shadier spots, as exposing them to too much light seems to make them unhappy and brings on the algae (e.g. Anubias).

I've badly suffered with green hair algae, but I'm beginning to make some progress.

My big issue I think was excess ferts / organics in the water caused by not doing enough water changes early on (ADA Amazonia) and planting & re-planting (melting plants).

I'm starting to make headway now, but haven't beaten it yet. I think the following may have helped:
- floating plants - remove excess ferts / cause shade
- reduce ferts for a while
- increased flow - spray bars across back, pointing to front, shortest path so max flow
- clean up crew - shrimp, ottos and Nerite.

As Darrell has pointed out, green hair algae is quite tough as its needs are very similar to plants, so it is hard to split them.


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[AnhBui]

My big issue I think was excess ferts / organics in the water caused by not doing enough water changes early on (ADA Amazonia) and planting & re-planting (melting plants).
- reduce ferts for a while
- clean up crew - shrimp, ottos and Nerite.

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I agree with Andy. You will need
1. Cleanup crew. Start with four Siamese algea eaters and two ottos
2. Stop using ferts for three weeks
3. Change water every 2 or 3 days. 30%
4. Keeps 6 hour photo-period but should have on 1 hour off in the middle

 

[foxfish]

I rather enjoy removing hair algae, I find it quite satisfying finding a little strand that has intwined amongst the carpet and then extracting it with tweezers!

 

[Aqua360]

I think you may have given me a route to try here.

Have attached some pics to show my set up.

Moss on long shot is brown as it is only 2-3 weeks old and was sent that way, waiting on it recovering.

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awesome tank, loving the carpet and betta

 

[Aqua360]

I rather enjoy removing hair algae, I find it quite satisfying finding a little strand that has intwined amongst the carpet and then extracting it with tweezers!

 

[Dougie]

Love my Betta!! Had him for 4years, big softie. Not the angry fish they are known to be!

I have 8 military helmet snails on hold for pick up today (version of nerite I believe?) So that will start with clean up, I am loathed to try shrimp again. Amano just decided to climb out, cherry's were slowly picked off by Betta and neons. So not for that again as they are expensive!

On the stopping ferts side, I may lower my dosage to half for 2 weeks and see how I get on.
I don't want to stop as I went on holiday last year, left co2 and light period on, but didn't get house sitter to fert the tank (silly I know) and I came back to an unbelievable amount of green hair algae due to this. Also no feeding during that time so that was the reason for that I presume.

No sun light hitting the tank.

I will have a play about with my wavemakers, would you think one high pointing low and one low pointing high?

Thanks for the replies guys.

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[PARAGUAY]

Richard at Aqua Essentials one of our sponsers sent me a factsheet about hair algae and algae in general. Its a case usually a couple of things going on and the aquarists reaction often worsens the problem so in order what he says to do 1 lack of CO2 or unstable CO2 is the biggest cause, a couple of drop checkers tried just above substrate levels in different parts is better indication of this than one looking nice green in one place,2 Excess light. Cutt down intensity cut down photoperiod and or raise lighting 3 Use liquid carbon if compatable with plants,if spot dosing wait at least 10 minutes before refilling 4 Under no circumstances reduce fertiliser it worsens the problem 5 More water changes 2 or 3 times a week at least 5 clean all mulm,dirt detrious on the substrate "every nook and cranny" and finally feel as good as Foxfish by physically removing as much as possible

 

[AndyMcD]

Under no circumstances reduce fertiliser it worsens the problem 5 More water changes 2 or 3 times a week at least

Paraguay, I agree with Richard at Aqua Essentials advice and is what others should follow.

However, in my case, I think the nutrient concentration was too high in my new tank, as I hadn't been doing enough water changes early on (I hoped I had cycled the ADA Amazonia before planting).

I tried increasing the dosing of fertiliser which made the algae outbreak much worse.

Reducing the fertiliser and having floating plants has helped me to reduce the algae.

However, I think I am the other side of the fertiliser sweet spot to Richard's advice. I can imagine if you were running a high light, insufficient CO2 set up with lean fertilisers, reducing fertilisers would be the wrong way to go.

At some point soon I am going to find myself the other side of the sweet and will need to increase the nutrient dosing too.

 

[PARAGUAY]

I think he means suddenly stopping nutrients to plants would worsen the problem making plants less able to compete the hair algae but he says the vast percentage of algae and hair algae are first and formost CO2 related not enough or unstable levels