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Remove algae or not?

S

Sacul

Member
Joined
10 Dec 2020
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89
Location
Devon
Hi guys
I've got a high tech 20l tank. It's a fairly new tank, maybe 2 months now. I've been through the diatoms phase which has cleared nicely but I've now had a big outbreak of hair algae. The problem is it seems to be attached to my monte carlo. Will it clear on its own or should I attempt to remove it?
Thank you
 

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Sacul said:
Hi guys
I've got a high tech 20l tank. It's a fairly new tank, maybe 2 months now. I've been through the diatoms phase which has cleared nicely but I've now had a big outbreak of hair algae. The problem is it seems to be attached to my monte carlo. Will it clear on its own or should I attempt to remove it?
Thank you
Click to expand...

Well, your tanks is still maturing. However before it grows further you can remove it. The best luck I've had with removing hair algae intertwined in plants is take an old toothbrush and stick the head of it into the hair algae and twirl it - the hair algae will get caught in the bristles - be careful you don't accidently damage the plants.

Cheers,
Michael
 
Thank you for the response. The only thing that worries me is uprooting the monte carlo if I start twirling. It's the first time I've actually had success with monte carlo growing and spreading so I'm a bit worried about going near it or looking at it wrong for that matter 🤣
 
Sooo I tried to trim the monte carlo and cleared out as much of the hair algae as I could along with a 50% water change. That was on Sunday, today it seems to be worse.
It's a 20l tank
Chihiros A series 8 hours a day 50%
Co2 on 1 hour before light and off 1 hour before light off
EI dosing
Plant growth seems to be really good..... so does the hair algae!
What can I try next?
 
Sacul said:
Sooo I tried to trim the monte carlo and cleared out as much of the hair algae as I could along with a 50% water change. That was on Sunday, today it seems to be worse.
It's a 20l tank
Chihiros A series 8 hours a day 50%
Co2 on 1 hour before light and off 1 hour before light off
EI dosing
Plant growth seems to be really good..... so does the hair algae!
What can I try next?
Click to expand...

I think you might just have to keep doing the hair algae removal before the WCs and see if you can eventually get it to recede - which should be manageable given the small (20L) size of the tank. As mentioned above, your tank is still maturing. You could try and lower the light intensity a bit (or add some floating plants) and perhaps intensify the WCs - your substrate is probably still leaching a bunch of nutrients (?). Do you have adequate flow in your tank?

Cheers,
Michael
 
I'm using oase scaperline soil so could be. It has around 200lph and visually everything seems to be swaying in the flow. Should I lower light intensity as a temporary measure until I'm on top of the algae then raise it again slowly?
 
Sacul said:
I'm using oase scaperline soil so could be.
Click to expand...
I am not familiar with the soil... but if you're having elevated levels of ammonia leaching out from the soil, its very likely that you don't have enough plant mass to quell the algae. Just a guess. You could throw in some fast growing stems to tip the balance a bit.

Sacul said:
It has around 200lph and visually everything seems to be swaying in the flow.
Click to expand...
All right. Sounds good.

Sacul said:
Should I lower light intensity as a temporary measure until I'm on top of the algae then raise it again slowly?
Click to expand...
Yes, temporarily to see how things progress. Monte Carlo generally likes a lot of light, so don't lower it too much.

Cheers,
Michael
 
This is the tank at the moment, would you say I still need more plant?
20230620_195350~2.jpg
 
Sacul said:
This is the tank at the moment, would you say I still need more plant?
View attachment 207057
Click to expand...

Yes, you could throw in more fast growing stems to suck up nutrients. Specifically in the left and right side areas of the tank. Other than the pesky hair algae you got some good growth there. You don't seem to have any plants attached to that root in there in the middle so you might want to carefully take it out (without disturbing the substrate much) and give it a good scrub if possible. Also make sure you keep the interior glass surfaces, tech etc. clean from algae and dirt... any dirt build up are stomping grounds for algae. I see some GSA on the Anubias there in the back as well. Good that you have some snails, they will help clean up the algae, but you could probably add more Nerite snails - they are very efficient at cleaning up hair algae and you can give back the Nerite snail to the LFS if you get too many and they run out of food sources.

I am curious about how you regulate and monitor your CO2... I don't see a drop checker in there? Also, have you done a pH profile? I am not a CO2 user myself, but those are the main things the CO2 experts around here will ask you about when they find their way to this thread.

What sort of water are you using? Straight tap, RO or mix?

What is your water temperature? and is it stable?

Cheers,
Michael
 
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I had a drop checker in to start with to get somewhere near where I needed to be but I just check my ph to a 1 ph drop and monitor it regularly with a ph checker.

As for water changes I just use tap water.
Water temp is 24 and seems stable

The anubius came from a different tank and already had the GSA on it. I probably should have cleaned it first before putting it in.

I know alot of it is my own silly mistakes and being in a hurry to get it all setup
 
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I wouldn’t be too harsh on yourself. I don’t think you have made silly mistakes by the looks of things. It looks like you have already received some very good advice that should help you with your issues. Just to share with my own similar experience that I recently shared on this forum (and received great advice). In the end I am certain my problem was linked to the piece of wood I had used. Once the wood was removed the algae cleared within a few weeks without any other changes. Of course, this may not be the cause of your issue but if you are removing the wood to scrub anyway it may be worth soaking it in fresh water and testing next day for ammonia just to eliminate it as a potential root cause.
 
I think I'll keep at it, I'll give it a scrub and water change tonight and try to keep on top of it and hope it settles. Thanks guys
 
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