# Hair algae



## Jimmy (1 Oct 2020)

Hello, I’m having a real issue with hair algae sometimes, it disappeared a couple of weeks ago but now there’s a reappearance.
It’s a heavily planted tank, but all slow growers. The water tests are all good.
It’s 57litres, I religiously water change every week and clean the filter out too, only rinsing the sponges in old tank water by the way.
I use Easy ProFito once a week and use one of those disposable co2 canisters every day but only small amounts.
I’m in Bristol so the tap water is hard with a ph of 7.47
Do you think I’m putting too many nutrients in the water?


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## Mr.Shenanagins (1 Oct 2020)

Jimmy said:


> I use Easy ProFito once a week and use one of those disposable co2 canisters every day but only small amounts.


What do you mean by a small amount? Unstable CO2 will definitely cause problems, so it’s best to either inject it steadily on a daily basis or don’t use it at all. Ferts aren’t causing your algae, poor plant growth encourages algae. Even if you didn’t dose, algae would persist.


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## Jimmy (1 Oct 2020)

Okay thank you, il get the CO2 under control, do you think adding co2 would be essential the tank has crypt wendtii, crypt parva, crypt balanse, crypt willisi, Java fern narrow and standard, Anubis nana and java and weeping moss and it’s 11w light


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## sparkyweasel (1 Oct 2020)

Jimmy said:


> Do you think I’m putting too many nutrients in the water?


Not enough is more likely; Profito calls itself a complete plant food, but it does not contain nitrate or phosphate, both of which your plants need. 
And, as @Mr.Shenanagins says, if you inject CO2, it needs to be stable and consistent. 
The plants you have named will grow fine without injecting CO2, just more slowly.
It might help if you add some fast-growing plants, maybe stem plants; if you don't want to keep them long-term, you can gradually remove them when the tank settles in. Floating plants are good for that too.


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## Mr.Shenanagins (1 Oct 2020)

Agreed, the downside to having a tank full of all slow growing plants is their tendency to get overrun by algae if things aren’t perfect. Even floating plants in the beginning would be a helpful deterrent. I’d keep the light period at a minimum early on, like 4 hours and increase after a couple weeks if you don’t see algae and you notice some growth.


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## PARAGUAY (4 Oct 2020)

Just to add make sure your flow is going all around the aquarium when you sort out the CO2 . Moving the drop checker around a little bit will give you a indication


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## ceg4048 (6 Oct 2020)

Jimmy said:


> Do you think I’m putting too many nutrients in the water?


Hello,
          Too many nutrients do not cause algae. On the other hand, not enough nutrients causes algae. 

Hair algae is always caused by not enough CO2, so you need to address either the amount being injected, the timing of the injection and, as noted by paraguay, you'll need to ensure that distribution of your filter flow is even and effective. 

You may also need to reduce the amount of light being used as the more light used causes a demand for more CO2.

Cheers,


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