# Hair Algae



## lowee (27 Oct 2011)

I have now had my tank set up for about a month, how ever I am currently struggling with a slight outbreak of hair algae. Now i know that this tends to be associated with lack of flow/Co2 issues, how ever the vast majority of the algae im getting is on the moss, which is directly infront of the filter spray bar (using an inline co2 reactor) so I cant see that being the issue!

Photoperiod is about 10 hours, have reduced that to 6 now.
Dosing EI according to the thread on it.






Anyone have any idea what might be causing this?

Thanks


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## Emyr (27 Oct 2011)

10 hours was way to much so good that you have reduced it. 8 hours is a generally ideal period. I had this problem a while back on my moss. I tested my nitrates and phosphates and they were to high, reduced them. did 50% water changes every week. dose seachem excel twice a week. and remove it all manually as soon as you see any, anywhere in the tank. Clean your whole filter. Some algae in a tank is normal, especially in a new tank where the levels are fluctuated slightly and so algae grows and loves that. You just need to control it by keeping levels at a constant such as the co2 as best you can and keeping everything clean. Direct Sunlight on a tank can also cause algae. It should go away after a while.


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## ceg4048 (28 Oct 2011)

Hair algae has absolutely nothing to do with high NO3 or high PO4. Hair algae is strictly associated with poor CO2. my tanks always have super high NO3 and PO4 and they never get hair algae - until something goes wrong with my CO2.

Just because you are adding CO2 it does not mean that you are adding enough. Do not fall off the wagon. Do not look for other reasons. Only try to realize the truth. Moss is a low light plant, so when you pummel it with high light it suffers more than other plants if the CO2 is not excellent. Therefore the moss is telling you that it is suffering too much light and not enough CO2. You think your CO2 is good but your moss disagrees. At the end of the day it doesn't matter what you think, it only matters what your moss thinks.

Step number 1 is to reduce you lighting intensity significantly by 50% if possible. This will reduce the environmental pressures on the moss.

You also need to increase your CO2 levels without killing your fish. If this cannot be accomplished by gas injection rate increase then you need to add more liquid carbon and this has to be done daily, not once or twice a week. The liquid carbon is hostile to CO2 related algae and at the same time it delivers CO2 to the plant. You can use the bottle recommended daily dosage or you can multiply that by 2X or 3X assuming that you don't have plants that respond poorly to liquid carbon such as Riccia or liverworts/bladderworts or assuming that you don't have fauna that are sensitive to liquid carbon such as some shrimp.

Increase you number of water changes per week for a few weeks if this is possible.

As you lower the growth demand via reduction of the light intensity, and at the same time improve the available CO2, you'll find that the mosses and other plants will respond positively and will grow faster. The hair algae will subside. Use a toothbrush in a spiral motion to remove as much of the hair as you can.

Cheers,


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## Aqua sobriquet (6 Jul 2012)

Until things stabilise you might like consider this:

http://www.gpodio.com/h2o2.asp


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## Iain Sutherland (6 Jul 2012)

also bare in mind that as the moss is directly in front of the spraybar the co2 may be traveling too fast and become unavailable to the moss.  If the rest of the tank is clean then maybe reconsider the position of the effected moss along with everything clive has said.


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## ceg4048 (6 Jul 2012)

Aqua sobriquet said:
			
		

> Until things stabilise you might like consider this:
> 
> http://www.gpodio.com/h2o2.asp


But also consider that Hydrogen Peroxide also damages the plants. Liquid carbon is a much better solution to BBA.

Cheers,


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## Aqua Essentials (6 Jul 2012)

Hi Clive

May I quote some of your words re. hair algae. I wanted to write a blog post and your words sum it up perfectly

Richard 



			
				ceg4048 said:
			
		

> Hair algae has absolutely nothing to do with high NO3 or high PO4. Hair algae is strictly associated with poor CO2. my tanks always have super high NO3 and PO4 and they never get hair algae - until something goes wrong with my CO2.
> 
> Just because you are adding CO2 it does not mean that you are adding enough. Do not fall off the wagon. Do not look for other reasons. Only try to realize the truth. Moss is a low light plant, so when you pummel it with high light it suffers more than other plants if the CO2 is not excellent. Therefore the moss is telling you that it is suffering too much light and not enough CO2. You think your CO2 is good but your moss disagrees. At the end of the day it doesn't matter what you think, it only matters what your moss thinks.
> 
> ...


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## ceg4048 (6 Jul 2012)

Hi Richard,
                 Yeah mate, no worries. If you need to edit some words go ahead, but do try to make it look like I'm a nice guy, and that I'm not bashing someones head in, yet again, for blaming their problems on goofy NO3/PO4 test kit readings, allright mate?

Cheers,


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