# Hair algae on plants!



## DD1880 (21 Jul 2019)

ok so I got these red root floaters and have upgraded my light and now dose Nilocg thrive3 pumps twice a week for my 29 gallon! They are growing well even though they aren’t red and the roots aren’t red which I got them for that reason haha! I raised the Chihiros rgb 60 to 50% the other day and now I noticed now there’s this hairy algae on the java fern leaves and a little on my anubis! I don’t use co2 or dose carbon! Any way to get rid of this and still get the red roots I want? Help please cause I even saw a flower on my red roots today and would like to get the red roots and maybe redder tops instead of the flat green I have now! Thanks


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## Zeus. (21 Jul 2019)

Amanos , I dont have them in my 50l pot scape  just RCS and I do get the hair aglae on a few plants every so often so I pop the plant in the post my my main tank which has about 50 amanos 24 hrs later no hair algae


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## DD1880 (21 Jul 2019)

So the red cherry shrimp won’t eat it? Cause I kinda was thinking about getting them! Or would dosing excel get rid of the hair algae if I didn’t want to add shrimp?


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## Zeus. (21 Jul 2019)

RCS are great IMO and they multiply free ( wish I had added them sooner than I did , but they dont eat the hair algae in my tank.  Amanos are better but bigger but if you dont want shrimp 



DD1880 said:


> now dose Nilocg thrive3



Doesnt contain Nitrate or Phosphate so where are your plants getting them from ?



DD1880 said:


> would dosing excel get rid of the hair algae



Use for better plant grow not for algae treatment IMO if your plants are healthy and growing algae isnt an issue, LCO2 is a mild anti algae treatment Yes but it  aids plant grow mainly


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## jkh13 (21 Jul 2019)

Your images don't show the algae but I'm assuming it's BBA? If it's on anubis, this is usually due to lack of flow, some nutrients imbalance and/or too much light. 

How much flow have you got? Also you might want to switch to something that contains the full package of nutrients like TNC complete. Would also recommend easycarbo or excel to help. Finally (true) Siamese algae eaters will eat BBA, amano shrimp sometime can but in my experience they rarely eat it. I would try fix the root of the issue rather than introduce livestock to fix the issue though, if you don't fix the flow and nutrients issue it will come back.


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## DD1880 (22 Jul 2019)

I have a aqueon power 30 that I believe has 300 gallons per hour flow! It’s decent but not the fanciest filter! I did just upgrade my light from fluorescent to Chihiros rgb 60. I had it set at 38% for a while but wanted to turn it up to 50% to get the red root floaters to turn red or at least the roots! I’m guessing that’s what started it but now getting rid of it is the issue! I would like to crank the light up eventually and don’t want to use co2. I think the hair algae is green cause when I pulled some off it looked green and not black! Thanks for all he help and info! I just want no hair algae and red roots with maybe red tops or close to! Really like that look!


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## DD1880 (22 Jul 2019)

I like shrimp and wouldn’t mind getting some! Just didn’t want to add more problems to a tank  that’s been disease free since the beginning haha! But I do like the thought of cherry shrimp! Is cleaning the tank a pain with them? Like siphoning the gravel?


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## tam (22 Jul 2019)

You need to balance the coverage of your floaters with the brightness of your lights. If you are seeing the first hints of algae, turn the lights down a bit and wait until the floaters multiply a bit more then turn them back up again.


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## Zeus. (22 Jul 2019)

DD1880 said:


> But I do like the thought of cherry shrimp! Is cleaning the tank a pain with them? Like siphoning the gravel?



 well you will lose a few of the very small ones that you cant see OFC, Plus when you clean the filter the RCS are in there too


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## DD1880 (22 Jul 2019)

Ok thanks everyone! Yeah I had the light set at 50% from 1230-1130 for a couple days with a 1 hour ramp up and down time! Now I have it set at 200-1130 at 35% with the hour ramp up and down time! I think the hair algae stopped growing but I had some film like algae all over the glass I had to scrape off last night haha! Can’t win! Can’t wait to find this balance cause it’s real fun cleaning the tank with all the floaters in the way haha! Anyone one have a technic that makes cleaning a tank with floating plants easy without having them stuck to your arm and pushing them down?


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## DD1880 (22 Jul 2019)

Oh and I tested the nitrates last night and they are 0!


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## tam (22 Jul 2019)

DD1880 said:


> Anyone one have a technic that makes cleaning a tank with floating plants easy without having them stuck to your arm and pushing them down?



Scoop them out and stick them in a bucket whilst you poke about in the tank. That's the only downside with floaters lol


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## sparkyweasel (22 Jul 2019)

DD1880 said:


> Oh and I tested the nitrates last night and they are 0!


That's likely to be your problem. I don't know 'Nilocg thrive3', but clicking it in your first post links to Profito. Is that what you're using? There's no nitrate in that, but your plants will need some for healthy growth, to get good colour and outcompete algae. A complete fertiliser would be better.


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## DD1880 (22 Jul 2019)

Good idea! Would messing with them that much damage them eventually? I believe the first thing in Nilocg thrive is nitrogen 2.56%! It says it’s a complete fert with micro and macros but I’m new to this fert game!


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## sparkyweasel (22 Jul 2019)

You need to increase the dose then, if there's no NO3 in the water the plants must be using it faster than you're putting it in.
I guess we don't get Nilocg thrive over here, the link you posted redirects to what Amazon thinks is a similar product on Amazon UK. Their idea of similar can be quite strange sometimes, lol.


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## sparkyweasel (23 Jul 2019)

Found some info on Nilocg thrive.
Their website says;
1 pump(2ml) per 10g will add 6ppm NO3, 1.11ppm PO4, 4.3ppm K, and 0.23ppm Fe.
You're dosing 1 pump per 10gal twice a week, so
 will add 12ppm NO3, 2.22ppm PO4, 8.6ppm K, and 0.46ppm Fe.
The usual starting point for EI is
Nitrate (NO3) 20ppm per week
Potassium (K) 30ppm per week
Phosphate (PO4) 3ppm per week
Magnesium (Mg) 10ppm per week
Iron (Fe) 0.5ppm per week.
So if you increase to three times a week you will get very close to EI dosing for NO3 and PO4. Maybe still lacking in K, but I would try it and see if things improve as it would be simple to do. Only worry about potassium if you still have problems.
hth


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## DD1880 (23 Jul 2019)

Thank you so much! That sounds good! I always thought if you over dose or I was over dosing and that’s why I was getting algae on the glass and the hair algae! I have the light at 35% now! Should I raise the light back up to 50% when I dose three times a week now? When I raised the light to 50% power is when the algae started! Really appreciate the help!


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## DD1880 (23 Jul 2019)

I have a 29 gallon btw.


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## sparkyweasel (23 Jul 2019)

Generally I like to change one thing at a time, so I would leave the lights as they are for now, unless some-one more familiar with the Chihiros light suggests otherwise. Then after a couple of weeks of increased ferts you could increase the light (in small increments if possible). Or sooner if your plants start to look like they really need a bit more light.


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## DD1880 (23 Jul 2019)

Ok thanks for the help! Just really want these floaters to look their best! Also there’s this oily film that keeps showing up on the waters surface between the floaters! Not liking the look and it only goes away when I move the floaters around so some water flow at the surface agitates it! Is this just normal for having floating plants covering the surface since they restrict movement of the surface of the water? Don’t know if you can see it in this pic?


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## sparkyweasel (23 Jul 2019)

Try the forum search box, I'm pretty sure there are a few threads about oily film and surface scum, different causes and what to do.


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## DD1880 (23 Jul 2019)

Thanks


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## DD1880 (30 Jul 2019)

Would dosing the Nilocg thrive 3 times a week and adding seachem iron be to much for this low tech tank? I really want the red to come out in the red root floaters. My lfs that I got them from doses iron and a all in one fert. They have really red leaves! I was thinking of picking up some iron today.


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## tam (30 Jul 2019)

Put some in a container on your window sill in tank water - if they turn red it's not enough light, if they don't you know it's something missing in your water.


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## DD1880 (30 Jul 2019)

Thanks I’ll try that!


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## DD1880 (14 Sep 2019)

BAILIYAT said:


> Haven't tried one, but I definitely need to own one. Always wanted an original (and to record my own tapes), but this looks like a nice tight package and it sounds beautiful in the demos.


Haha I’m sorry but haven’t tried what?


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