Hair algae?

[Jeff]

I've been getting clumps of this lately (last 3 - 4 months? or so?...)

Tank info:

10g planted - 50W Cobalt heater - Aqua Clear 30 - GE T8 4100k Florescent - pH 7.4 - Nitrates 80 - Kh 4 - Gh 8 - Eco Complete substrate. Nitrates are obviously high; but they're consistent. And this has just come up recently. 

Tank DOB: 4/9/20

Lights are on for 7 hours per day on a timer.

I dose Easy Green & Flourish Potassium 3x / week; Easy Iron 2x per week. Fish are fed once per day. 

Weekly 20% water changes. 

Livestock: 4 Chili Rasboras, 5 Kubotai Rasboras, 7 Ember Tetras. Anubias Nana Petite, Crypt Wendtii Green, Crypt Parva, Rosette Sword, Bacopa Caroliniana, Anubias Frazeri, Crypt Lutea, Ammania Gracilias, Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus, Dwarf Aquarium Lily

Any ideas why I'm getting this? It looks like HA....is it indeed HA? Will some Amano shrimp do the trick?

 

Edited May 6, 2021 by Jeff

[Alec]

I'm not near as experienced as some are in the fourm, but if you maybe reduce your easy green and flourish that may help. I have a 20g and dose easy green once a week and don't have an issue with algae. 

You may also look into getting some amano or cherry shrimp to help. If you have the space to move it to another tank when it gets older, look into a bristlenose pleco.

 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I have heard good tale about Amanos doing a good job on hair algae but haven't gotten any yet. I had a problem for a bit with hair algae in my 20 gallon and I'm low tech with no ferts (well I put in some root tabs but have decided to stop doing that it gives me more problems than benefits). What helped for me was lowering the intensity of the light- I put a dimmer switch on my light- I could have programmed it but it's more a pain than I care to deal with). I still had my lights on from 8:45 to 6:30 at night and an hour of moonlight. My plants have all been fine and the hair algae went bye bye. 

[TheChosenOne]

I'm not very good with keeping a fert schedule and don't know much about it in general but 3 times a week sounds a bit much to my ears. I barely fert once a week. I'd say generally it's either too much light or too much ferts/nutrients in your water.  You could get shrimp or something to eat it but you'll still have the issue that caused the algae. And just a heads up amanos are great but they will only eat the algae if you aren't feeding them other stuff. If they are getting fish food when you feed everything else (which they will) they won't go after the algae as much.  Better to figure out the issue and have a balance tank in the end.  

Edited May 6, 2021 by TheChosenOne

[Jeff]

12 hours ago, Alec said:

I'm not near as experienced as some are in the fourm, but if you maybe reduce your easy green and flourish that may help. I have a 20g and dose easy green once a week and don't have an issue with algae. 

You may also look into getting some amano or cherry shrimp to help. If you have the space to move it to another tank when it gets older, look into a bristlenose pleco.

 

My plants were having a deficiency; so I had to start dosing Flourish. 

I appreciate the feedback so far. Anyone else? 

 

[Goosedub]

You could also try increasing your light cycle by an hour. It may make things worse, but it may help your plants out-compete the algae. It’s all about balancing nutrients and light, if you are dosing heavily, you may need more light.