Help with Hair Algae!!

[Tedz]

Hi All,

 

Having a hard time trying to get rid of Hair algae from my plants and driftwood. I got a 54 litre tank and it just keeps growing. I got a couple amano shrimps and today bought a couple of nerite snails. But is there anything else i can do to stop it growing/remove it? 

Also cutting down my light to 6 hours per day hoping that helps too! my tank parameters are fine i do weekly changes and tests and have no issues with it

[Sarina]

Flagfish eat hair algae like crazy, and every other kind of algae, too. Females are peaceful, males are aggressive, so make sure you get a female. Look for the black spot on the back of the dorsal fin, males will have a mostly red dorsal with no spot. Hair algae likes to keep coming back, so getting a fish that likes to eat it is incredibly helpful. I have a team of female flagfish that I regularly use to clean up extra stubborn types of algae. They'll even eat staghorn! 

[Streetwise]

If you can keep hair algae attached to a piece of wood, it can be nice in an aquarium.

[HH Morant]

I have a quarantine tank which has a bunch of algae, including hair algae. Algae is good for water quality, but hair algae is aggravating. I remove it every few days by using my planting tweezers. I grab some of the hair algae with the tweezers and twirl the tweezers around, wrapping hair algae around them. It's like harvesting nitrates.

I have a feeling that too much light may be the problem.

[Streetwise]

@HH Morant, I grew a lot with ambient light before I got blackout curtains. I still enjoy keeping just a bit on the wood in my 16 bow. I think my Betta might sleep in it.

[Tedz]

Yeah i dont mind some on the the wood! just the plants i hate lol, bought a smart plug to control the light, i hope it goes well! thanks for you help 🙂

I also have been taking it off with tweezers but its headache lol