Hair algae

[fishcat182]

Hello everyone, this is my first post here and I have a question on my on going battle with hair algae. My current tank is a 16 gallon biocube that I have had running since 2018 and unfortunately got neglected for a bit, but I now have found more time to give it the attention it needs. As for stocking it currently has 5 sterbi Cory's (one of which has been in the tank since its start up and the other 4 are newer), 1 peppered cory (been in the tank a few years), and a betta (been in the tank a few months). For plants I have 2 anubias, some vallisneria (new), and I believe a amazon sword. All the plants have been showing new growth as well. lighting schedule is 2:30pm ramp up, 3pm to 9pm full light, and then 9-10pm is just a moonlight effect. I have also been good with weekly water changes of about 5 gallons for the last few months. I started dosing easy green once a week starting a month ago. Is my problem light related or is it just a bioload issue? Thank you in advance!

[govsfabshop]

I recently had a small outbreak of green hair in a well established tank as well, read that it will thrive off nitrates and phosphates, low and behold my nitrates have started running a tad higher than normal with a little snail issue i have and a few fish growing out in size that i'm getting ready to move. Started upping my water changes in that tank and pulled what i could out and its seemed to stay at bay so far.

[JoeQ]

Following! I am hesitant to admit that this is the one algae which I have not defeated...... Although it never really bothered me, rather it occurred at high points in specific spots. I'm starting to look into high phosphates in my tap water being the cause

[Tanked]

Welcome to the Forum.

My notes are unclear, but  seem to indicate that light reduction was key for eliminating the Hair Algae.   This goes along with regular water changes and spot Hydrogen Peroxide treatments.   Use a test tube/bottle/tooth brush to physically remove as much as possible.

My greatest infestation was in an island of floating Hornwort closest to the light.

[lefty o]

i think you have multiple issues. i would start with eliminating the moonlight , and maybe reduce the regular lighting a tad, but i would also say you need to really up the water changes until you get it under control. manual removal of what you can would be my very first thing though.

[fishcat182]

On 12/27/2023 at 11:58 AM, lefty o said:

i think you have multiple issues. i would start with eliminating the moonlight , and maybe reduce the regular lighting a tad, but i would also say you need to really up the water changes until you get it under control. manual removal of what you can would be my very first thing though.

Thanks for your insight. I was already leaning towards the issue being water change issues. I've been doing 5 gallons every Saturday and the last one I did I measured my nitrates and they where on the high side. I will also look into turning off the moonlight. 

[fishcat182]

On 12/27/2023 at 10:06 AM, govsfabshop said:

I recently had a small outbreak of green hair in a well established tank as well, read that it will thrive off nitrates and phosphates, low and behold my nitrates have started running a tad higher than normal with a little snail issue i have and a few fish growing out in size that i'm getting ready to move. Started upping my water changes in that tank and pulled what i could out and its seemed to stay at bay so far.

From some other replies it looks like upping my water changes is a good start

[JoeQ]

Water change would be a good start but IMO hair/filamentous algaes' main trigger [at least in my case] is from a small imbalance between dependant nutrients nitrates/phosphates, calcium/magnesium or Iron and it's major dependant nutrient.

[JoeQ]

Here is a clearer picture of Mulders Chart which shows nutrient interactions. As you can see it gets pretty confusing as you get further away from Nitrogen (the starting block of plant nutrition)

Edit: Which isn't depicted here, figure the whole circle being Nitrogen and phosphates as being your starting point.

Source; https://www.londongrow.com/blogs/grow-tips/mulders-chart-plant-nutrition-and-interactions

Edited December 29, 2023 by JoeQ