Black Hair Algae

[JazzBora150Participant]

ive black hair algae starting to nuisance my tank

it came on rocks i got for the tank now its on my plants

i read somewhere that a dip in bleach can sort the plants out with a good rinsing afterwards

but that sounds a bit dodgy to me tbh

can i buy something to irradicate it

ancistrus wont eat it

i want it gone before i cross to my new tank in the next couple of months

i also read that blacking out the tank for 72 hours should sort it

[MaltiParticipant]

the only thing I know which eats that algae and not the plants is Caridina japonica – angels, apple snails, siamese algae eater all may eat it … but not always and some might damage plants.

actually limiting light to 6 hours daily instead of total blackout, is good aswell … and you could always add moss balls, as they’ll take the nutrients of the algae and compete directly with them.

ps bleach works aswell but can be dangerous

[JazzBora150Participant]

should i stop using the plant food to take out the nutrients so there less to go round or will the plants suffer

[MaltiParticipant]

for a few days I guess the plants won’t suffer much, would actually help with cleaning off the BHAlgae

[MattKeymaster]

Some Crossocheilus spp. are supposed to eat it too though I’m not suggesting that as a solution given your tank is new.

[BluedaveParticipant]

yeah, crossocheilus will eat it.

Thats doesn’t solve the problem though. Strong plant growth will out grow the algae so a decent amount of plants with a bit of light and nutrients will eventually win out. Fast growing stem plants are best – limnophilia, hygophilia, egeria densa all good.

If it’s pretty bad then a black out for a couple of days may help if you add some quick growing plants afterwards. The problem with a black out is that it affect the plants to – algae can get by with little amounts of light – plants need a good block of it so I would do this as a worst case.

The bleach thing does work just make sure you dilute it in about 20 parts water and thouroughly wash afterwards.

As yours is a new tank there’s plenty of nutrients knocking about generally, ammonia is said to be one cause whichs means new tanks are prone to algae outbreaks.

I would add some fast growing stem plants, continue to feed (although don’t overfeed) and the algae is likely to clear up in a few weeks (patience!).

Whats your flow like – a good flow ensuring CO2 is spread around the tank helps, you often find algae growing in dead spots.

If the algae continues to get worse over the next couple of weeks after you’ve done the above then you can look at drastic action!

[JazzBora150Participant]

the hair algae has sort of gone
it still grows but really short now
maybe its a different algae the lights have been cut to 6 hours and have been since suggested
i will be changing my tank in the future although im not concerned now
but im tryin to learn how to conquer the issue
ill probably put all new plants in new tank when i get round to it

as to the flow in tank im not aware of any dead spot as i done a milk test when i set up the tank before any fish were added

[poshsouthernbirdParticipant]

With the caveat that algae really isn’t something I’m that expert on and thus I hesitate to post but what the heck … is it more sort of short, stubby, fluffy black algae or do you mean it’s a black version of green hair algae that grows quite long and wafts about winding itself round things? If it’s the short, stubby, fluffy version it sounds the same as the stuff I get which grows all over my bogwood, not so much the plants but it covers the wood and a few other surfacess. I have quite high phosphates in my tapwater which seems to contribute – have you checked your phosphate reading in tap water and tank water? My Malaysian trumpet snails eat mine, not so much off the plants but they do a good job on the wood and other surfaces.

HTH

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