[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: hair algae
Jeff Vamos asked about hair algae and getting rid of it. I had awesome hair
algae
(http://communities.msn.com/rsfish/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=28)
and changed 3 things pretty much simulateously, so I am not sure which one
did the trick:
1. 4 day blackout. Do a big water change & manually romove all you can. Turn
off the CO2, put a thick blanket over the tank, and leave it there for 4
days. This will not harm most plants, although some may get leggy, and
healthy fish (not fry, obviously) are fine on a 4 day fast as well. The hair
algae was completely gone when I took the blanket off.
2. Added 5 Jordanella floridae, Florida Flagfish (FFF). They have since all
died except 1, and he beat the other 4 to death. I have also seen them
mowing my ambulia, so I'm not sure I'd get them again. I now have 5 SAEs
instead.
3. Started adding K. I currently add it in lots of different forms - KNO3,
K2SO4, KH2PO4, and Seachem's equilibrium, so I can't tell you exactly how
much I am adding.
After these three changes I have never had hair algae again.
The other thing is that your tank is very new, and I am starting to think
that for us newbies, there is an algae cycle in new tanks while they mature
& stabilize. Old pros know how to balance plants, light, CO2, and nutrients
from the start in new tanks and don't go through this, but for newbies it's
different. My own tank went through the following cycle: green water (did a
blackout, then I started adding N), hair algae (did a blackout, then I
started adding K & FFF/SAE), a brown "cotton candy" like algae on the plants
(did a blackout, then I started adding a general fertilizer - seachem's
Flourish - and iron and P), then brown algae on the gravel & on the glass
near the bottom (this seems to have cleared up on its own over time), and
now I am fighting icky green dust algae which coats the glass in a matter of
days and went away when I did the blackout but came right back.
I hope this helps. Can an old pro comment on how long it takes an average
tank to mature and stabilize for newbies?
-Rachel
_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx