Hair Algae

[wasabi8888]

Hi

My tank seems to have hair algae at my fissiden moss and at the gravel where my hair grass is.

I know I have to manually remove hair algae. But what is needed to prevent it from coming back? Someone told me to dose Potassium which I did with A1 Denn fert but it's still coming back.

Tank Specs

1. 2 ft tank
2. CO2 at 3bps
3. T5HO 48W Both 10,000K
4. Fertilizer Regime Denn ferts
V30/E15 every 2 weeks alternate
PG7,TR7 and S7 everyweek according to dosage
A1 daily 2 drops.
5. Flora: Stem plants, US fissiden on 3 DW, hairgrass and cryptos
6. Fauna: Male Apistogrammas, yamotos, Otos

Peter did mentioned that hair algae is a higher form of algae which exists in high light/Co2 tank. Also, he did say that adequate dosage of nutrients should prevent it from coming back. But I do not seem to achieve this. One thing I guess may be is that, my tank is not 100% filled with plants. The stem plants occupy maybe 25% of the gravel, hair grass another 25%. the rest is the DW and cryptos (quite sparse)...

THe other thing i thought possible is the 10,000K T5 that i am using. Is that too bright?

Can anyone help?

[PeterGwee]

Did you pick the plants clean to start with again? The moss can be taken out and only those that are not infected can be return to the tank as does doing a good hair-cut and combing of the hairgrass. As with all forms of algae, once induced, they will hang on in the tank for dear life unless you pick on them. I'm not sure if Dennerle ferts are enough since they are based in europe and that the tap water in europe tend to have high NO3 and PO4.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[Ah_ZhaN]

Since your fauna choices are male Apistogrammas, yamotos and Otos, you can introduce 1 young SAE to clear your hair algae.

[wasabi8888]

Ah Zhan

I do have an sAE not it's not young... quite a big one....

Peter, how do you comb the hair grass? is that the same as trimming the tips of the grass on a regular basis?

[blackBRUSHalgae]

Ah Zhan

I do have an sAE not it's not young... quite a big one....

Peter, how do you comb the hair grass? is that the same as trimming the tips of the grass on a regular basis?

Is the hair algae consists of individual strains of 2~3mm tiny green hair? If it is, it means your tank is very healthy. You can easily get rid of them by employing young SAEs. They are the best fishes for these algaes.