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Thread: Fine hair like green stuff on surface of tank?

  1. #1
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    Fine hair like green stuff on surface of tank?

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    Hi,
    I have been running my tank for about 2 weeks and i realise my inner surface of the tank started developing this fine hair like green stuff. Is it hair algae? Its quite fine and i have to shine a torch light on the surface of the tank so that i can see them clearly. Its not very obvious. If it is hair algae is there any remedy to clear it? Thanks in advance if anyone could help me out.

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    Re: Fine hair like green stuff on surface of tank?

    you can add in some algae eaters to clear it off. yamato shrimp, ottos should do the trick. also remember to do a water change too.
    Yecch!

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    Re: Fine hair like green stuff on surface of tank?

    1. Do you use excel?
    2. Is the water flow rate strong enough?
    3. Do you overfeed?

    Now since it is a new tank, it is quite obvious that you might have overfeeding in the first place. Tried to reduce to once a day; sufficient for the fish to finish the food.

    Meantime what can you do? Some use mrt card to scrap off, I use green cloth of clean it off; then make sure my filter goes for a real thorough wash before I put back into the tank. You can off lights for a few days till the algae is gone but this is just a temporary solution. You still have to address your habits of maint. and look for that balance between light, plant nutrient, etc. Seachem excel allows the plant to take in CO2 better, once you do that, the plant wins, the competing algae will lose and that's it.

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    Re: Fine hair like green stuff on surface of tank?

    Quote Originally Posted by Blue Whale View Post
    1. Do you use excel?
    2. Is the water flow rate strong enough?
    3. Do you overfeed?

    Now since it is a new tank, it is quite obvious that you might have overfeeding in the first place. Tried to reduce to once a day; sufficient for the fish to finish the food.

    Meantime what can you do? Some use mrt card to scrap off, I use green cloth of clean it off; then make sure my filter goes for a real thorough wash before I put back into the tank. You can off lights for a few days till the algae is gone but this is just a temporary solution. You still have to address your habits of maint. and look for that balance between light, plant nutrient, etc. Seachem excel allows the plant to take in CO2 better, once you do that, the plant wins, the competing algae will lose and that's it.
    1. I do have excel but only dose 1 ml a day to my 2ft tank
    2. Using Eheim Ecco Pro 2032 (Output 500 l/h)
    3. 2 CrustaTabs per day (feeding 24 cherry shrimps)

    I have CO2 running as well at 1 bps, on for 8 hrs together with my 2 X 24W T5 lights. Will try and do manual cleaning in the meantime. I have 4 ottos in my tank. Should i add more? Since shrimps don't really eat the algae on the surface of the tank right?

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    Re: Fine hair like green stuff on surface of tank?

    you can try lower you lighting period or split it.
    I have the same problem too, managed to control them by splitting lighting period.
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    Re: Fine hair like green stuff on surface of tank?

    Excel might have to increase a bit. Half a cap for 2ft.
    Look at the flow, if you can't tell, when you dose Ocean Free Blue Med, if you don't have one, its about $1 per bottle to prevent white spot; you can see the color flowing around the tank, can use like color dye.
    Make sure the food is finished.
    CO2 does not seem sufficient , might want to increase the sugar saturation and yeast powder. But take note, because yours is shrimp tank, too much CO2 can kill them also. Light is okay.

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    Re: Fine hair like green stuff on surface of tank?

    Thanks for the advices, got more otos to help clean the tank up and did some cleaning up too. Will increase the excel dosage. I did not know water flow would lead to algae problems. So what is counted as good water flow in the tank? Any articles i can read up on? Thanks

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    Re: Fine hair like green stuff on surface of tank?

    Actually not that easy.

    Flow rate just make sure the extra stuffs get picked up along the way by the filter or the water skimmer (if any). That is why I still recommend you to clean your filter. One tell tale sign is the color of the water. Supposed you do not do anything to the different layers, and put one side, minimum thing is to clear off the canister (with your hand) by pouring away the water slowly. Why?! Won't that be dirty water you ask. Well, along the way some fish/shrimp get sucked by the filter will end up there. Those surviving ones can still be save if you find them early. So have small pail/cup/tank of water standby when you clean your filter. If you cannot use hand, use a small net.

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    Re: Fine hair like green stuff on surface of tank?

    Thanks for the advices, will try and do more maintenance on the tank. Keeping a planted tank is not that simple after all. Haha

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