jackh

i got a problem with hair algea in my tank. right now i dont have any cherries but i was gonna get 15 in like a week. i was gonna to a big water change tomorrow and drop in some algeafix to kill the algea. i was gonna keep up the algeafix till i had the algea under control, do a couple more water changes and then get my shrimp bc your not supposed to use the algeafix with shrimp. if any algea starts to come back will my cherrys eat it or do i need to get a couple amano and/or otos? thanks

Asgard

I've cherries, but mine don't eat hair algea. As far as I know no creature will (in amounts large enough to get rid of the problem).
Getting your nutrients balance right (redfield ratio) is the key to your problem, as is weekly water changes of 10%-20%. My experience: Algeafix will kill your shrimps and damage 'real' waterplants , valisneria, eleodensa e.g.

rich_one

well, florida flag fish do a great job on hair algae... of course, they may do a nice job on the shrimp as well. I thought amanoes ate hair algae?

jackh

what do you mean it will damage "real" water plants? the bottle says it will not harm plants or fish?

rich one- thats what i thought to ive been told before that amanos ate hair algea

MatPat

Most algecides work on plants and algae...killing both. If you have luck with a specific algeacide make sure to start a thread on it and let people know. I believe algaecides work by somehow inhibiting photosynthesis. Maybe this one is somehow different.

I have seen Amanos eat hair algae but be prepared to put a lot of them in the tank. In my experience, I have needed 1-2 Amanos per gallon of tank to get rid of hair algae...not a very economical solution.

The best method for removing most filementious types of algae are manual removal...get in there with a toothbrush and remove as much as you can. Give the plants what they need to grow well and you won't have to worry about algae much, if at all. As Asgard stated, keeping your fertilizers in excess of plant needs, is the best method of keeping algae out of your tank. Providing enough CO2, as well as NO3 and PO4 for your light level (though ratios generally don't matter much in my opinion) are the best algae preventative.

jackh

well crap now im nervous that the stuff i bought will kill my plants. i dont fertilize should i start to keep algea levels down?

Tex Gal

You can use excell to kill the algae. I use it in my cherry tank. I use it at the daily dose NOT the initial dose. I even have a couple of CRS in there. Eveyone it fine. I have babies all over the tank. I use a medicine dropper and squirt it right on the algae. (I ran out of DIY CO2 ) I do it once a day at a different spot. It has worked great.

Once the algae is dead the snails will eat it. So will ottos. I've even seen the shrimp pick at it, though they may be cleaning things around it for all I know. Ottos won't eat your shrimp.

About fertilizing - something is out of balance. For me it was high light but no CO2. I dose ferts. You have to have enough of everything in balance. Ferts/light/CO2 You need to think about what is missing in that formula in your tank.

MatPat

jackh,

How about a little more info on your tank like light levels and tank size for starters. Plants need to be fed just like fish and light and CO2 are the main drivers for how much they need fed. If you are not fertilizing, that is probably why you have algae

jackh

-24in long x 16.5 in tall x 12 in wide
-i have and aqualight deluxe double strip 2x36 watts. one of the bulbs is actinic and the others 10,000k but i never turn on the blue one bc ive read it promotes algea growth. lights on for a little over 12 hrs a day
-no co2

MatPat

Cool, so you have a 20g tank with 36 watts of CF lighting and a 12 hour photoperiod...now we are getting somewhere

For starters, I think you are leaving your lights on too long. Most plants do fine on 8-10 hours of light per day. Also, in my opinion, you are probably on the verge of needing CO2 or an alternative carbon source (Excel or Glutraldehyde). I'm not very familiar with your light setup but 36w of CF lighting can get a good amount of light into your tank, depending on the quality of the reflectors.

Do you have a lot of fish in the tank or do you overfeed? Since you are not adding any fertilizers, fish waste and food are the only source of fertilizer for your plants. If the plants don't get enough "food" they stop growing. When the plants stop growing, algae starts.

Also, fertilizer will not reduce the algae once it is present in the tank. It will do a lot to prevent it from forming but won't eliminate it. Algae use the fertilizers just like plants do. You will need to get in the tank and manually remove all of the algae you can. For filamentous algae (Hair, Thread, etc) a toothbrush works great. Once you have as much algae removed as you can, you can overdose with Excel (See the thread in the sticky section at the top of the Algae Forum) to help eliminate the rest of the algae. Make sure to read that thread as there is a lot of info on plants, fish, and shrimp that can be sensitive to Excel overdosage.