hair algae

what are some of the ways that everyone has removed hair algae? I got everything adjusted and pretty much rid the glass of the regular types of algae that grow and always had the hair but it was just enough to pull off. After changing my lights and getting timers for them and pretty much curing the green and brown algae problems I seem to have created the perfect environment for hair algae. almost every plant and every leaf has algae growing on it and the shrimp and snails aren't eating it. I have an algae control chemical but I don't want to use it because of the shrimp and snails... I thought about turning the lights of and covering the tank but how long can the plants last without light? or would reducing the lights to only two or three hours a day for a week help?

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Permalink Reply by Peter Hanson on September 6, 2011 at 2:21pm

Its a bit bad hat to send people off to other forums but this write up is pretty good. http://www.aquariumslife.com/featured/hair-algae-control/

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Bingamon on September 7, 2011 at 6:00pm

Hmm. Good article. Not to inspiring though.... Pretty much nailed the type I think I have but to get rid of it I have to take nutrients out, lights away, or add more co2. Nutrients will b hard since I don't use frets, lights I already have turned down and maybe able to adjust a hour or two out or maybe even come down in actual light... An co2 I already have a DIY set up and can't afford a pressurized kit so idk if I can bump that up. Anyone know any really good algae eating fish that would help me out?

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Permalink Reply by Daniel89 on September 7, 2011 at 6:31pm

Siamese algae eaters work well. I got three in my 55. But yea I would say cut back hours of light and keep up with water changes. If u have duckweed it's a bitch but it might help absorb excess nutrients

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Bingamon on September 7, 2011 at 6:33pm

No duck weed but I did tear down my java moss wall in my ten gallon and I stuck a huge ball of it in my tank hoping to do the same thing

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Permalink Reply by Jim on September 8, 2011 at 4:50am

Can always feed the fish each other day instead of every day for a couple of days and cut back on lights and keep up with waterchanges and remove the algae you can see but wash you hands betwen algae you pick up, and when you feed the fish make sure they eat all the food and if they leave some remove it from the aquarium. any really fast growing plants like duckweed java moss or hornwort helps to keep it low, some say Jungle val and Rotala works to.

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Bingamon on September 8, 2011 at 6:04pm

What's really crazy is how many different types of hair algae there are. In all the things I have read there are hundreds all with their own way of being killed off. So if you miss diagnose the type you have the problem will only escalate while your stuck clueless on how to kill it. I think for min on the plants that have it to one to two leaves I'm just going to cut the leaves off. For the majorly infected plants like my java fern idk really know how I'm going to deal with it. But hopefully taking out the other leaves will leave me with a smaller problem I can fight better.