Help with algae!

I've been getting big green hair algae blooms! Both in my 26 and 29 gallon. I have low light for both tank sizes and the lights are on around 16 hours a day. I add one cap full of iron fertz every 2 weeks. Can anyone tell me what's causing this and how can I get rid of it?

Thank you!

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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on March 14, 2012 at 8:21am

The first thing is to reduce your lighting. Sixteen hours is much too long. Cut it back to 8 for now. Then tackle the algae. Algae blooms can either be caused by excess nutrients or excess lights. In this case probably excess lighting, but you need to check things like phosphate, nitrate levels as they are also big culprits in algae growth. What type of light are you using and is the tank dirted. The problem with low light in a dirted tank is the excess nutrients from the dirt. Nutrient and CO2 consumption is dictated by light intensity. Read it, remember it, know it. If you are only using low light say 1 T8 your plants will not be able to use up the nutrients in the water. It's like there will be food at a picnic. The algae are the ants and the plants are the people. If the people don't eat the food fast enough the ants will jump right in and eat it. Try to balance out your lighting. Maybe shoot for a low/medium intensity. If you are running T8 try bumping up to T5NO.

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Permalink Reply by Walter on March 14, 2012 at 8:27am

Are both tanks heavily stocked with plants? How often do you perform water changes? In my opinion your lights are on way to long. I would bump them back to 10 hours a day. There's also the Seachem's Flourish Excel liquid additive. It's great because it adds carbon which plants thrive from. Just be careful how much you add it can kill fish.

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Permalink Reply by Rich bob on March 14, 2012 at 6:17pm

Thanks for the replies guys, I really appreciate it.
I'm going to cut the light back to around 8-10 on a day. My tanks are not dirted, but It's heavely stcoked with plants. I have 1 T8 and 1 compact fluorescent lamp.... I would get a T5 but they get expensive! I perform weekly water changes of 30%

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Permalink Reply by Walter on March 14, 2012 at 6:31pm

Being that your tank is heavily stocked with plants, the problem might be the nitrates are to low. As well as the phosphate levels. Also what temp are your bulbs?

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Permalink Reply by Rich bob on March 14, 2012 at 6:58pm

How would I fix that problem?
I don't really know what temp they are, but it certainly doesn't affect the water...

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Permalink Reply by Walter on March 14, 2012 at 8:12pm

I mean the kelvin rating. And Seachem sells Nitrogen and Phosphate. But you will have to know the levels before use use the stuff.

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Permalink Reply by Walter on March 14, 2012 at 8:14pm

http://api.ning.com/files/3atfscik7we5tKWuWfxDqi2OjjLxg0upOFwac1YWF..._See if this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Krishna Raju on June 22, 2012 at 1:55am

You can use duckweed to cut down some light and excess amount of nutrients in the water.

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Permalink Reply by AquaNoob on August 6, 2012 at 10:41pm

you can get some amano shrimp in addition to these suggestions. I have been having a bit of green hair algae as well, but I got an amano shrimp who has been picking away at it and has noticeable reduced the amount within a couple of weeks. and that is just one shrimp. get an army and your tank may be sparkling clean soon!