I've got a bad case of hair algea in my 55gal. Its mostly attached itself to
broad leaf plants, my amazon swords. It reminds me of that fine hair you
have to clean of corn, its its much finer than that. There isnt any on the
grass I use in forground. ITs really ugly. Not sure where it came from.
I've read that you have to use a 5% bleach soln to kill it... thats before
you put the plants into your tank, right? What can I do now, trim the
affected leaves?
thanks
John

55gal
pH 6.5-7
kH 8-9
eheim canister filter
CO2
no2 & nh4 nil
no3 20
96 watts light X 12 hr/day

"John H." wrote in message
. ..
I've got a bad case of hair algea in my 55gal. Its mostly attached itself
to broad leaf plants, my amazon swords. It reminds me of that fine hair
you have to clean of corn, its its much finer than that. There isnt any on
the grass I use in forground. ITs really ugly. Not sure where it came
from. I've read that you have to use a 5% bleach soln to kill it... thats
before you put the plants into your tank, right? What can I do now, trim
the affected leaves?
thanks
John

55gal
pH 6.5-7
kH 8-9
eheim canister filter
CO2
no2 & nh4 nil
no3 20
96 watts light X 12 hr/day


I have a similar problem, I'm treating mine by doing bleach dips to the
plants, when it gets outta hand, and reducing tyhe phospates in the tank.
I have also added a CO2 injector.
The growth has slowed, so hopefully its the start of getting rid of the
stuff

bear in mind some plants don't like the bleach and it kills them, I use less
than 5% dip, to be sure, I've lost a lot of plants to the 5% bleach dips.

§tudz

"John H." wrote in message
. ..
I've got a bad case of hair algea in my 55gal. Its mostly attached itself
to broad leaf plants, my amazon swords. It reminds me of that fine hair
you have to clean of corn, its its much finer than that. There isnt any on
the grass I use in forground. ITs really ugly. Not sure where it came
from. I've read that you have to use a 5% bleach soln to kill it... thats
before you put the plants into your tank, right? What can I do now, trim
the affected leaves?
thanks
John

55gal
pH 6.5-7
kH 8-9
eheim canister filter
CO2
no2 & nh4 nil
no3 20
96 watts light X 12 hr/day

My setup is very similar to yours, except I have more light.

I had a bout with hair algae too, before I added more plants. I just kept
pulling it off and I finally got rid of it. Then I got BGA (a real scourge)
and now some minor BBA.

Do you add PO4 or traces? How much CO2 do you use, quite a bit based on your
PH and KH?

I've seen Florida Flag fish recommended for HA or a blackout if it's really
bad.

"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...

"John H." wrote in message
. ..
I've got a bad case of hair algea in my 55gal. Its mostly attached itself
to broad leaf plants, my amazon swords. It reminds me of that fine hair
you have to clean of corn, its its much finer than that. There isnt any
on the grass I use in forground. ITs really ugly. Not sure where it came
from. I've read that you have to use a 5% bleach soln to kill it... thats
before you put the plants into your tank, right? What can I do now, trim
the affected leaves?
thanks
John

55gal
pH 6.5-7
kH 8-9
eheim canister filter
CO2
no2 & nh4 nil
no3 20
96 watts light X 12 hr/day

My setup is very similar to yours, except I have more light.

I had a bout with hair algae too, before I added more plants. I just kept
pulling it off and I finally got rid of it. Then I got BGA (a real
scourge) and now some minor BBA.

Do you add PO4 or traces? How much CO2 do you use, quite a bit based on
your PH and KH?

I think my CO2 is at about 1 bbl/2sec or so, not much. Water in my area is
fairly soft, from the tap the kh is 10. I add some peat to soften it more
for my discus. I wonder if that algea got in from the peat I'm using?? Its
the stuff from Fluval?


I've seen Florida Flag fish recommended for HA or a blackout if it's
really bad.

"§tudz" wrote in message
...

"John H." wrote in message
. ..
I've got a bad case of hair algea in my 55gal. Its mostly attached itself
to broad leaf plants, my amazon swords. It reminds me of that fine hair
you have to clean of corn, its its much finer than that. There isnt any
on the grass I use in forground. ITs really ugly. Not sure where it came
from. I've read that you have to use a 5% bleach soln to kill it... thats
before you put the plants into your tank, right? What can I do now, trim
the affected leaves?
thanks
John

55gal
pH 6.5-7
kH 8-9
eheim canister filter
CO2
no2 & nh4 nil
no3 20
96 watts light X 12 hr/day


I have a similar problem, I'm treating mine by doing bleach dips to the
plants, when it gets outta hand, and reducing tyhe phospates in the tank.
I have also added a CO2 injector.
The growth has slowed, so hopefully its the start of getting rid of the
stuff

bear in mind some plants don't like the bleach and it kills them, I use
less than 5% dip, to be sure, I've lost a lot of plants to the 5% bleach
dips.

§tudz


So you pull the plants out of the tank? and then dip them in the diluted
bleach soln then re-plant them?

"John H." wrote in message
...

"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...

"John H." wrote in message
. ..
I've got a bad case of hair algea in my 55gal. Its mostly attached
itself to broad leaf plants, my amazon swords. It reminds me of that
fine hair you have to clean of corn, its its much finer than that. There
isnt any on the grass I use in forground. ITs really ugly. Not sure
where it came from. I've read that you have to use a 5% bleach soln to
kill it... thats before you put the plants into your tank, right? What
can I do now, trim the affected leaves?
thanks
John

55gal
pH 6.5-7
kH 8-9
eheim canister filter
CO2
no2 & nh4 nil
no3 20
96 watts light X 12 hr/day

My setup is very similar to yours, except I have more light.

I had a bout with hair algae too, before I added more plants. I just kept
pulling it off and I finally got rid of it. Then I got BGA (a real
scourge) and now some minor BBA.

Do you add PO4 or traces? How much CO2 do you use, quite a bit based on
your PH and KH?

I think my CO2 is at about 1 bbl/2sec or so, not much. Water in my area is
fairly soft, from the tap the kh is 10. I add some peat to soften it more
for my discus. I wonder if that algea got in from the peat I'm using?? Its
the stuff from Fluval?

Go here to check your CO2 levels (ppm).

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm

My Hair Algae came in on some pond plants, before I changed my tank to
Tropicals.


I've seen Florida Flag fish recommended for HA or a blackout if it's
really bad.

"John H." wrote in message
...

"§tudz" wrote in message
...

"John H." wrote in message
. ..
I've got a bad case of hair algea in my 55gal. Its mostly attached
itself to broad leaf plants, my amazon swords. It reminds me of that
fine hair you have to clean of corn, its its much finer than that. There
isnt any on the grass I use in forground. ITs really ugly. Not sure
where it came from. I've read that you have to use a 5% bleach soln to
kill it... thats before you put the plants into your tank, right? What
can I do now, trim the affected leaves?
thanks
John

55gal
pH 6.5-7
kH 8-9
eheim canister filter
CO2
no2 & nh4 nil
no3 20
96 watts light X 12 hr/day


I have a similar problem, I'm treating mine by doing bleach dips to the
plants, when it gets outta hand, and reducing tyhe phospates in the tank.
I have also added a CO2 injector.
The growth has slowed, so hopefully its the start of getting rid of the
stuff

bear in mind some plants don't like the bleach and it kills them, I use
less than 5% dip, to be sure, I've lost a lot of plants to the 5% bleach
dips.

§tudz


So you pull the plants out of the tank? and then dip them in the diluted
bleach soln then re-plant them?

Don't forget to rinse and treat them with a heavy dose of dechlorinator
before returning them to the tank.

I recently dipped my BBA covered Anubias in some 5% bleach. Did a great job.

"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...
My setup is very similar to yours, except I have more light.

I had a bout with hair algae too, before I added more plants. I just kept
pulling it off and I finally got rid of it. Then I got BGA (a real
scourge) and now some minor BBA.

Do you add PO4 or traces? How much CO2 do you use, quite a bit based on
your PH and KH?

I've seen Florida Flag fish recommended for HA or a blackout if it's
really bad.


Platies are also noted to eat hair algae, as well as a similar LB but Im bot
sure of its name, it looks like a platy, BUT is a rare find.
I have one baby platy in the Tank with the problem and he eats the HA and
BA.

§tudz

"§tudz" wrote in message
...

"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...
My setup is very similar to yours, except I have more light.

I had a bout with hair algae too, before I added more plants. I just kept
pulling it off and I finally got rid of it. Then I got BGA (a real
scourge) and now some minor BBA.

Do you add PO4 or traces? How much CO2 do you use, quite a bit based on
your PH and KH?

I've seen Florida Flag fish recommended for HA or a blackout if it's
really bad.


Platies are also noted to eat hair algae, as well as a similar LB but Im
bot sure of its name, it looks like a platy, BUT is a rare find.
I have one baby platy in the Tank with the problem and he eats the HA and
BA.

§tudz

Thanks, I wonder how they would do outdoors in the pond? It's a hair algae
bonanza.

"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...

"§tudz" wrote in message
...

"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...
My setup is very similar to yours, except I have more light.

I had a bout with hair algae too, before I added more plants. I just
kept pulling it off and I finally got rid of it. Then I got BGA (a real
scourge) and now some minor BBA.

Do you add PO4 or traces? How much CO2 do you use, quite a bit based on
your PH and KH?

I've seen Florida Flag fish recommended for HA or a blackout if it's
really bad.


Platies are also noted to eat hair algae, as well as a similar LB but Im
bot sure of its name, it looks like a platy, BUT is a rare find.
I have one baby platy in the Tank with the problem and he eats the HA and
BA.

§tudz

Thanks, I wonder how they would do outdoors in the pond? It's a hair algae
bonanza.
===========================
There's some hair algae in one of my platy tanks and they don't touch it.
:-(
--

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Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
NEW PAGE: Aquariums:
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Mid posted.
§tudz wrote:
"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...
My setup is very similar to yours, except I have more light.

I had a bout with hair algae too, before I added more plants. I just
kept pulling it off and I finally got rid of it. Then I got BGA (a
real scourge) and now some minor BBA.

Do you add PO4 or traces? How much CO2 do you use, quite a bit based
on your PH and KH?

I've seen Florida Flag fish recommended for HA or a blackout if it's
really bad.


Platies are also noted to eat hair algae, as well as a similar LB but
Im bot sure of its name, it looks like a platy

Are you thinking of mollies? They eat some algae if I am not mistaken. Good
luck and later!

, BUT is a rare find.
I have one baby platy in the Tank with the problem and he eats the HA
and BA.

§tudz

--
You can find my public key at https://keyserver1.pgp.com

"Daniel Morrow" wrote in message
...

Are you thinking of mollies? They eat some algae if I am not mistaken.
Good
luck and later!

, BUT is a rare find.

No, not Mollies, I'll have to try and remember, they look almost identical
to Platies (in the wild form) they are grey in colour, I'm not sure they
have the fin adapation that most male LBs have.
I could be talking a load of rubbish with that last statement, lol, my
memory fails me, too many hours working.

§tudz

"John H." wrote in message
. ..
I've got a bad case of hair algea in my 55gal. Its mostly attached itself
to broad leaf plants, my amazon swords. It reminds me of that fine hair
you have to clean of corn, its its much finer than that. There isnt any on
the grass I use in forground. ITs really ugly. Not sure where it came
from. I've read that you have to use a 5% bleach soln to kill it... thats
before you put the plants into your tank, right? What can I do now, trim
the affected leaves?
thanks
John

55gal
pH 6.5-7
kH 8-9
eheim canister filter
CO2
no2 & nh4 nil
no3 20
96 watts light X 12 hr/day


This is probably an insane idea but I'm going to ask you guys anyway...
I was wondering, my hair algae problem is so bad, if I relocate my fish and
disconnect my pumps, could I just add enough bleach directly to the tank to
make 5%, then add declorinator to the tank to neutralize the bleach? Is
there anything else in bleach that would be toxic to either the fish or the
beneficial bacteria other that clorine? I suppose it would kill all the
bacteria in the water and gravel... however after neutralizing I still have
the bacteria in the pumps?
just a thought?

"John H." wrote in message
...


This is probably an insane idea but I'm going to ask you guys anyway...
I was wondering, my hair algae problem is so bad, if I relocate my fish
and disconnect my pumps, could I just add enough bleach directly to the
tank to make 5%, then add declorinator to the tank to neutralize the
bleach? Is there anything else in bleach that would be toxic to either the
fish or the beneficial bacteria other that clorine? I suppose it would
kill all the bacteria in the water and gravel... however after
neutralizing I still have the bacteria in the pumps?
just a thought?





That would indeed kill all the algae, also your bacteria and possibly your
plants, if you add too much.
you would need to empty the tank after doing it, rinse with water and
declorinator, then let the tank cycle again, but yeah in theory it would
work.

but remember it would be a new tank setup situation.

§tudz

§tudz wrote:
"John H." wrote in message
...


This is probably an insane idea but I'm going to ask you guys anyway...
I was wondering, my hair algae problem is so bad, if I relocate my fish
and disconnect my pumps, could I just add enough bleach directly to the
tank to make 5%, then add declorinator to the tank to neutralize the
bleach? Is there anything else in bleach that would be toxic to either the
fish or the beneficial bacteria other that clorine? I suppose it would
kill all the bacteria in the water and gravel... however after
neutralizing I still have the bacteria in the pumps?
just a thought?






That would indeed kill all the algae, also your bacteria and possibly your
plants, if you add too much.
you would need to empty the tank after doing it, rinse with water and
declorinator, then let the tank cycle again, but yeah in theory it would
work.

but remember it would be a new tank setup situation.

§tudz


Another thing to bear in mind is even if you do set the tank up again
after the bleaching there is nothing to stop the algae from returning as
it is present in all water.....

I would think the better way of going would be to add more plants to
compete with the algae and maybe invest in some algae eaters....

Gill