Hair algae

[New Boy]

Nothing I do seems to get rid of hair algae. My nitrate is just under 50 ppm (my tap water is about 40) but I know a few people with nitrates that high and they don’t have hair algae like mine. Also my plants don’t seem to do well (even anubias or java fern) which is odd I think if the hair algae is doing so well.

Would a UV steriliser help?
I’ve not tested for phosphates but wondered if they could be more to blame?
Why will my SAE’s not eat the hair algae?
Are there any treatments that will not damage the fish/plants/bacteria?
Am I giving the tank too much/too little light?
Anything else I can do?

I’m presuming that my water change regime is sufficient as the nitrate is only a bit above the tap water level…..

Thanks
Andy

 

[CFC]

If your SAE's are not eating the algea then you are either offering too much food as a alternative or they are not true SAE's, try starving the fish for a few days and see if they start to munch it down.

Which part of London are you in? I am in the Twickenham area and have always had problems with hair algea, the only tank that doesnt have it is the mrs community tank which has SAE's in it. Over the years i have tried many things to get rid of it from using chemical treatments (not recomended, a day after adding it the tank came down with a severe case of velvet which i lost a lot of fish to) to doing massive water changes with RO water every day to adding phostphate scavenger resins (phoszorb by AP) and nothing has removed it completely. It can be kept down if you remove and discard all the existing plants and boil all the tank decor and start again from scratch, then whenever you see even a tiny bit of algea forming you can remove the object it is on (if its on a plant just nip off the leaf). Adding a UV sterilizer to the return pipe of a external filter will help with controling the spread of the algea but will not help with algea already in the tank, using RO water for water changes will prevent contaminants in the tapwater from adding to the ones in the tank.

I now have unplanted tanks (apart form the mrs community tank) and have put more focus into the bogwood and rock work to create astheticly pleasing tanks which has helped with the algea problem, each tank has one or two fish that will rasp on the hard decor (plecs etc) which keeps the algea down to almost invisable levels, i also keep the lights off for the main part of the day so the algea has less time to photosythisise (spelling? ).

 

[New Boy]

CFC,

Thanks, not just me then....
The SAE's I have look exactly like this one;

http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/sae.htm

Are they the same as your SAE's that eat hair algae? I followed all of the advice from websites that I could find but some info does conflict on the web.

I'm a bit worried about not feeding my fish a couple of days as the aggression may get quite high but if they are the right fish then I'll give it a go.

The SAE's seem to prefer green and brown algae (which I have been letting build up awaiting my pleco's) so I'm guessing that I need to wait until my pleco's arrive and clear that up or else the SAE's will just eat that and not the hair algae and the other fish will go hungry!?

Should I test for phosphate too?

Cheers
Andy

 

[New Boy]

By the way I'm in north london, and my tap water is quite hard and alkaline so I wouldn't be keen on adding RO water as they are quite settled (and because it's quite expensive). Have thought about buying a nitragon though too remove phosphate and nitrate for water changes. Do you think they are any good?

Thanks again
Andy

 

[Bol]

For what it's worth, I've often read that hair algae usually stems from an excess of iron in your water column.

 

[CFC]

The trouble with the nitragon canisters is that they have a relatively short life span when used in areas with high ammounts of nitrate in the tapwater before they can no longer be recharged and a new cartridge is needed, they also only remove nitrate not phosphate as well and another canister is needed for this. I personally think that a cheap RO unit is a better way to go, if you own your own home or the land lord doesnt mind you fitting one you can buy and plumb in a Kent marine bare bones 40 gallons a day RO unit for less than £100, this takes care of all the impuraties and will provide perfect water for your fish for a couple of years at least before the membrane needs replacing.

To identify the true SAE the first place to look is the tail, if the black stripe along the lateral line goes right into the tail then it is the real deal, other disguishing features are the black line will appear fuzzy on the edges not clean and the true SAE only has one set of barbles. The fish in the picture you linked to is a true SAE.

 

[New Boy]

Will the hardness and ph of the tank alter dramatically though? Will my labs be ok? All of my fish have been kept in hard water since I've had them - will they adapt to RO water (as I believe it's soft and acidic)?

Thanks
Andy