hairy algee

[Tropjunky]

how do you get rid of algee, the hairy and slimy type?

 

[judcoynehunter]

siamese flying foxes will consume this algae however make sure they are the siamese not the plain flying fox as they dont eat thread algae

alternativly u could clean the algae off the decorations and reduce the amount of light in the tank gets in aday say turn lights on 4 3 hours turn off 4 2 hours and then on 4 another 3 hours

 

[Bomag]

what are your water parimeters ---- if water is alkiline then you might find that you are encouraging the algee to grow by doing water changes to ofton.

try leaving lights on for only 7 hours a day

try getting hold of some amarno shrimps

or platys will help

hope this is of some help

 

[judcoynehunter]

do these eat thread type algae

 

[Bomag]

the shrimps would yes and the platys would pull @ it and eat it also

 

[judcoynehunter]

the shrimps would yes and the platys would pull @ it and eat it also

i have seen these shrimp and wondered what they did i thuoght they just filtered the water or something

 

[luxum]

If it is the type that's like long hair, not a short "beard". you can remove it manually very easily by twirling it like gross green cotton candy around a filter brush or old tooth brush. I had a serious infestation of the stuff, but got rid of all of it within a week by removing all i could see once a day. Never came back.

 

[judcoynehunter]

If it is the type that's like long hair, not a short "beard". you can remove it manually very easily by twirling it like gross green cotton candy around a filter brush or old tooth brush. I had a serious infestation of the stuff, but got rid of all of it within a week by removing all i could see once a day. Never came back.

how do you tell the diffrence

 

[Tropjunky]

what are your water parimeters ---- if water is alkiline then you might find that you are encouraging the algee to grow by doing water changes to ofton.

try leaving lights on for only 7 hours a day

try getting hold of some amarno shrimps

or platys will help

hope this is of some help

water chemistry is good

ammonia 0
nitrates 0
nitretespher 0
Phos off the chart
PH 7.5

the phospher looks about 6ish and i'm doing water changes with RO water. the tap is worse than my tank it reads about 10+ppm.

 

[luxum]

If it is the type that's like long hair, not a short "beard". you can remove it manually very easily by twirling it like gross green cotton candy around a filter brush or old tooth brush.  I had a serious infestation of the stuff, but got rid of all of it within a week by removing all i could see once a day.  Never came back.

how do you tell the diffrence

Well... the long kind gets ~really~ long, as long as long human hair. The short kind will grow to a shorter "beard" only an inch or so long. The brush trick works great on the long kind and can completely eradicate it if you remove it consistently for about a week. The beard kind is too short to twirl around the brush.

 

[tstenback]

Your phosphates are the problem. The excess needs to be removed or this and other types of algae will be the norm for your tank. As it is in your tap water you may need to treat the tap water before adding it to the tank or use a phosphorous remover in your tank. Also do a manual removal of any thread algae you can see as suggested by luxum. HTH

 

[Tropjunky]

i use RO water in my tank now and phosphate is the reason i use RO water.

 

[judcoynehunter]

i use RO water in my tank now and phosphate is the reason i use RO water.

do you have a ro machine if so which one is it and how much did it cost please

 

[Tropjunky]

i don't use a RO machine i have to pay for every liter of water i use and a RO Unit is very inefficiant so i get RO water at £3.5 per 25L and that is cheaper than making it. but if u find ur nearest madenhead aquatics then they have a very good unit u can get

 

[judcoynehunter]

thanks id need to buy one as the volumes id need are on the largeish scale