# Hairy algae in Nano Cube 24



## East Texas David (Mar 21, 2005)

I have a Nano Cube that I set up about 6 weeks ago. I have it planted with many beautiful plants that I bought from a very fine aquarium shop in Houston. I have a CarboPlus CO2 system. I started having terrible black looking hairy algae after about two weeks. I have no fish in the aquarium only 6 Japanese shrimp and a one Chinese algae eater. I don't feed them any food. My lights and CO2 are on a timer for 10 hours a day. Over the last four weeks I have been changing about 10% of the water three times a week and I took the permanent filter out once and cleaned and rinsed it out in a bucket of water I had just removed from the aquarium. My plants all look fine and have really grown but I don't won't to start fish and feeding until the algae is under control. How much longer should I wait. I removed about a third of the plants that had the most algae and have trimmed leaves of some of the others. Also, how long should the CarboPlus last on about a 3 bar setting before it needs to be replaced? My has quit after 6 weeks (the red light is on and I see no bubbles). Is this about right? How often should I take the filter out of the NanoCube filtration slot and clean it? It was really dirty when I cleaned it the one and only time.
Thanks for any help.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Welcome to APC!

I'll touch on a couple of your questions, but you'll get much better coverage/answers if you post them in the specific forums.  

How big is your nano?
You're probably going to want to get the CAE out of there as soon as you can since he's going to get much too big, and he'll harass the heck out of your other fish/shrimp.

There really are no set guidelines for filter maintenance since it depends on many factors, like your tank size, load, type of filter, etc. If the flow starts slowing, that's a sure sign it needs a rinsing.

As for your algae woes, there's lots of good info in the algae section, so check that out, and feel free to ask as you go.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Welcome, David :smile:

It will help if you give your water parameters...PH, KH, N03, P04

_What type lighting and how much wattage?_

I would do larger water changes (30%-50%) once a week instead of 10% 3X's a week.

_What ferts are you using and how much?_


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