# hair algae



## wax (Mar 16, 2007)

ok about a year ago i had added a plant to the tank with hair algae and still to this day i havent been able to get rid of it even after i moved tanks and bleached alot.

75gal, high light, c02, powder fertilizers and flourish also x2 excel a day for the whole yr

had to already trash my hair grass and now i dont know what to do i've had at one time pretty much every algae and beat them all but i just cant get rid of this.

i read nitrogen helps but the only nitrogen i could get my hands on was flourish nitrogen . its been 3 weeks now using it and it has done nothing... to help.

i've had planted tanks now for 10yrs and because of this i feel like giving up.


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## aquatic_clay (Aug 17, 2009)

you're right about the N helping out. what other ferts are you dosing? how much lighting? co2? and what's your water flow like?

sorry about the long list of questions but as i'm sure you know there are a lot of factors that cause algae blooms.


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## Spunjin (Jul 23, 2010)

Adding livestock isn't a permanent fix for hair algae but have you considered Amano shrimp. 5 cleaned my 26 gallon tank of hair algae in about 2 weeks. I haven't seen any hair algae since.
Maybe cut your photo period down to 8 hours or less.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi wax,

I have had to deal with hair algae a couple of times. To treat it I usually cut back by light period to 2/3 normal and do the Excel treatment outlined here. It has worked both times and I haven't had hair algae for a couple of years. BTW, Vals and mosses may suffer or die but my other species were unaffected.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

What type of hair algae is it? There are some good pictures in the Method of Controlled Imbalances sticky thread.
Can you describe it or post a picture?
High iron could be a problem.


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