# Hair algae and moss



## Monatobias (May 9, 2006)

I have a 10 gallon tank that has been giving me problems with hair algae. It has been up and running almost a year now and most of the algae problems have been within the last 3 or 4 months. I fertilize regularly and the water parameters show nothing out of wack. In fact, the water parameters are identical to my 20L gallon which hasn't had hair algae problems and plants are just fine. Here are the specs of my tank

10 gallon AGA
30W CF lighting (2 screw ins and a coralife t-8) for 10-11 hrs
Seachem onyx substrate
Rotala rotundifolia, java moss, crypt wendtii, and water sprite
Stocked with guppies

The plants have always done well, except for the crypt, which just doesn't want to grow period, unlike my 20 gallon which is getting overrun with them. The water sprite has really taken off lately and now that I think about it, correlates with the increase in growth of my hair algae. My rotunda has really slowed in growth and the moss is slowly growing. I did have a SAE but he died as did my oto, and algae eating shrimp don't seem to make it in my tank past a day.

Most if not all of the algae originates from the moss then spread. It is now showing up on some of the gravel. I have tried using Excel at higher doses in the past and that seems to help, but I am concerned about using that as a remedy for a problem that seems to be sticking around.

I would love any suggestions you all may have on what may be the problem. I am tempted to just remove all the moss as the algae always starts there or maybe just start all over. There is something definitely going on in this tank, but it isn't anything showing up on my tests.

Thanks!


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

Do you use CO2? If not maybe you should try it. You could do the DIY yeast method and see if that helps. Adding CO2 always seemed to help in the past for me.


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## bugs (Jul 19, 2006)

Sounds as though you could be describing my tank... Hair algae starting on the most, crypts not growing, most other plants being very slow...

I got ahead of the algae by pulling out a lot of the affected moss (leaving enough still attached to the wood to start growing again) and then dosing the full post water-change dosage of Excel once per week after the water change. Use spot treatment with the filter off.

The crypts are still damn slow after a really good start back in Oct '06 when I first set the tank up. I'm currently experimenting with a small increase in tank temp. I was running it at about 23 degrees but upped it to 25 and a bit. I tried an increase in EI dosing, taking my dose to 3x per week from 2, but ended up with a return of the algae, therefore I have stuck with 3x per week but halved the volume of each dose. I also tried increasing the CO2 level but made the fish unhappy, therefore, reduced that back down again.

Watch this space...


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