# Hair Grass algae removal



## rgrycki (Jun 13, 2005)

Hi all, I finally got my fertilizers, light, and CO2 balanced, and my hair grass has rooted. The algae that was growing on the hairgrass is now turning reddish brown (I assume it's dying). How do I remove the algae?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

A toothbrush works well if you use it like a comb. If the algae is turning brown it is either dying or getting diatom algae on it . Either way a toothbruch used gently should help in the removal of the algae.


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

If the grass is growing, go ahead and mow it.
Cut it down to about 1". It'll grow in nice and new. If you uproot it, it'll look bad and take awhile to fill in.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

A comb works well for cleaning the glass, also mfluffing the grass whjen you do water changes or if anythign settles on it, make sure it's kept clean.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## John P. (Nov 24, 2004)

Tom, you should link to a picture of one of your hairgrass tanks. Very nice!

I have a strange hair grass (e. acicularis) issue ... it used to grow to about 3", now it looks like it has turned into e. parvula, as it only grows to ~1.5". Maybe time to change bulbs?


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## rgrycki (Jun 13, 2005)

Hi guys, thanks for the input. I really think the algae is dying because it was the really small filament algae, and just a couple days ago was when I finally got my CO2 up to 30ppm. I'll try the toothbrush method first, then if that doesn't work I'll go with trimming it (getting all those clippings up is a pain!).


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## dinajel (Jun 7, 2005)

rgrycki said:


> (getting all those clippings up is a pain!).


Try using a small landing net (like the one you use to catch your fish) to gather all those clippings (if you aren't already, of course). It makes it a lot easier, I've noticed.


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

John P. said:


> Tom, you should link to a picture of one of your hairgrass tanks. Very nice!
> 
> I have a strange hair grass (e. acicularis) issue ... it used to grow to about 3", now it looks like it has turned into e. parvula, as it only grows to ~1.5". Maybe time to change bulbs?


No, it's likely NO3.
Hairgrass really enjoys good NO3 and CO2.

You can see a tank I did on the DWF site under the gallery under Tom Barr's plant fest 2004. I have a couple on the way now also that use hairgrass, it's an easy plant truthfully.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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