Algae

[DragonMungo]

Hello everyone,  I am having a algae problem in my tank.  It is a strange one.  I have algae growing on the gravel, the sides and the plants.  But not on the rocks.  It looks kinda like hair and it does not clean off the glass very easy.  Any suggestions would be great.  I think that it has harmed some of my plants. 

[atmagoulick]

Sounds like green hair algae.  I use a green pad to remove it from the sides.  I try to collect the algae on the pad, then rinse it in between cleaning of the sides.  Then I use a soft cotton cloth to remove the algae from the plant leaves.  After cleaning the plant leaves, I'll do a 10% water change.  Trying to remove the algae.  You may also want to consider adding a denitrator.  A denitrator is a filter that removes nitrates from the water.  High nitrate levels will increase the amount of algae.  Good Luck   

[DragonMungo]

Thank you.  I don't have a nitrate testing kit so I was pretty sure that might be what it was.  I did test my PH and it was 8.4 which I am pretty sure is not good.  I have not read anything about it yet.

[African cichlid Keeper]

Thank you.  I don't have a nitrate testing kit so I was pretty sure that might be what it was.  I did test my PH and it was 8.4 which I am pretty sure is not good.  I have not read anything about it yet.

My PH is @ 8.2 and I have a planted tank. If you have the light on too long that does grow algae or if your tank gets too much sunlight that also grow algae..

[linuxrulesusa]

Ditto what ACK said, but you can also try flagfish, mollies, and to a lesser extent guppies - they like algae even the black hairy kind.  My shrimp do a bit but the others mow through it faster.

[Steve]

I let the green algae grown on one of my 55's for awhile because I liked the looks of it (natural looking) but after 7 months of it I got tired of all the green. I bought a pair of 5" long male albino BNP from a member here and those two lil' algae eatin' dudes cleaned every bit of algae that was in that tank better than I could ever have done myself with a scrubber, and they did it in less than 36hrs as well.

[linuxrulesusa]

I let the green algae grown on one of my 55's for awhile because I liked the looks of it (natural looking) but after 7 months of it I got tired of all the green. I bought a pair of 5" long male albino BNP from a member here and those two lil' algae eatin' dudes cleaned every bit of algae that was in that tank better than I could ever have done myself with a scrubber, and they did it in less than 36hrs as well.

BN plecos are excellent on most algae.  Especially brown and green.  Sometimes they turn up their noses at hair algae, sometimes not.  Great suggestion.

[Ron]

FWIW, with regards to cichlids I've found Taiwan Reefs I've kept previously had a great interest in eating hair algae.