# Fuzz/Hair Algae Outbreak



## Symplicity (Oct 14, 2011)

My 26G lightly planted tank has outbroke with hair/fuzz algae all over my plants, glass, and rocks. No matter how much I remove the day before on the glass, it comes back every day. 

Yesterday I purchased an entire HC Carpet to help outcompete the algae for nutrients. As I only had afew blyxa plants and random plants. I actually started dosing with Pfertz this week to help the new HC strive and outcompete the algae. 

My schedule is as follows: (plz note i started my schedule this week)
Mon, Wed, Fri - 2.5 ml of N, P, K (EACH)
Tues, Thur, Sat - 2ml of Micros 
Sun- 10-20% water change (gotta be careful of my CRS)
(reduced micros as i read fuzz algae can be caused by excess iron)

My photo period is 9 hours @ 96W for 26G @ 3.7 WPG (high).. I think I will reduce this to 7 hrs per day... I also bumped the CO2 to 2BPS (injected)...

Sooo what do you guys think.. this is my first time in planted tanks. Will I beat this fuzz/hair algae with my dosing and light schedule?


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## Rmwbrown (Jan 22, 2009)

Well you can never beat it.. it will always be in the tank, but you can hold it at bay. HC looks great, but it really isn't the best for sucking up nutrients. It will pretty much grown anywhere given it has high Co2.

I'm also not familiar with the Pferts line. Is it an EI system, or is it something more like Seachem?

You really have two options:

You could start dosing EI while also ensuring your Co2 is at 30ppm - consistent dosing will keep the algae at bay by allowing the plants to out compete it. You can address particular causes by looking at this chart.

http://rexgrigg.com/Algae1.html

Some also say hair algae is helped along by excess iron, but there is some debate around this. I for instance, dose iron everyday, however, I also have a bunch of red plants.

You can also go the Amano route... drop in an Amano shrimp for about every two gallons and an Otto cat for every four or five. Ottocats will take care of any brown algae, and the Amano shrimp will eat the hair algae if they are kept hungry.

Most people in NA seem to do a combination of both.


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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

my old tank of HC (pure HC) outcompeted green algae (the stuff that grows on the glass) but some hair algae that i had in the beginning. however, i had amanos, ottos, EI and doses excel . after all the hair algae was gone i moved some of my amanos to another tank. i also used duckweed to help. it took me 1 month to outcompete it.  afterwards, i used to scrape the glass one every 3 weeks and there was only little


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

I find that young SAE really like to eat the furry types of algae. I keep a single SAE in my 75 gallon and no problems so far... (knocks on wooden table). But if you have any types of mosses they are a NO NO.


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## Rmwbrown (Jan 22, 2009)

This is a good a point, an established bunch of HC works very well, while it is often problematic when it is first planted and not established. This is the case with Iwagumi set ups that use stem plants in the first month or so to deal with excess while the ground cover gets established.



iBetta said:


> my old tank of HC (pure HC) outcompeted green algae (the stuff that grows on the glass) but some hair algae that i had in the beginning. however, i had amanos, ottos, EI and doses excel . after all the hair algae was gone i moved some of my amanos to another tank. i also used duckweed to help. it took me 1 month to outcompete it.  afterwards, i used to scrape the glass one every 3 weeks and there was only little


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## Yami (May 1, 2011)

Well you cant have unbalance of either co2, light and nutrient...

my tank dont have high lightning and i dont put nutrient in at all, only fish waste. soon the HC grew all over the walls and onto my plants. until i added yeast mix co2, all of them turn brown or black then they disappear, but when my co2 is used up they come back.

so my guess is either one of your sources is excessive/not enough


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