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hair algae on my plants

2K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Tubasteve 
#1 ·
How do I get rid of the hairalgae in my five year old 46 gallon tank? There is 78 watts of flourescent lighting for ten hours a day.
I have a bush of red ludwigia and scarlet temple, one anubias, seven cryptocoryne wendtii, several java ferns, and a micro sword, all planted in regular gravel. There is no CO2 injection. Ph is around 7, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, and nitratres around 20. The hair algae grows on the leaves of all the plants, except for a few java fern leaves, and the anubias and cryptocoryne, which are new to the tank. It covers all the leaves of the ludwigia, except for the top leaves, which are somehow algae free. The scarlet temple is covered. I have some zebra nerite snails, but I understand that they won't eat algae on the plants. Could I use red cherry shrimp or otocinclus catfish?
 
#2 ·
I would say get a few siamese algae eaters. They're one of the only things I heard of that eats hair algae. I have had a number of them in my tank for a while and they (along with a few other algae cleaner)make it so I barely ever have to clean off anything in the tank. Hope that helps.
 
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