[relaxedcrazyman]

I recently noticed some stringy green stuff growing on a couple of leaves and the back glass panel.

Is it the beginning of an algae invasion? What can I do to keep it from getting out of control? Is it even algae?

Thanks!

 

[Flear]

hair algae

 

[Flear]

first thing is first, ... fix your plants
i'm not familiar with what deficiencies, but focus on those instead

 

[RSVBiffer]

Agree with Flear, that's hair algae. Had an outbreak myself recently. Easiest way to remove it is with something like a toothbrush, catch the ends and 'twirl' it around, it comes away quite easily. Then you will need to address the cause as it will keep coming back. Things to look at are your photoperiod, how long are your lights on for? The addition of a carbon supplement can help as this will help your plants grow which will remove other nutrients from the water which the algae thrive on. There are fish, such as the Siamese Algae Eater, which love the stuff and it is amazing how much they can get through when they get on a roll.

 

[relaxedcrazyman]

photoperiod is 630am to 11am then 5pm to 11pm

i usually dose with excel about 1mL every other day.

this is a recent pic of my tank, "fix your plants" is a little vague.

 

[RSVBiffer]

Very nice setup.

I would cut down your lighting period to 6 hours and you can see how that works. I don't use Excel, does it contain carbon?

 

[relaxedcrazyman]

yes, it "creates" carbon for the plants to use.

cutting the photoperiod, i guess i would opt for 5pm to 11pm, since i like seeing the tank lit up when i get home from work. wont that have an averse affect on my plants?

P.S. thanks, i like the jungle look/feel of it

 

[hulalu48]

i agree your tank is very nice. i recently had an extremely bad outbreak of hair algae, i did a half dose of tetra algae control and added 2 Chinese algae eaters and about a week later it was gone. i haven't had a problem with it again.