Green water and Hair algea!!!

**jweintraub** · 05-17-2007, 02:22 PM

Well as some of you already know from another post I started yesterday I just got back from a 5 weeks school that the army sent me to, leaving the care of my 2 tanks in my wife's hands. She was very hesitant to do too much with the tanks even though I had showed her how to do EVERYTHING on several occasions on tank maintenance and such.

When I walked in the door yesterday the first thing I see is my 42G tank with a nice green tint in the water and hair algea at least 1/2" long covering the entire back wall of the aquarium. I used my scraper and got off as much as I could but of course it's also all over my amazon swords and anything else it could grip onto.

As of now I've turned off the lights and covered the tank for almost 24 hours. I'm wondering what other steps I can use to get my tank looking somewhat normal again? I'd take pics but for one I'm not planning on uncovering the tank until tomorrow morning and secondly I'm quite embarrased!

Any and all help would be GREATLY appreciated!

**cocoa_pleco** · 05-17-2007, 02:34 PM

just have a blackout with the lights, scrape off the current algae, and do some water changes so that the nitrates dont keep the algae going.

What a crappy thing to come home to. My auratus/tetra/brichardi tank has the same wild algae problem too

**hungryhound** · 05-17-2007, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by jweintraub

She was very hesitant to do too much with the tanks even though I had showed her how to do EVERYTHING on several occasions on tank maintenance and such.

I hope that you wife does not read the bored as you may be sleeping on the couch if she reads this thread.

I do feel for you as I am in the middle of battling a diatom and hair algae pandemic. If I somehow come across a good way to get the hair algae under control I will pass along the information.

**jweintraub** · 05-17-2007, 05:32 PM

Thanks so much y'all... This definately isn't fun!

**Chrona** · 05-18-2007, 12:27 AM

Blackout(24-72 hours), lots of large water changes, and some Seachem Flourish Excel. Hair algae is readily eaten by many types of fish/inverts, but you probably want to start with other methods than sticking more fish in the tank. Green water will be taken care of after 24-48 hours of blackout.

**blue fin** · 05-18-2007, 12:56 AM

Originally Posted by Chrona

Blackout(24-72 hours), lots of large water changes, and some Seachem Flourish Excel. Hair algae is readily eaten by many types of fish/inverts, but you probably want to start with other methods than sticking more fish in the tank. Green water will be taken care of after 24-48 hours of blackout.

I tried that.. never worked, had to resort to a uv lamp, took 5 days and cleared up my tank like I've never seen, I must have tried blackouts water changes and algae treatments 5 times or more.. couldn't stand to keep putting the algae treatment in the tank so I tried the lamp. Worked like a charm.

**cocoa_pleco** · 05-18-2007, 01:00 AM

bluefin! glad to see you back!

yeah, i remember you had algae issues.

**blue fin** · 05-18-2007, 01:10 AM

Originally Posted by cocoa_pleco

bluefin! glad to see you back!

yeah, i remember you had algae issues.

Water is still heavenly.... the fish are still healthy although I cant keep a snail alive.... lost 3 so far, funny thing is I have regular algae now that the green water is gone, I leave it alone to give the fish an alternative food source, ...figures, my girls like snails, most people cant get rid of the little buggers and I can't keep one alive....

Oh.. by the way...thanks for the good word... I'm never far away but I ride my motorcycle, do woodworking and countless other projects and when the weather gets better I tend to be stuck doing all sorts of projects... never get any rest.

**Chrona** · 05-18-2007, 01:18 AM

Originally Posted by blue fin

I tried that.. never worked, had to resort to a uv lamp, took 5 days and cleared up my tank like I've never seen, I must have tried blackouts water changes and algae treatments 5 times or more.. couldn't stand to keep putting the algae treatment in the tank so I tried the lamp. Worked like a charm.

Was it a complete blackout? Ie covered the tank with a blanket or something? The UV lamp is definitely one of the best ways, but it's also expensive mind you :)