Wanted: Fish/shrimp to battle hair algae

[suicune]

Even with red root floater growing at full speed and excel dosing, hair algae is still growing strong in my tank. So far i already reduce lighting hour to 8-9 hrs a day, throw in floating plants to hog light and nutrients. I also manually remove any long string if algae out when doing water change. I guess i will need more clean up crew member.

I need amano shrimp, flag fish, true SAE. If anyone have some i would love to buy

[Victorp]

best shrimp would be amano

[suicune]

yeah trying to find some amano shrimp i guess, 2 snails and 2 oto can't clean fast enough in a 40 gallon tank

[Ogles2010]

I fought my battle with the vodka method. Within 3 days I was looking much better and now completely gone. I used 2mg a day in my 100g. May be worth a try.

[suicune]

put vodka in the tank? :O

[Ogles2010]

Yes, 80 proof. It is proven to lower nitrates and phosphates without harming any coral or fish. Cleanup crew handles the rest. Search it online it is typically referred to as the vodka method. YouTube also has some videos on it.

[mnemenoi]

Amanos can certainly help, but you'll need a good number to see much progress. We have 6 in a 10 gallon planted tank, with a bristlenose. We also have an 8 gallon with 6 otos and both tanks have more cherry shrimp then we can count. I would say starting with 6 at least and possibly 12-18 is not completey off target on a 40.

Try Cherry shrimp, Amano Shrimp, Nerites, SAE, otos (any of the family, though the giant otos are more effective), nearly any of the Ancistrus family (bristlenose pleco), Farowella (any royal farowellas as well). All can be effective in handling some algae issues. What are you Nitrates at? I might suggest an active water change regiment until they are diminished to less then 10. Our planted tanks give little to 0 readings across the board. If feeding heavily, the plants can have a difficult time keeping up with the rising Nitrate levels and any excess can immediately lead to algae outbreaks.

[Darth Coqui]

I know vodka works wonders for a salty tank...
So why not a freshy tank..

Frankie

[suicune]

Amanos can certainly help, but you'll need a good number to see much progress. We have 6 in a 10 gallon planted tank, with a bristlenose. We also have an 8 gallon with 6 otos and both tanks have more cherry shrimp then we can count. I would say starting with 6 at least and possibly 12-18 is not completey off target on a 40.

Try Cherry shrimp, Amano Shrimp, Nerites, SAE, otos (any of the family, though the giant otos are more effective), nearly any of the Ancistrus family (bristlenose pleco), Farowella (any royal farowellas as well). All can be effective in handling some algae issues. What are you Nitrates at? I might suggest an active water change regiment until they are diminished to less then 10. Our planted tanks give little to 0 readings across the board. If feeding heavily, the plants can have a difficult time keeping up with the rising Nitrate levels and any excess can immediately lead to algae outbreaks.

My nitrate reading is always under 10ppm or none at all, it's a heavily planted tank so most of the time ammonia is drained up by the plants before it turn to nitrate. Which is why I think I don't have enough in my clean up crews. 2 oto and 2 netires are certainly not enough for a 40 gallon tank.

[Jozle]

Try H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide) I use 2ml per gallon. Just inject it to the algae once per day.

[suicune]

I'm really scared about putting chemical in my tanks that's the problem :(

[mistahoo]

I'm really scared about putting chemical in my tanks that's the problem :(

Same here. I don't like to chance ill effects on plants and livestock as a side effect. The only thing I add to my planted tank is Flourish. I favor adding livestock the clear up algae problems.

[suicune]

same with me, I have flourish seachem root tap, chelated iron, and excel in my tank and that's as far as I'm willing to go in term of using chemical. Even with those I use very sparingly and mostly under-dose to ensure safety for the livestocks.

[Jozle]

Honestly, your water will be super oxygenated and there really isn't harmful. Unless you pour the whole bottle.

[jkfuel]

From Macna:

http://www.algaemower.com/