Have been lurking for a long time..... Now need help....

[Carolina]

Light alone won't cause anything to grow. There have to be nutrients. You can have all the light in the world, if there aren't nutrients then there won't be any growth. Even what most consider just a little food can have more than enough nutrients for algae growth. Plus, your decaying java fern and java moss kept releasing nutrients into the water. Now that those things are gone things should normalize over time. Just don't feed. Your tank will get there.

As for the sponge...you can always leave the sponge filter in there but turn it off. The shrimp will still pick at it. I actually had non-active sponge filters in my tanks for a very long time after turning them off since I was too lazy to remove them. You can see some of them in some old pics. They are all gone now, though.

The Java fern was removed almost as quickly as it was placed in.... So I don't think that was the issue.... The Java Moss stayed.... HUGE MISTAKE. I hope my shrimp don't starve in the process of me starving the algae :/

Question - Should I at least lower the lights while fighting this? I have them at 12hr timer..... Should I put them at a 6hr until this is over?

The more I research..... The more I see it's practically impossible to get rid of hair algae.... I am really tempted to transferring all my shrimp to the new tank and starting this one from ground zero after bleaching it from top to bottom....

[Mustafa]

The algae will disappear. I can guarantee you that *if* you follow my instructions. First of all...there is no way *ever* that your shrimp will starve while you're starving the algae. It simply won't happen. There is a reason why I called these guys "Supershrimp." And no...you don't need to reduce the light. Once you don't feed anymore there won't be any nutrients for the hair algae to grow..no matter how much light you provide. So, just wait it out. If you want to accelerate the process you can get some of the brackish water snails. Those eat all kinds of algae, including dying and decaying hair algae (won't eat healthy hair algae) and even cyanobacteria. Just be patient. I used to have tanks that looked worse than yours algae-wise. They all look rather "clean" now...only surface algae growing.

[Carolina]

The algae will disappear. I can guarantee you that *if* you follow my instructions. First of all...there is no way *ever* that your shrimp will starve while you're starving the algae. It simply won't happen. There is a reason why I called these guys "Supershrimp." And no...you don't need to reduce the light. Once you don't feed anymore there won't be any nutrients for the hair algae to grow..no matter how much light you provide. So, just wait it out. If you want to accelerate the process you can get some of the brackish water snails. Those eat all kinds of algae, including dying and decaying hair algae (won't eat healthy hair algae) and even cyanobacteria. Just be patient. I used to have tanks that looked worse than yours algae-wise. They all look rather "clean" now...only surface algae growing.

Thanks.... I will follow your instructions.... But I am almost hopeless...
Got your macro algae, and since I am out of town, I told my pet sitter to remove the old contaminated macro algae from tank #2, and replace with the new ones. There is no hair algae problems in that tank. It will give me time to get home, clean tank #1, and put one of them in there.
I bought a product called sl aqua purify. It just breaks down organic matter in the water... Helps with the water balance. Just beneficial bacteria. Not sure if it's better than seachem (stability) , but.... Will give it a try.
What do you think of phosban? Or similar products?
As for snails, that's what I bought the big snails on tank 2 for.... Problem.... They are too big.... But they love hair algae.
What snails do you recommend? The ones you have?

[Mustafa]

I wouldn't use any products at all. You never know how they might affect your system. Especially things like Phosban are not needed. Sooner or later your tank will actually have non-measurable nutrient levels if you use my method of keeping these shrimp. Yes, the snails I have are hardy and never get very large. Tarebia granifera actually gets much larger (and fatter) with enough food, but the Supershrimp tanks don't provide them with enough food to grow to large sizes. The snails are so adaptable, though, that they simply stay small and reproduce at smaller sizes (and reduced rates). Most of these snails stay about as large as the shrimp themselves, some slightly larger.

[Carolina]

I wouldn't use any products at all. You never know how they might affect your system. Especially things like Phosban are not needed. Sooner or later your tank will actually have non-measurable nutrient levels if you use my method of keeping these shrimp. Yes, the snails I have are hardy and never get very large. Tarebia granifera actually gets much larger (and fatter) with enough food, but the Supershrimp tanks don't provide them with enough food to grow to large sizes. The snails are so adaptable, though, that they simply stay small and reproduce at smaller sizes (and reduced rates). Most of these snails stay about as large as the shrimp themselves, some slightly larger.

Sl aqua purify is just beneficial bacteria, no chemicals in it.
I will get some of your snails tonight... How many should I get? It's a 5 G tank.... With looots of algae.

[Carolina]

Ok, I just placed an order for a 10-pack of the snails and the shrimp for my new tank... It's a 10G, so I am starting with 30...
Thank you for all your advice!

[KenCotigirl]

Carolina if I understand your question correctly 10 snails will be fine. Those 10 will multiply to a healthy number in a short time. If 30 makes you happier it wont hurt. Just like the shrimp 30 snails will be more visable.

Ken

[Carolina]

Carolina if I understand your question correctly 10 snails will be fine. Those 10 will multiply to a healthy number in a short time. If 30 makes you happier it wont hurt. Just like the shrimp 30 snails will be more visable.

Ken

Thanks Ken, the (10) snails are for the tank #1,the one with the algae issue..... And the 30 shrimp for my new tank..... I think it's going to feel empty for a while, since it's a 10g tank, but I don't want to start with a huge qty.... It's looking quite nice actually; hope they do well! If not, they do have tank #1 to go, where at least the shrimp are doing awesome!

[Carolina]

Got home from a trip tonight, and although there was a lot of hair algae, it didn't seem to be worst than before I left.
I removed all I could with a toothbrush... There is definitely some left.
Added a dose of sl aqua purify to break down the organic matter and help to control it's growth... Added life balls, replaced the macro algae...
My poor shrimps are going nuts swimming all over the place. It was a lot of stress.... I had to carefully break some of them free from the algae, they were stuck in that mess.
Hopefully they will calm down during the night.
I got home pretty late, so no chance to clean the filter. I will do that tomorrow. I am sure there is HA stuck in there.
And then.... We wait.
Hopefully by not feeding, with sl aqua, the life balls and the new macro algae slowly we will beat this thing.
There is definitely food in the tank. Plenty of live rocks. Lots of algae for them to graze on the substrate too.
We will see!

[Mustafa]

Everything will be fine as long as you don't feed. I remember having tanks in the beginning with mats of cyanobacteria so thick that they were peeling off of the sides of my tank. Eventually it all resolved thanks not feeding, the snails and the multiplying shrimp. I did take out as much as could by hand though. That's always a good idea if it can be easily done without disturbing the tank too much.

[Carolina]

Everything will be fine as long as you don't feed. I remember having tanks in the beginning with mats of cyanobacteria so thick that they were peeling off of the sides of my tank. Eventually it all resolved thanks not feeding, the snails and the multiplying shrimp. I did take out as much as could by hand though. That's always a good idea if it can be easily done without disturbing the tank too much.

It's so frustrating! Hair algae is a beast! The shrimpies all calmed down, and by morning were all fine doing their "shrimp things". No casualties, "no one" got hurt.
The algae was so thick that I couldn't find my hermit crab - he is a tiny little guy, 1/4" in size, probably...... I thought he had died in that mess. Turns out he was just stuck on the bottom and couldn't move - the poor fella.
But I tell you..... I thought I had cleaned the tank so well...... then I wake up and the nightmarish vision I have is that thing growing like some dark magic.
Evidently I won't clean it all the time - probably once a week or so..... But boy, oh boy...... I hope this ends soon!

[Carolina]

The algae is starting to grow at a slower pace.
I've been maintaining the tank with sl aqua purify, which is just beneficial bacteria to get rid of the organic matter in the tank, and slow down the algae growth.
Yesterday I noticed the water was a bit cloudy, so I decided to look it up on the net what for the possible causes.
I found when treating the tank with bacteria, the cloudy water is sign that the bacteria is eating up the organic matter.... Which is a good thing. Found this when researching seachem stability, which is a similar product that has been in the market for longer than sl aqua.
I tested the water parameters and everything is fine. Amonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and salinity all where it should be.
The shrimp are fine, they don't seem to be stressed in any way (only when I clean the hair algae), there have been no deaths, they are picking all over the tank, molting, etc.
I transferred 2 nerite snails to the new 10g tank as I want this 5g tank to grow some good wall algae again. The 10g tank is a better place for them.
Hopefully this hair algae fight will be over soon....

[Mustafa]

I would just entirely stop the bacterial additives and leave the tank alone. It's really for the best in the short, medium and long term. If your shrimp are still doing fine, no water changes are needed. The cloudiness should disappear by itself after a while.

[Carolina]

I would just entirely stop the bacterial additives and leave the tank alone. It's really for the best in the short, medium and long term. If your shrimp are still doing fine, no water changes are needed. The cloudiness should disappear by itself after a while.

Thanks Mustafa!
The shrimpies are doing great, totally fine... I am keeping a close eye on them.
I agree with you, and that's what my instincts are telling me to do also.
Thanks again,
Carolina

[Carolina]

The shrimpies are still fine, even though the water is still cloudy.
The good news is the hair algae is almost completely gone. I think one more good cleaning with a tooth brush and I might have beaten it.
We will see it... It's not growing anymore, and it's not green in color, it's rather pale.... I think it's dying.
Edit: I decided to clean the tank with a toothbrush and as I thought, not much algae to be taken out. There is still some stuck to the rocks that I couldn't pull, but they are not growing.... On the contrary.
The Marimo ball that used to grow a LOT of HA had none this time around.....
The shrimp are now swimming laps, but I am sure they will settle soon.
I hope this is the last cleaning I will have to do.