# How do you control algae in your piranha tank???



## Paytheplayer

Today, I noticed some algae that Ive never seen before. It's almost like its algae in the form of hair and green, growing on my live plants. I used to have a pleco that was in there for 3 months, only to notice his head about 3 weeks ago. What would the best way to keep the algae under control be? Thanks.


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## Piranha Dan

The two biggest things are the amount of light and nitrate. Make sure you don't leave your lights on too long and try to keep your nitrates below 20ppm.
I don't know what you can do for live plants (don't have them) but once a week I scrub everything in the tank (rocks, driftwood, etc) to keep it from building up.


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## NegativeSpin

Keep the nitrates low and I don't know how effective a UV sterilizer would be at preventing it from spreading.


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## Coldfire

NegativeSpin said:


> Keep the nitrates low and I don't know how effective a UV sterilizer would be at preventing it from spreading.


A UV is not going to do anything for FW Hair Algae. The UV will kill all free floating algae, but since it is going attached to the plants it will not help.

Work on lowering the NO3, and that should help. Actually, growing the live plants should also help reduce the amount of algae in the tank. Macro vs Micro, and macro wins in time.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

if you have a planted tank or even a tank with a couple live plants, you can try dosing flourish excel, that should help to keep your algae in check


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## delegat

i have snails. they eat up all the algae.


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## redbellyman21

Coldfire said:


> Keep the nitrates low and I don't know how effective a UV sterilizer would be at preventing it from spreading.


A UV is not going to do anything for FW Hair Algae. The UV will kill all free floating algae, but since it is going attached to the plants it will not help.

Work on lowering the NO3, and that should help. Actually, growing the live plants should also help reduce the amount of algae in the tank. Macro vs Micro, and macro wins in time.
[/quote]
as usual coldfire is right, thats why I didnt expect to read he had hair algae on his live plants, but phosphates also contribute to algae growth spurts, if ur phosphate levels are higher than 5ppm you will have a spread like no other! as for getting it off just use ur finger and gently rub it off, and suck it out and let the plants do their thing?

One point I just thought of, do the plants grow? are they dying? are they just staying the same? These are all things that intrigue me, cause if they are striving than algae wouldnt be taking over, do u use co2 ? Please give us some mroe info, and yes snails help delegat but they would also help take out the plants!


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## Paytheplayer

All great suggestions guys thanks. Im going to see if I can try a little of everything. Maybe have my light timer come on an hour or 2 later than normal. I actually used to have gold mystery snails in there, but they usually only last max. maybe one month. They ate 2 pleco's I put in there also, one lasted 3 months until they decided to eat him, now I don't have any algae eaters in there. I was hoping maybe I could sneak an ottocinclus without them noticing, but I doubt that would work.

Yes the plants grow, actually sometimes uncontrollably. I started with one amazon plant in there, and it grows other ones on it. Now the tank is full of them, and sometimes I even have to throw some out because they just keep growing. Also, I forget what the other type of plant is called, but its almost like giant grass? I don't know, but it grows so long that it flows along the top to the other side of the tank. Im constantly trimming them too.


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## Dawgz

in the caribe tank, algea is taken care of by snails.

in the community tank, the ocelots and flying foxes do a good job.


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## redbellyman21

interesting to read plants strive while algae strives... hmm do you have canister or hob filters? either way I would ass phosphate remover and do a water change check ur no3 and no2 levels since they are directly related to one another... report back with the info if possible soldier...


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## maknwar

Flourish Excel and/or co2. Thats how I control my algae.


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## nameless

maknwar said:


> Flourish Excel and/or co2. Thats how I control my algae.


Yes, that is intresting. I occasionally use seachem excel and also observed the same results...


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## CLUSTER ONE

I just keep low light (no plants). Keeping no3 low is the best to avoid algae and keep a healthy tank.


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