# Thinking about dosing tank with Maracyn to nuke hair algae.



## pineappleswordies (Apr 13, 2013)

Basically I got this outbreak when I got my fin ex fugeray for my 20L. It was growing before I upgraded but now it is on the glass and on all of my plants(jungle val,sword,dwarf hairgrass). I have been reading up on using maracyn but I have maracyn oxy. Its a liquid. My question is would this work the same? Everything I have read has been about dosing with maracyn tablets. I can upload pics of slgse when I get home if needed.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Is it hair or BBA?


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## pineappleswordies (Apr 13, 2013)

I am pretty sure its hair because it is not a darker brown color. It has gotten really bad today since I saw it this morning. Here is a pic
Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting
Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting
Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

looks more like the start of bba


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## pineappleswordies (Apr 13, 2013)

I think I am gonna make a new batch of diy co2 with more yeast and sugar, its only at like 1 bubble per 3 sec right now.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Don't know what the name of it was or if it's the same thing as what you have but this was in my tank and the lfs owner said it's
related to a low Kh. I added baking soda and it went away. Not the best of pictures but on the stems.



This, on the Dwarf Sagitaria on the right hand side is hair algae. But looking at yours and these I think it neither.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I would cut your lighting time in half for a couple of weeks and see what affect that has on it or try dosing with Excel. Excel has worked incredibly well for me in the past. I little costly, but worth it.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Less light!Shorter cycle(as in under/around 8 hrs aday).


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## pineappleswordies (Apr 13, 2013)

Okay so I left the lights off all last night and today(6pm-5pm) and it has gotten worse. The water is looking cloudier but a milky white. It still algae though cause it was green in the bucket during a water change. I turned up my CO2 because it was pretty slow. Also, I recently put in some purigen to help lower nitrates. Could it be nitrates? They were only at ~10ppm when I tested this morning and I didnt do the water change until later in the day today.


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## Goby (Mar 21, 2012)

pineappleswordies said:


> Okay so I left the lights off all last night and today(6pm-5pm) and it has gotten worse. The water is looking cloudier but a milky white. It still algae though cause it was green in the bucket during a water change. I turned up my CO2 because it was pretty slow. Also, I recently put in some purigen to help lower nitrates. Could it be nitrates? They were only at ~10ppm when I tested this morning and I didnt do the water change until later in the day today.


Maybe you've got gobs of phosphates. That would be my first guess. Hair algae thrives on it. Do you test for phosphates? Kent has a phosphate sponge media that will remove phosphates within hours. Petco stocks it. It's actually a marine product but my son uses it in both his FW tanks and in a smaller pond and it works wonders. We buy it in bulk pails but you can get smaller jars. I've used it in my SW tank and it nukes hair algae (PHOSPHATES) bam! Still reduce the lighting and feeding etc like others have told you. Excel = great advice. Prevention is always easiest.

FYI- In my experience, the Seachem phosphate removing medias fail in comparison to Kents. 

And just because the Maracyn label says it won't interfere with the biological cycle, doesn't mean it's true.


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## pineappleswordies (Apr 13, 2013)

Ok so I do have some fluval clearmax, which is supposed to eat up phosphates. Should I put that back in there? It was in there but I didnt believe it was doing anything. Maybe I was wrong haha. I do ave a AC30 and a whisper 10i with the purigen in the ac30, should I try putting some clearmax into the 10i and see what happens? I guess it couldnt hurt, right? Also, I have 4 zebra nerite snails( and 2 otos) in the tank right now and they are eating the algae up(I can see the path they chew through on the glass)which is nice to know, should I pick up like 4-5 more?


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## Goby (Mar 21, 2012)

pineappleswordies said:


> Ok so I do have some fluval clearmax, which is supposed to eat up phosphates. Should I put that back in there? It was in there but I didnt believe it was doing anything. Maybe I was wrong haha. I do ave a AC30 and a whisper 10i with the purigen in the ac30, should I try putting some clearmax into the 10i and see what happens? I guess it couldnt hurt, right? Also, I have 4 zebra nerite snails( and 2 otos) in the tank right now and they are eating the algae up(I can see the path they chew through on the glass)which is nice to know, should I pick up like 4-5 more?


Those are both great ideas.


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