color changing hair algae?

[Altohombre]

when hair algae goes from a lighter green to a dark green and then to a brownish green with lots of air bubbles around it does it mean that it is dying? Cuz when it turns brownish It gets longer and stringier and looks more like human hair strands mixed together.

 

[yote]

That would be my thoughts on it.
I've noticed that when it does that,its easier to siphon out.

 

[cthegame]

I think its dying too. yay!

 

[Altohombre]

I kinda like taking the big clumps out because I feel like I am getting somewhere. However I feel most of the time that I pinch a whole bunch and then I look at my hand and it's barely anything. Thats usually what gives me finger cramps.

 

[yote]

A little tip Alto.
Use a piece of air line tubing and siphon the hair out.You can pince it between your finger tip and the tubing to pull it loose from the rock,and the siphon will remove 99.9% of the strands.If you dont want to do a water change at the time,just pour the water through some filter media and back into the tank.

 

[Oscarsdad608]

Yote's tip is what I did back in the hair algae days. I haven't had any for about 3 or 4 years.

 

[Altohombre]

Oscar what do you think was the biggest difference that made you go from hair algae hell to no hair algae in 3-4 years?

 

[Altohombre]

Yote for this siphon thing you are talking about the tubing I use on my air pump in my freshwater tank? Would I turn off all flow and do this or leave flow on? Do I need to *gasp for sounding fruity* suck on one end and then put a bucket under that end?

 

[Oscarsdad608]

I think my tank matured and started to clean itself. I don't even have 20 snails. The only algae I have is what grows on the glass and I clean that about every 4 days with a sponge to get it out of the water.
Turn your pumps off and syphon the water out while picking out the algae. Like Yote said if you want to keep the water run it through a filter sock. I always did the proning during water changes.

 

[yote]

I just submerge the tube in the tank,let it fill with water,stick a finger over one end,drop other in a bucket,then remove finger.Siphon started.