hair algea!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[scuba connor]

my tank had the largest hair algea explotion ive ever seen
how do i get rid of it? i just ordered 100 Astrea Snails , will they get rid of it ? or do you think a long spined urchin will eat the algea help please befor it kills my corals !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fishysteve]

You should try to find out what caused the algae bloom and not just Band-Aid the problem. In my experience, if the algae is too long, they will not eat it. You must trim it down as close to the rock as you can first.

[machinas]

I'm assuming its red hair algae?
Have you added anything new to the tank lately?
Check your R/O water and the filters/membrane if you use one.

I recently had a hair algae issue in my tank, it wasn't an explosion but its the first time I saw it in like 9 months, it was all due to my prefilters being bad.

[2fishy]

Read this thread!:thumbsup:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1078532

[SptfireXIV]

100 astreas is severe overkill, but they ought to be able to handle it.

[scuba connor]

well wat i think caused it was that i never had manny to begin with and then i got some hermit crabs and they just kiled all my snails so after 3 months of just having like 6 small snails in the tank i think the algea just got over grown cause there was nothing there to eat it thats what i think caused it

so do you think after i put in the 100 new nails they should get rid of the hair algea and by the way is both red and green but mostly green hair algea

[drummereef]

That is still not the root cause of the hair algae. I suspect either nitrates or phosphates are high. Have you tested those lately? Also, do you use RO/DI water?

[scuba connor]

o well my nitrates were up in the 80s ha ha but that problem was taken care of and now there like 5 or 0 but yea maby that s what caused it




so HOW DO I GET RID OF IT
i am geting in 100 snails tomarrow so do you think they should take care of it?

[drummereef]

How about your phosphates? And, do you use RO/DI or tap water?

[all-apologies]

listen to drummer, hes right about fixing the source.

i had horrible green hair algae. I had to take out allof my rocks and manually scrub each one. i then put them back in the tank and cut the lighting. then 2 25% water changes and buying a few more cleaning livestock.

to fix it, you have to make sure everything is lined up. All the factors for repair have to come together. What you cannot do is just order snails, and then a week later fix your RO, and then later on cut your lights. It needs to all come together at once.

good luck...

[scuba connor]

i use RO and i had my phosphstes checked last week and they were perfict so i think it was just because i didn't have anny snails in my tank for like 6 months so everythinbg just got over grown

[drummereef]

The phosphates probably aren't reading because the hair algae is feeding off it. There is obviously a nutrient problem or you wouldn't have the amount in there you do. Snails will help, but not a permanant fix. If you are just using RO and not RO/DI, your TDS is still probably high. I'd get that going first. Your TDS should be 0 after the DI stage. You want to introduce zero nutrients from the water source or you'll be feeding the problem. ;)