Hair Algea + Toothbrush

[newsalt]

I've read alot of threads about Hair Algea and the removal of it. Alot of the threads talk about using a toothbrush to remove the algea. My question is this: if you use a toothbrush to remove the HA, aren't you spreading all those algea spores throughout the tank while you're scrubing?

[landlord]

I do not know about spreading the spores... but those who toothbrush the algae are not really addressing the cause.

[amike5]

By toothbrushing it and doing water changes afterward to remove the algae, you are removing the bound nutrients. For example, if the cause is phosphates, you can't lower the amount of phosphates in your system without rinsing your food, feeding less, AND physical removal of the algae.

[TomZogas]

All a toothbrush will do is remove the algae temporarily. Without taking steps to address the underlying problem, it will grow back. I think what most people are doing is using some method to lower their nutrients (refugium, skimmer, etc.) along with the toothbrush method.

I wouldn't really say that there is any harm in brushing your rocks free of algae, but id bet someone from the macro algae forums could give you a more in depth answer.

[newsalt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11417671#post11417671 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by amike5
By toothbrushing it and doing water changes afterward to remove the algae, you are removing the bound nutrients.

So are you saying that I can scrub the rock while it's still in the tank as long as I do a decent sized water change immediately afterwards and not worry about the floating algea spores?

[landlord]

I wouldn't go that far. I think that what is being said is that the manual scraping of algae along with a good maintenence routine of water changes can help remove bound nutrients. What is not being stated but IMO is being implied, is that this happens over a period of time. Do not think that you can toothbruish your rocks do a water change and not have any algae problems.

I did the same thing fighting dinoflagellates. Blow them with the turkey baster until the whole tank was a mess, skimmed wet, and did 20 percent water changes every three days. Not sure what it was in that routine that was successful but I no longer have dinoflagellates.

FWIW --landlord

[babogart]

I have a GHA problem that I believe is stemming from phosphates and nitrates due to a skimmer that was not performing well.

I use a toothbrush to clean the screens on the Korilla PHs.

I have used a specimen container to collect the GHA that comes off the rocks/backwall, etc.

I drilled a series of 1/4" holes in the bottom of the box (8 total) and two in the sides. I cable tied a 3" section of 1/2" id tube to the inside of the box. I then placed an 8' section of 1/4" id tube into the 1/2" id tube. I lined the bottom of the box with a sheet of floss that I cut to the size of the bottom of the box. The box hangs on the inside of my sump. A siphon is started with the 1/4" tube into the 1/2" tube and into the specimen box. Water runs through the floss and into the sump leaving the GHA on the floss.

You can spot clean GHA and Cyno this way if you can not do a full water change at that time.

Just a thought....

-Brent

[cardiffgiant]

I had a really bad GHA problem. No one thing gets rid of it, IME. Upgrading the skimmer, increasing flow, adding refugium with macro algaes, and using sand instead of crushed coral helped me to get rid of it. If you do those things, you really won't have to scrub at all. The GHA will just starve.

[seapug]

While addressing the root cause is most important, I'm a firm believer in doing that in conjunction with hand to hand combat against hair algae. I have used a toothbrush quite a few times to halt the progression of nuisance algae in my tank. Making life difficult for it to physically grow can make your water quality improvements show results much quicker. Plus, keeping it cropped back makes it more appealing to snails and herbivores that rarely eat long stringy growths.

It's a good idea to try to remove it from the tank, but sometimes you'll end up with pieces that escape. They are easy to capture with a small net. Follow an algae pulling session with good a water change and you've completed step 1 in the battle.

[cardiffgiant]

When you're doing water changes, if you have rocks that you can pull into a bucket of old water to scrub, you'll save yourself a little effort. I remember spending a good 10 minutes swirling a fish net around to catch free floating algae after scrubbing and doing water changes. Probably the least fun I ever had maintaining tanks.

[Lucky-rc]

I have to agree ith seapug.
I battle it hand to hand, IME I hvae found that if you remove as much as you can, increase your water movement then your snails or other herbivores will make algae life tough on the reef. This will give you a chance to find what is out of ballance it correct it without your tank getting"ugly" on ya

Lucky

[Zoom]

Using GFO aggressively keeps my hair algae under control most of the time .........I like to feed my fish when they beg is my problem .:lol: