need help asap

[ricordia nut]

hey all i have been in the reefing for over 8 years and all of a a suden on one of my tanks i have algea grwoing on all of my live rock and glass have a sand bed of 3 inches and lots of live rock the algea is green its hair algea and then thier are little bubbels at end of it i know its the bad algea how do i get rid of it

[tmcgaughey]

quick fix is to shut off the lights for a few days

long term - it's either caused by nitrates or silicates.. do you run GFO or carbon? have an macro?

[ricordia nut]

i run carbon on my tank dont have a macro

[ricordia nut]

should i take out sand bed and go are bottom will that help

[ricordia nut]

is thier any chemical i can put it in tank to kill this

[tmcgaughey]

ok, run some GFO.. do a search for it
put some cheato and they should help a lot

yeah, i think they have chemicals for it but i've never used them and it will just come back unless you have a constant fix (gfo, chaeto)

[Rae C.]

Avoid the chemicals. Go with the lights out, run the fuge/sump with more chaeto, use a reactor to clear out extra nutrients. The chemicals just make more of a chemical imbalance and bring on other problems, without really taking care of the original problem.

[ricordia nut]

what is a gfo

[Rae C.]

And I wouldn't pull out the sand if you have livestock in the tank. The sand is actually helping keep your fish/corals alive.

You could also hand pull the larger chunks, or trim with scissors, before the lights out.

[Rae C.]

Oh, and a GFO is a type of filter media G=?, F=ferrous, O=oxide. Used in a reactor. I've never used it myself, I've only done the lights out and hand pulling for hair algae, bryopsis, and bubble. Good luck!

[BurntOutReefer]

how old are your lights?

[tmz]

Turning off the lights will kill or severely stress photosynthetic organisms including those you want to keep without removing the nutrients that caused the algae in the first place. In fact when it dies it will put back the nutrients it has taken up. Limiting phosphate will stop green hair algae from growing. GFO will remove phosphate. Manually removing as much hair algae as you can will remove the nutrients the algae has taken up. Limiting feeding,aggressive skimming, carbon and frequent cleaning to prevent detritus buildup will help keep it in check. Some turbo snails andtrochus snails will also help.

[nightOwl]

I know this is a silly question since you have been in the hobby so long but are you using RODI water and if so what is your TDS reading? I only ask because some municipalities flush there water systems with chemicals that have been know to cause algae blooms. The area I am in performed a flush sometime in Oct/Nov but they sent out a notice saying we might notice a funny taste in the water but it would be OK. Some of the guys that don't use RODI water near me experienced something similar.

I would say avoid chemicals and try to stick to a natural form of control also check how old your bulbs are and you know the routine with water changes :).

Finally have you changed anything in the tank that is having the outbreak i.e. new supplements, foods, etc?

Good luck