Blenny for eating hair algae

[fivekenn]

I've have an outbreak of green hair algae in my 75 gal reef tank that I just can't get rid of. My parameters are good although my nitrates are at 20 for some reason I can't identify. I'm working on that but I'm thinking on getting a blenny to munch down the algae and while everyone says to get a lawnmower blenny I was hoping to get one with more color. Any suggestions on a good algae eating blenny? Thanks.

[Stanley-Reefer]

They only eat the short stuff...

[Yogre]

My lawnmower blenny doesn't touch the hairy stuff either. Seems like he only eats film algae.

[dedecv3]

I got 2 Polyp rocks for free from a friend that were overgrown with hair algae. Bought my lawnmower shortly after to take care of it and he has not touched the hair algae at all. I just got my 2 tangs in the last 3 weeks and they have actually done quite a number on it to the point where it is almost gone.

[michael_cb_125]

I have found that the best method of removing hair algae is nutrient reduction coupled with Royal Tuxedo Urchins.

~Michael

[fivekenn]

The utchins sound like a good idea although with my nitrates at 20 ppm I'm not certain my water quality is good enough to sustain them. The blenny sounded like a hearty nearterm solution, but maybe not.

[bigworm175]

My lawnmower doesn't touch it. My yellow tang does (or did since the GHA is gone now). I recently tried a 3 day lights out and it removed all my algae issues. No GHA but I had cyano really bad and its completely gone now. Its only been a little over a week so its too early to say that its completely eradicated but so far so good. As I was researching the lights out method GHA was mentioned too.

[locust]

Don't go for the urchins if you have any prize coralline algae because they WILL eat the hair algae but they will also eat anything else in their path.

I recently bought 2 new fish; a dwarf fisher's angel and a klein's butterfly and believe it or not, both of these fish love to pick at my green hair. The butterfly also picks at any coral however which is not really an issue for me. It may just be i got very lucky with these fish but if you see one in the LFS, maybe give one a try.

[fox2589]

My midas blenny pecks and eats hair algae all the time.-drew

[John Zillmer]

I've had good luck with starry blennies (Salarias ramosus) eating HA. I agree with the thought that nutrient reduction is a big part of HA control. Be sure your skimmer is running well, sand bed is deep enough for denitrification and you have some sort of phosphate control in place.