Going To War With Hair Algae!!!

[Fishnthecorner]

Ok, I have tried everything you guys suggested! The hair Algae is still out of control and I hate it! :thumbdown I don't know what else to do :confused:
Here's my scenario. 75 gallon FOWLR 90lbs liverock, 20 gallon sump, Octopus Skimmer, Phosphate reactor. 6 stage RO/DI Filter (TDS shows .002) 4 medium sized fish... Plenty of turbos and hermits (about 20 each)

I siphon as much out as I can, using a brush. about 10 gallons at a time...
I replace the filter floss, The phosphate reactor doesnt seem to help. I'm at my wits end. I have no corals so can I shut the lights for a few days?
The tank has been set up since August, I already replaced the bulbs 96watt VHO. ***?!!!:fun5:

[TBHockey]

I didn't see your previous post, but watch how much your feeding, you could go with the lights off for a few days or at least cut back the time you have them on. Not sure your time but maybe start by cutting the time in Half. I have seen many posts that say to watch how much you feed, i currently feed my fish every other day and have no issues with the fish going without for a day.

[DThompson]

What is your Phosphate level? Also, how long do you leave your lights on for now?

[robot2222]

i have been reading there is a way by raising mag levels. maybe try to ask on the chemestry forum about mag levels related to killing hair alge. hope that helps.

[Alexzor]

Cycle a separate tank place all fish in that tank for nutrient reduction hey while you're at it do hyposalinity to make sure you don't have a marine ich problem. Add a refugium, turn your lights off use Phosban, harvest everything you can and starve that stuff out

[Fishnthecorner]

TBH Hockey: I feed only once a day a small cube of brine shrimp. My fish seem to be starving.
D THompson: My Phosphate levels are low, I'm not sure the number, but My LFS Said low
My lights run about 14 hours a day
Robot: I will look into that
Alexor: !!! OMG !!! Gotta be an easier way! I'd rather just get rid of the tank! No way I could catch my fish...

[cindre2000]

Can you put in urchins? That's how I have fixed every HA outbreak that I have had to deal with.

[Servillius]

Ok, I have tried everything you guys suggested! The hair Algae is still out of control and I hate it! :thumbdown I don't know what else to do :confused:
Here's my scenario. 75 gallon FOWLR 90lbs liverock, 20 gallon sump, Octopus Skimmer, Phosphate reactor. 6 stage RO/DI Filter (TDS shows .002) 4 medium sized fish... Plenty of turbos and hermits (about 20 each)

I siphon as much out as I can, using a brush. about 10 gallons at a time...
I replace the filter floss, The phosphate reactor doesnt seem to help. I'm at my wits end. I have no corals so can I shut the lights for a few days?
The tank has been set up since August, I already replaced the bulbs 96watt VHO. ***?!!!:fun5:

Do you have a gravel bed?

[Fishnthecorner]

cindre 2000: I can, will that work? what type?
servillus: 1"-2" live sand bed

[jimsplace]

Try cutting back on your lighting duration. I don't think mg will help with hair algae only bryopis. While your working on your prams, try using the product "Algae Fix Marine". There is a thread on RC detailing it's use. Great stuffm I've used it, cured my HA and didn't affect anything in my tank. But if you want to keep it away, you MUST take care of all of your prams.

[cindre2000]

My favorite two urchins for hair algae are the tuxedo and rose. But as long as you don't get a pencil or slate (they are scavengers); pretty much all urchins eat algae like crazy (this includes coraline).

But remember, the hair algae is a symptom, high organics/nutrients/detritus is the cause. So if you still got the problem then urchins will only mask it. That said, hair algae is a pain since it proliferates those conditions, so you might have fixed the nutrient problem but the algae keeps on growing due to it fertilizing itself.

[Frogmanx82]

Lights at 14 hours a day is the problem. Drop to 6 hours and there isn't any reason to be lit up more than 10 hours long term. Get some moonlights, that way you can still view the tank at night without contributing to the algae. Everything else your doing seems right, perhaps you should be using a phosphate test kit. I recommend Elos. You should easily be able to tell if you have more than 0.01 phosphate with that test.

[DThompson]

My lights run about 14 hours a day


Bingo! You need to cut that way back. I would also guess you need to get the nutrients under control as well. (feed less and / or better skimming)

Why don't you turn your lights back to about 8 hours for starters. Do a water change, and add a clean up crew.

Let us know what happens.

Dan

[Servillius]

cindre 2000: I can, will that work? what type?
servillus: 1"-2" live sand bed


I know that the people who really understand and know how to set up and maintain a LSB are having much success and I understand why. For the rest of us, i.e. me, the gravel is an evil thing. I would consider slurping it out and replacing it with nothing but a lot more flow or, if aesthetics demand it, with a think coating you can suck out and replace every month or two. After pulling a few of these out of tanks, I can't tell you what a hideous nitrate factory they must be.

[kingfisher62]

Just curious, do you rinse your frozen food in a net under the tap ?

[Fishnthecorner]

I thaw the frozen food in my RO/DI Water (small cup) I will do a water change, cut the lights back, And the LSB... Suck the sand out? or use a gravel filter?

[kingfisher62]

Those frozen juices can cause problems, make sure you are rinsing food in a net first so you dont add any more waste into your tank!

[Fishnthecorner]

Those frozen juices can cause problems, make sure you are rinsing food in a net first so you dont add any more waste into your tank!

Oh really? geez! Like how do you rinse?

[tarpon12]

I just went through the same thing. My phosphates were reading 0. I was using GFO. RO water, basically everything you said. I have recently found out a couple of things after talking to a marine biologist who worked at Bio Reef here in Jacksonville FL. 1. The algae is absorbing the phosphates giving you a false reading. 2. He said that live rock can actually absorb phosphates and leach them out slowly over a long period. He told me to increase the dossage of GFO and conduct frequent water changes. 3. Make sure my fuge was somewhat clean. It wasnt, it had allot of crap in it, so much that I pulled it out and turned it into a spotless sump. Im on my third week now and have reduced my hair algae about 98%. I added new mexican turbos and they are going to town on the remaining. I should be completely free in about two weeks. Oh by the way, I have been battling this for over a year.
I hope this helps,

Alex

[Fishnthecorner]

I don't have a refugium. and what is GFO?

[barderer]

You have to determine the source of your phosphates. Considering what you have said and how young your tank is I can only imagine that the rocks are your source. You don't seem to have any other incoming sources as you are feeding light and use RO/DI water. You could conduct a test by taking a rock out of your tank putting it in a small tank with circulation and let it sit for a few days and measure phosphates to see if the rock is leeching. If so, the previous owner of your rock might have used tap water or the rocks might have been in a phosphate rich environment. Only solution is to let the rocks do their thing and let them leech. You can do this in your display. Since you have no coral just let the algae grow. Let it grow and soak up all the phosphates. After a while it will kill itself by using all available nutrients. As long as you are not adding a new significant source of phosphates you should be good. And of course limit feeding to what the fish eat. Very little food should find it way to the bottom.

GFO = is granular ferrous oxide a phosphate absorption medium. Expensive, and a patch for the real problem of too much unused phosphate in the system. Very useful tool to get things under control and then prevent future problems. Good buffer if you are willing to fork the $

Nick

[K.Bodno]

what about this guy?

http://www.pacificeastaquaculture.com/Detail.aspx?ID=957&ReturnPage=%2fShowProductCategory.aspx%3fCategoryId%3d4%23I+1045

[kingfisher62]

Oh really? geez! Like how do you rinse?

Just rinse in a net under your faucet!

The sea hare that K.Bodno mentioned are great algae grazers. They really can mow the stuff down. But you will still have to figure out the source of your problem!

Here is a picture of mine it is about 4 inches!

[Caden]

Oh yes, I have heard that sea hares are amazing at clean up, and I love the way they look. I don't have a reef tank yet, so no personal experience, but I would watch them mow through just about any vegetation in some lagoons down in the keys, and I am hoping to get one for my future tank if algea is any problem.

Make sure you don't have any large aggressive fish though, otherwise it wouldn't work.

[sanababit]

Here is te secret

1 rinse all the frozen cubes in a net under tap water to really clean the food
2 use algaefix marine
3 cut your photoperiod to 6 hours a day or lights need to be replaced
4 install an algae scrubber
5 baste the rocks and sand every other day
6 if you have a lot of hair algae get yourself a lettuce nudi or a sea hare
7 remove as much as you can manually

this is what i did and in a reef tank, so for a fowlr tank it would be a lot easier using chemicals (algaefixmarine)

good luck

sana

[dynomight]

I had the same issue with hair algae. It freaking over ran my tank. I pruned it every other day and tried to rip out the roots to no avail. Then I heard about Algaefix. This stuff works like a charm. Killed off my algae in maybe a month. I also had a mixture of corals (Sps, Lps, anemone, etc.) and it didnt affect them. It will however kill any macro algae you may have in a sump so pull it out or buy new.

There is a thread asbout it floating around here if you search for it. Trust me buy it, petsmart had it where I live but the doctors also have it.

[gorey]

Go to reeftopia.com and get 4 lettuce nuddiebranches. they are reef safe and are supposed to eat up the hair algea. And when they are done they can still surive..

[CtotheA]

Or......do water changes with water from a ro/di unit.

[bryman]

Check out my battle: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1387924&highlight=bryman+bryopsis
Vodka worked for me!

[K.Bodno]

what about this guy?

http://www.pacificeastaquaculture.com/Detail.aspx?ID=957&ReturnPage=%2fShowProductCategory.aspx%3fCategoryId%3d4%23I+1045

[Fishnthecorner]

ok, I will try a sea hare...
I will rinse the food.

sanababit: install an Algae scrubber? Baste the rocks and sand?

[tarpon12]

Could someone post a link on vodka dosing? Thankyou.

[JonnyD91]

I would not do vodka dosing without doing some serious research first. For as many successes i have seen there have been the same amount of failures or fallbacks.

[JonnyD91]

Do you have room to connect a seprate tank to your sump with a DSB that will also act as a refugium?

[tarpon12]

No, I have no room to connect a fuge to my sump. I just got rid of my fuge which actually was a trash can because there are not to many things that will fit under a 54 corner stand. So, when i pulled the fuge out, I noticed some kind of black substance, it kinda look like silt or algae. It looked bad. So, I got rid of the whole thing and got a 14 tall and made just a sump. I started doing massive water changes for a while, now im to a 10% a WC. I have replaced my GFO and added some huge mexican turbo's. The algae has reduced about 98% and only getting better. I was merely curious of vodka dosing just to learn about it.

I dont have a before, but this is current.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1405/6199830/20069861/381150212.jpg

[JonnyD91]

Does that fish live in that dead urchin?

[tarpon12]

sure does. That was his home at the LFS so I grabbed the shell too.

[JonnyD91]

thats awesome