My Hair Algae problem...

[Eel Freak]

I don't feed obscenely heavily, I run Phos-Guard which I change out regularly, my Nitrates and Phosphates all read zero. I do 10g water changes weekly and a 30g water change once a month on my 125 mixed reef. I exclusively use Reef Crystals and top off with zero TDS RO/DI water. And yet, I still have hair algae. Despite a LMB, many snails, and three urchins, it still grows... What could be causing it to continue growing? I am going to be adding a fuge next with lots of Macro in an attempt to use the hair algae's fuel before it can.

If one looks at a long-term chart of a healthy population in an ecosystem, one will notice how it continually rises and falls on a regular basis. Could it be that due to the rising and falling populations of bacteria species in the home aquarium, either a peak in the right (or wrong) or a low in the right (or wrong) bacteria species (be it a single species or many) causes some form of imbalance and the hair algae takes the chance to grow? Is this crazed thinking or is this a possibility? Any input here is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

[jformani]

Fuge with macro could help and would be one of my only other suggestions. I have chaeto in my sump and when I started my 125g in feb I added a baseball size of chaeto. Its now 100x that and I've cut it and have thrown it away.

Do you have turbo snails in there? I had a little hair algae at first when I added the turbo's they crushed it. I also find emerald crabs eat it as well. The funny thing is in my display I have zero hair algae but in my overflows it grows so I'm assuming the snails and emerald crabs help.

Also, do you have any tangs in the tank? My yellow and naso chow on it as well.

[Haag13]

How long has the tank been setup? The hair algae may be pulling nutrients from your live rock.

[Eel Freak]

I have a number of Turbos... I'll have to try the emeralds. I did for many months, but don't right now. I am getting a nice size yellow tomorrow...

The tank was started October 30th, 2009.

[gorey]

I had the same problem for a year or so, I had all the right stuff and still had hair algae. So I called thefilterguyz.biz to order some new filters for my RO unit and while doing so i got to talking to him about my hair algea problem. He recommended for me to get a foxface so i did and within a month my hair algae was gone. So about 8 months later i decided that the foxface was getting to big so i got rid of him and within 2 months the hair algea was back!!! So I went back to the LFS and got another small one and soon after that it was all gone again, Needless to say i will always have one in my tank!! Watch what you get tho the "foxface lo" is the best for it?

[Eel Freak]

I had the same problem for a year or so, I had all the right stuff and still had hair algae. So I called thefilterguyz.biz to order some new filters for my RO unit and while doing so i got to talking to him about my hair algea problem. He recommended for me to get a foxface so i did and within a month my hair algae was gone. So about 8 months later i decided that the foxface was getting to big so i got rid of him and within 2 months the hair algea was back!!! So I went back to the LFS and got another small one and soon after that it was all gone again, Needless to say i will always have one in my tank!! Watch what you get tho the "foxface lo" is the best for it?

Well! This could very well be my band aid! I had a Foxface Lo for the longest time in my 125. Then, one day in early June, I came home and found it spontaneously dead. And now, Hair Algae... Well, it looks like a tang, maybe not the yellow now since I'm in need of the foxface, and a foxface will be obtained soon! Thanks!

However, this doesn't exactly solve the root of the problem... Another thought I had is do all reefs across the globe all have hair algae but an appropriate number of herbivores live there and continually mow it down, thus we as aquarists must add these herbivores? The thing that contradicts this for me is that I've had some tanks up at work (LFS) for three years now and they have remained spotless...

[locust]

I don't feed obscenely heavily, I run Phos-Guard which I change out regularly, my Nitrates and Phosphates all read zero. I do 10g water changes weekly and a 30g water change once a month on my 125 mixed reef. I exclusively use Reef Crystals and top off with zero TDS RO/DI water. And yet, I still have hair algae. Despite a LMB, many snails, and three urchins, it still grows... What could be causing it to continue growing? I am going to be adding a fuge next with lots of Macro in an attempt to use the hair algae's fuel before it can.

If one looks at a long-term chart of a healthy population in an ecosystem, one will notice how it continually rises and falls on a regular basis. Could it be that due to the rising and falling populations of bacteria species in the home aquarium, either a peak in the right (or wrong) or a low in the right (or wrong) bacteria species (be it a single species or many) causes some form of imbalance and the hair algae takes the chance to grow? Is this crazed thinking or is this a possibility? Any input here is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

I would get rid of the urchins and probably get rid of half the snails. You say you have many snails, how many is that? If you don't know, you've more than likely got way too many. Imagine all that snail poop! The green hair just loves it! A tang would be a good idea i think but only after you remove the urchins and snails. Otherwise you are just adding even more poop into the water. Lessen the poop, and you'll lessen the hair.

[tkeracer619]

I would just like to remind everyone that fish do not solve algae issues. They cause them.

You need to remove what you put into the tank. If you don't you get algae.

Algae grows on phosphates.

My bet is your rock is loaded or you are feeding food with lots of po4. Keep up with the GFO changes and confirm your water source.

It can take a very long time to get all of the phosphates out of rock that is loaded.

[eb8919]

How does rock become loaded and how do you get the phosphates out of loaded rock?

[tkeracer619]

One method is "cooking" the rock, this does not involve heat.

Rock can absorb phosphate so if you have a bunch of it free floating around in the tank it will get picked up by the rock. Eventually it will start growing fields of hair algae.

Running GFO or dosing a carbon source is a good way of removing the phosphates in a running tank as cooking requires you to remove the rock into a container with no light. It takes a lot of GFO and a good amount of time to pull all of the po4 out of the system.

Why you should never buy used rock that has algae on it. Your starting with a problem to try and save a few bucks.