Minor green hair algae treatment

[starionesir]

I had battled and hair algae outbreak and won when I started running brs high capacity gfo. Down side was it put a hurting on my healthy duncan. I had added less gfo then the tank called for as to not shock the system but it still seemed to have a effect. The duncan did live but 4 of the 5 heads died. All corals seem to be doing well but now the algae has popped up in a couple spots. I had also washed the gfo very well before putting into use.

I have since added a 10 gallon fuge with alot of macro lit the opposite of the display tank. Macro is growing like crazy and the hair algae is not as bad as before but just wondering what other options there may be. I am running bio pellets and have gfo left just worried about causing any harm to the corals again. Last week's tests.

Phosphate .06 measured with hanna tester
Nitrate 0 measure with API kit

[top shelf]

If its minor you could scrub the spots with a toothbrush, I had a spot about 2x3 on rock did that and haven't seen it sense. If its not really long an urchin will make quick work of it, I had one and he decimated all the algae except the really long stuff. Only downside to an urchin is they can quickly eat themselves outta food and if you have frags not glued they will take off with them.

You could also try feeding a little less and see if that helps any.

[CafeReef]

If it's minor, run your tank with your lights off for a few days. Take away their nutrients and it will go away. I had two small GHA patches about the size of my thumb. Havnt seen it since.

[Sk8r]

Good info on the duncan re gfo. We learn by doing, and not everything works with every system.
Water changes with good ro/di will help, even in excess of normal water changes. At a certain level, your phosphate is probably from rock and sand and will just have to soak out, so it will be a transient problem, but meanwhile, just keep doing water changes. Some people have had success with carbon dosing, but the other end of that may be bacterial growth in excess, ie, brown film, so no solution is without some downside.

[starionesir]

The tank has been running for almost a year and a half so maybe since I reused some rock along with new rock I may just have some phosphate leaching still. The tank is a 100 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump and I do weekly 5 gallon changes. I use a spectrapure ro/di and check tds every time I run it and once it starts reading anything I change out the di cartridge.

Before putting gfo back online again I think I'll give it some more time. I have been doing the toothbrush routine and removing as much loose algae as possible. I had a long spine urchin and he did a good job but he was very destructive. Always knocking stuff over. Thanks for everyones info. I appreciate it.

[skeeter_ca]

What kind of clean up crew do you have. Adding a few more snails might help keep it cleaned up.

[starionesir]

I have alot of snails and hermet crabs. I also have a couple star fish as well.