How long till Hair algea defeated?

c.rob · 06/30/2007, 04:20 PM

With reduction in feeding.
Aggresive water changes.
Larger cleanup crew.
Use of Phos media.
How long should it take to see a differance or erradicate the stuff?

JRod · 06/30/2007, 04:23 PM

It all depends:

-on how bad the problem is.
-on how much phosphate is locked up in the system.

By defeated I take it you mean all wiped out, could be 4 weeks if all is good.

c.rob · 06/30/2007, 04:27 PM

It was pretty bad untill I scrubbed the rock where I could. Did all the mentioned items above. Still some on the rocks and around some delicate corals. "have some frags now due to the cleaning of the rock". I am running the phos media through an AC500. Will be purchasing a reactor soon.

Paul B · 06/30/2007, 04:41 PM

Well let me see. My reef was started when Nixon was President and I still get cycles of hair algae so I would say maybe 37 years

c.rob · 06/30/2007, 06:14 PM

Well lets see... I was 1 when Nixon was President.

How long do your cycles seem to last ? and what are you doing to casue them.

I was overfeeding and Coaching Little Leauge... two teams....oh yeah and subing for coaches on two Soccer teams. MAN kids are a lot of work. wouldn't live without them though!!!

Ralph ATL · 06/30/2007, 06:34 PM

you need a refugem (even if it's a "makeshift"), and change out your iron based phosphate removal frequently. Also, test phosphate with ROWA or Deltec or colormeter.

Paul B · 07/14/2007, 05:11 PM

My cycles of hair algae can last a month or two and the tank could stay clear of algae for a year or two sometimes longer.
It is a cycle and if you have a tank long enough you may see it.

Reefbox · 07/14/2007, 05:32 PM

c.rob,

Also make sure you know what your tds is on your supply water. If you r feeding your algae with high tds makeup water and water changes it may never go away.

Also may want to look into the convenience of an automatic feeder.

fatdaddy · 07/14/2007, 05:48 PM

I'm at 6+ months. I've gone from a complete forest of hair algae to well under 10% coverage. It's all about controlling nutrients although a little mechanical removal can go a long way.

cristhiam · 07/14/2007, 05:50 PM

My battle lasted it like 6+ months and finally gone. I did water changes, less feeding, added more sand to a deep sand bed 5 inches, mannually removing it, sea hare, more clean up crew, denitrator (not in use now), I added a foxface but I don't think eat much of it (likes corals and clams thou

), and finally a 40G sump/fuge with cheato. now nitrates are at .5 (salifert) no traces of phosphates. Good luck with your battle.

specialkb · 07/14/2007, 07:43 PM

yeah im going threw an outbreak right now, im slowing my feeding down, and added more to the clean up crew, an in one night my new MEX Turbos have done a nice amount of work. thinking about adding a fuge to my setup some time soon and a phosban reactor is also one of the nexts.

dieselkeeper · 07/15/2007, 11:12 AM

I added a fuge to rid my tank of it. Never came back in almost a year.

Coffman34 · 07/15/2007, 03:20 PM

I don't know if this will work for everyone, but I mentionioned a little while back about me taking on some aptasia one day with some lemon juice. When I was done with this certain rock that had hair algae on it, and only this rock had it, i squirted a little lemon juice on the hair algae. After about 2 weeks, it eliminated all the hair algae on that rock, and the patch was about 1" wide by 3" long. So it did a decent job.

The only thing I can say is, be careful. It will harm inverts if you do it to them, had a brittle starfish that didn't like it to much, and you have to watch your ph the next couple of days.

Another thing, when you do it, try to remove the rock from the main tank and place it in a makeshift tank with no water flow. This will let the lemon juice settle into the hair roots and kill it better. And then you don't have to worry about the ph of your main display.

Coffman

PS if you try it, let me know if it worked for u also.

fatdaddy · 07/15/2007, 04:28 PM

I posted this on another thread, but I'll repeat it here. As I type, this "thing" has been in my tank for 48 hours and has stripped about half of the hair algae. It's ugly as sin, but I'm starting to fall in love with it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Awesome-GREEN-BA...QQcmdZViewItem

This thing has a vent on it's back, so it looks a lot like a sponge when it's sleeping/digesting. It prefers hair algae and so far has ignored everything else.

My rocks are a lot cleaner. I also upped my flow to 20x tank size.

Good luck. I hope it's going well.

Paul B · 07/15/2007, 06:14 PM

That is a common sea hare

fatdaddy · 07/15/2007, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Paul B
That is a common sea hare

Common Sea Hare, good to know. I bought 3 lettuce sea hares before I found this one thinking that they would eat hair algae. They didn't.

Paul B · 07/16/2007, 03:16 AM

This is a lettuce slug, is this what you bought? They don't eat hair algae.
Paul

uscharalph · 07/16/2007, 03:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by fatdaddy
I posted this on another thread, but I'll repeat it here. As I type, this "thing" has been in my tank for 48 hours and has stripped about half of the hair algae. It's ugly as sin, but I'm starting to fall in love with it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Awesome-GREEN-BA...QQcmdZViewItem

This thing has a vent on it's back, so it looks a lot like a sponge when it's sleeping/digesting. It prefers hair algae and so far has ignored everything else.

My rocks are a lot cleaner. I also upped my flow to 20x tank size.

Good luck. I hope it's going well.

Before my sea hare lost a battle with a powerhead, my lawnmower blenny was attacking it. I can't see giving another one a try.

njdevilsfan · 07/16/2007, 04:26 AM

a bali sea hare will wipe it out
but just buy a ton of mex snails you wont have to return them to the lfs like the bali when the hair is gone

fatdaddy · 07/16/2007, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by njdevilsfan
a bali sea hare will wipe it out
but just buy a ton of mex snails you wont have to return them to the lfs like the bali when the hair is gone

I'm already thinking of giving it up. I thought I'd have plenty for it to eat, but it's proving me wrong.

I need to cure some rocks, but I don't know when I'll have hair algae again. I know the LFS is having hair algae problems. I'll have to rent him out.

sarahdae · 07/16/2007, 07:07 PM

I discovered the awesomest natural control for hair algae...red leg hermit crabs. I AM ABSOLUTELY positive they eat green fuzzy hair algae, because I stuck one in my nano which had it, and a day later it was nearly gone. Since he is in the nano, I got to watch him up close...his little pincher claws would grab and rip the hair algae off the rocks and he would eat it...crawling along, until the rock was clean. I wondered why when I moved some Live rock from my main display, it started growing hair algae in my nano when I have never had hair algae in the display!
Now I know why, the red leg hermits in my display are always on the rocks picking and eating, never allowing it to grow. THe hermits love it. You have to get the "mexican red leg hermits". Not blue legs, not scarlets, because I can't guarantee those kinds will work the same. TRY IT!

uhuru · 07/16/2007, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by uscharalph
Before my sea hare lost a battle with a powerhead, my lawnmower blenny was attacking it. I can't see giving another one a try.

did your lawnmower blenny eat the hair algae? maybe it didn't want the sea hare eating all of it's food...

06/30/2007, 04:20 PM	#1
c.rob Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 430	How long till Hair algea defeated? With reduction in feeding. Aggresive water changes. Larger cleanup crew. Use of Phos media. How long should it take to see a differance or erradicate the stuff?

06/30/2007, 04:27 PM	#3
c.rob Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 430	It was pretty bad untill I scrubbed the rock where I could. Did all the mentioned items above. Still some on the rocks and around some delicate corals. "have some frags now due to the cleaning of the rock". I am running the phos media through an AC500. Will be purchasing a reactor soon. __________________ 11 yr old 180g reef , DSB , ATS , Skimmer , 100g sump. 2'x2' frag tank fed from 180

06/30/2007, 04:41 PM	#4
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	Well let me see. My reef was started when Nixon was President and I still get cycles of hair algae so I would say maybe 37 years __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

06/30/2007, 06:34 PM	#6
Ralph ATL Formerly mysterybox Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Flowery Branch, GA (North ATL) Posts: 1,842	you need a refugem (even if it's a "makeshift"), and change out your iron based phosphate removal frequently. Also, test phosphate with ROWA or Deltec or colormeter. __________________ Ralph Scheriff

07/14/2007, 05:11 PM	#7
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	My cycles of hair algae can last a month or two and the tank could stay clear of algae for a year or two sometimes longer. It is a cycle and if you have a tank long enough you may see it. __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

06/30/2007, 04:23 PM	#2
JRod Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Springfield, NJ Posts: 795	It all depends: -on how bad the problem is. -on how much phosphate is locked up in the system. By defeated I take it you mean all wiped out, could be 4 weeks if all is good.

06/30/2007, 06:14 PM	#5
c.rob Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 430	Well lets see... I was 1 when Nixon was President. How long do your cycles seem to last ? and what are you doing to casue them. I was overfeeding and Coaching Little Leauge... two teams....oh yeah and subing for coaches on two Soccer teams. MAN kids are a lot of work. wouldn't live without them though!!!

07/14/2007, 05:32 PM	#8
Reefbox Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Butler, PA Posts: 1,045	c.rob, Also make sure you know what your tds is on your supply water. If you r feeding your algae with high tds makeup water and water changes it may never go away. Also may want to look into the convenience of an automatic feeder.

07/14/2007, 05:48 PM	#9
fatdaddy Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Northeast Florida Posts: 1,191	I'm at 6+ months. I've gone from a complete forest of hair algae to well under 10% coverage. It's all about controlling nutrients although a little mechanical removal can go a long way. __________________ "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." -- Aristotle

07/14/2007, 05:50 PM	#10
cristhiam Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Groveland, FL Posts: 3,099	My battle lasted it like 6+ months and finally gone. I did water changes, less feeding, added more sand to a deep sand bed 5 inches, mannually removing it, sea hare, more clean up crew, denitrator (not in use now), I added a foxface but I don't think eat much of it (likes corals and clams thou ), and finally a 40G sump/fuge with cheato. now nitrates are at .5 (salifert) no traces of phosphates. Good luck with your battle. __________________ 2 yellows tail damsels, yellow watchman goby, tail spot blennie, purple pseudocromis, starry blennie, 2 clowns, 1 black clown, mandarine & Yellow tang Current Tank Info: 125 AGA, 3 40W 6500K, 3 110W URI Actinics, running on 2 IceCaps 660, CSS125

07/14/2007, 07:43 PM	#11
specialkb Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: North Fort Myers, Florida Posts: 340	yeah im going threw an outbreak right now, im slowing my feeding down, and added more to the clean up crew, an in one night my new MEX Turbos have done a nice amount of work. thinking about adding a fuge to my setup some time soon and a phosban reactor is also one of the nexts. __________________ Kyle Current Tank Info: 90G Reef, setting up 230G Reef

07/15/2007, 11:12 AM	#12
dieselkeeper Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Down south Posts: 198	I added a fuge to rid my tank of it. Never came back in almost a year. __________________ 210 gallon, 75 gal sump/refugium, 3 Tunze 6105 on 7096 controller, AT I Sunpower 8 bulb T5 lighting, Apex controller. 40 gal breeder/20 gal sump frag tank

07/15/2007, 03:20 PM	#13
Coffman34 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Indiana Posts: 222	I don't know if this will work for everyone, but I mentionioned a little while back about me taking on some aptasia one day with some lemon juice. When I was done with this certain rock that had hair algae on it, and only this rock had it, i squirted a little lemon juice on the hair algae. After about 2 weeks, it eliminated all the hair algae on that rock, and the patch was about 1" wide by 3" long. So it did a decent job. The only thing I can say is, be careful. It will harm inverts if you do it to them, had a brittle starfish that didn't like it to much, and you have to watch your ph the next couple of days. Another thing, when you do it, try to remove the rock from the main tank and place it in a makeshift tank with no water flow. This will let the lemon juice settle into the hair roots and kill it better. And then you don't have to worry about the ph of your main display. Coffman PS if you try it, let me know if it worked for u also.

07/15/2007, 04:28 PM	#14
fatdaddy Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Northeast Florida Posts: 1,191	I posted this on another thread, but I'll repeat it here. As I type, this "thing" has been in my tank for 48 hours and has stripped about half of the hair algae. It's ugly as sin, but I'm starting to fall in love with it. http://cgi.ebay.com/Awesome-GREEN-BA...QQcmdZViewItem This thing has a vent on it's back, so it looks a lot like a sponge when it's sleeping/digesting. It prefers hair algae and so far has ignored everything else. My rocks are a lot cleaner. I also upped my flow to 20x tank size. Good luck. I hope it's going well. __________________ "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." -- Aristotle

07/15/2007, 06:14 PM	#15
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	That is a common sea hare __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

07/16/2007, 03:16 AM	#17
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	This is a lettuce slug, is this what you bought? They don't eat hair algae. Paul

07/16/2007, 04:26 AM	#19
njdevilsfan Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: texas Posts: 658	a bali sea hare will wipe it out but just buy a ton of mex snails you wont have to return them to the lfs like the bali when the hair is gone __________________ SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES - NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING BUT THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS Current Tank Info: 210lps,75anemone,60frag,20

07/16/2007, 07:07 PM	#21
sarahdae Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Queen Creek, AZ Posts: 222	I discovered the awesomest natural control for hair algae...red leg hermit crabs. I AM ABSOLUTELY positive they eat green fuzzy hair algae, because I stuck one in my nano which had it, and a day later it was nearly gone. Since he is in the nano, I got to watch him up close...his little pincher claws would grab and rip the hair algae off the rocks and he would eat it...crawling along, until the rock was clean. I wondered why when I moved some Live rock from my main display, it started growing hair algae in my nano when I have never had hair algae in the display! Now I know why, the red leg hermits in my display are always on the rocks picking and eating, never allowing it to grow. THe hermits love it. You have to get the "mexican red leg hermits". Not blue legs, not scarlets, because I can't guarantee those kinds will work the same. TRY IT! __________________ Sarah Current Tank Info: 90 gal, mixed tank, 2 250w HQI/2X110w actinic, Deltec MCE600 skimmer