I'll be honest.. I don't believe in Sally Lightfoot Crabs. A LFS has a TON of them in a tank that looks like it's nothing but PURE GHA and it's never gotten any better.

The only part of that article that I'm missing out is my SpG. I'm @ 1.024 and the article recommends 1.026 will this really make that much of a difference?

The manual removal idea is not working. It seems I'm only making it grow back thicker, like pruning roses, the stuff that pulls off easily is already dying. I'm only exposing more of the lush undergrowth to more light and energy.

I'm really thinking that I need a massive attack of herbivores which I can promptly return to their owners. (Sea Hare for Rent?)

I have thought about an urchin. But the only reason is, I'm just curious how you transport that without popping the bag. :D

How about a Foxface Rabbitfish? It would go to town on that stuff.

Is your tank exposed to direct/ indirect sunlight? If so that may be the problem.

Hello everyone. Finally someone is having the same problem as me and believe me, i dont wish it on anyone.. OK. I have been battling hair algae for over 4 months now. Nothing has worked i have spent over $200.00 in medicine not including clean up crews. after 2 months i tore down my 90 gallon to the flore. Power washed all my rock and soaked in vinager and then let dry. I took my tank out in the front yard and hosed it down. threw the 100lbs of sand away, and boiled and cleaned (very well) all of my filters and anything else that was there. When i was done there was absolutly NO sign of hair algae. Low and behold one week later. guess what came back with 100 gallons of new water. 100lbs of new sand and everything. I almost passed out. that was 2 months ago. My lawnmower too looks like he ate a golf ball but its just tooooo much. l have snails crabs, blenny's you name tangs. i clean everyday i have nitrate and phosphate removers and i dont even have those problems. No one can help me. I guess i am just ment to have HA. Not even the fish store can help.. you name it i have tried it. If anyone knows something that i dont please help me. and i feel for all of you who are ahving this problem b/c believe me. It is the worst thing in this hobby i have had to go through and its just never ending.

LOL probably everything undetectable look at that growth. Wish I could get that to grow in my sump!

So you're saying that it's okay to grow in the sump? But won't that seed into the tank?

Try Chemi-Clean by Boyd Enterprises. It cleaned up my tank in a day...

Hand picking it off the rock doesn't work, plus putting Mexican Turbos where they need to be?

Are you sure you don't have bryopsis? That stuff is why more coarse and tougher to get rid of. I'm still fighting it.

This really is'nt a very big clean-up crew for a 75 gal tank.As well...you need to aggressively attack this with water changes larger than 5 gallons.Ditch the sandsifting star...all he is doing is eating the infauna from your sandbed{which you need} and then after he is done he will starve.{get a couple atlantic spotted cucumbers instead}You mentioned that your LMB and heniochus are fat....so I would suspect that you are feeding them quite well.Back off on feeding...a habit that is hard to break.Our tendency is to overfeed.
For the source of your water....test this for nitrates and phosphates....there is no telling when or if the place you buy your water from changes their filters...and what the TDS is of the water you are using.
So that would be my first recommendations:
Back off on feeding
Make sure your source water has 0 TDS and is phosphate,chloramine and nitrate free.
Step up your water changes using QUALITY RO/DI
Stop adding chemicals...a poly filter might help remove some phosphates.
Increase the size of your clean-up crew
Out compete the algae w/ macro-algae
Get the rockwork off the glass...and move your PH's so that you are getting flow through and around your rock work.
Use a turkey baster to blow the sediment from your rocks
Change the carbon frequently{at least once a week} carbon that is spent will leech what it has taken out,back into your water.

Also I know your tank is young,but how old is your lighting...did you buy it new with the tank?Bulbs that have lost their spectrum will also cause algae issues.

It really does look like Bryopsis and that is tough. Unfortunately, for many complex chemical reasons, phosphate tests don't really work well in marine aquaria. The best phosphate test is the presence of algae. You've got it. Its there.

A phosban reactor is a good idea. The biggest thing is extreme skimming. If you can upgrade great! If not, see if someone from your area or club can loan you a spare skimmer to run for a while. Multiple skimmers are a good thing, especially if they are different types (needle wheel and a becket for example).

Clean up crews are good, but you have a nutrient problem, and they can't solve that.

Algae hates high Ph. There is nothing magic about 8.3. Actually there is some real debate as to whether that really represents natural sea water. On the advice of Anthony Calfo (see expert forum) I started dosing kalk to run my Ph at 8.6 during the day and 8.4 at night. That had a major impact on bryopsis.

Ultimately the thing that put me over the top was a major skimmer upgrade and the addition of ozone. That finally got the nutrient levels down and the O2 levels up to the point the bryopsis crashed.

I hope some of this helps.

Ok Massive replies again...
 

SJM: I really like the Fox Face. However I think the addition of large BIOLoad will be contradictory to what I'm trying to do.

MileHighReefer: There are windows in the room that the tank is in. But none of the sunlight from them strikes the tank. I live in an older house. So there really isn't any room where this is the case. And the basement isn't an option.

gsxrchck: Isn't that a little drastic?

Melev: You have a good point. How can I identify bryopsis vs GHA?

Waterfaller1: I don't have a TDS meter, however I do chemically test each batch of water beofre I use it, for Ammona, Nitrate, Nitrite and Phosphates and I get 0.

bvoss: My question was acutally about SpG not PH. However I do know that that might be a factor that lead to this growth. I had none of this Algae when I had a SpG of 1.026 and a PH of 8.5 however the few corals that are in my tank were not doing good so I decided to lower it. That's why I'm at 1.024~1.025 and PH of 8.0 ~ 8.3


I'm still going on that road trip today to grab that MacroAlgae.

This might be a BAD concept, but since what's an Algal Turf Scrubber?

I would just thrown in about a 100 astraeas. Once they mow it down, clean the sand and rocks of detritus/astraea poop. Don't let it sit/rot and start it all over again.

"Phosphate: < 0.25ppm (Can't test lower than that)"

So water changes are not going to do you a whole lot of good.

Hello there Bomber.
Hair algae is a tough problem and as you can see water changers, Chemi Clean, rabbit fish, tangs, urchins, lawn mower bleenies and grenades will not help. Sorry. In the sea there are huge numbers of those animals mentioned which eat the algae as soon as it grows but in your tank, unfortunately they poop in there also. If you can teach them to poop outside the tank, that would solve the problem. You also can not eliminate all of the nutrients without killing your corals because they also need the same nutrients to live (albeit in smaller quantities) You do need to limit these nutrients but algae will live with very small quantities of these chemicals. You will read about many "miracle" cures because algae many times disappears on it's own due to one or more of it's fertilizers being depleted by too much algae. It is self limiting, unfortunately, as soon as the nutrient is abundant again, the algae, or a different type, will return.
But, alas, I have a partial solution. A tank can support only so much algae for the reasons that I mentioned. We have to let the algae do their thing but not in our tanks. If we can supply a place for the algae to grow and not be on our corals we would all live together happily.
I have a shallow trough about an inch deep above the water in my reef and to the back. It sits partially under the lights and shields the back of the tank from light (which I want to do anyway) Algae like fast water flow and high light intensity. The skimmer dumps water on one end of the trough, the water flows fast 6' to the far end where it goes back into the tank in an even sheet so no bubbles are created. There is a plastic screen in the bottom of the trough that I roll up once in a while and remove to clean off any hair algae. Problem solved. At first the tray would get covered in hair algae and I had to clean it every week, now it is about once a month. Very little algae is in my tank because it prefers conditions in the tray.
By the way, I have this algae now because I am doing an experiment with a moorish Idol and I feed the thing way too often which is really messing up my water. But my tank has always been an experiment and as an experiment some good and bad things will happen but they are all learning experiences so even the bad things are good.
Have a great Fourth of July.
Paul

I just took care of a hair algae problem much worse on some rock i bought cheap...

If you can-- this worked well for me.... All the algae is gone...

1) remove the rock and scrub in seperate container once a week
2) rinse well and put back each time
3) run heavy carbon, clean the sand bed well when doing 25% water changes weekly.

*if water is questionable use RO water or buy it at the grocery store.

What about going bare bottom in the main tank and having the deep sand bed in the sump? Let the algae grow in there. It should suck up the nutrients and keep the tank clean, right? Correct me if I'm wrong. It's just a guess.

Actually, I want to go bare bottom in my main (75gal) and put a .125mm silica sand in my 55gal. sump. With Cheato of corse. Any ideas? My GHA is just as bad if not worse. And I have Blue/Green algae growing on the sand. Looks pretty crappy. Of corse, I don't mind the algae look because it makes it all look more natural to me, but it will eventually kill all of my corals and I don't want that to happen. Give me some ideas on whether or not this idea of mine might work.

"Cook" your rock.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=485572

I think I put in a post once that cooking my rock is out of the question. I have some huge chunks and corals stuck all over them. Covered with coral to be exact. Can't remove the corals and can't break the rock without decimating the corals.

I think is GHA. Bryopsis has a feathery appearance. When you pull this out it looks like a furball from a cat.

Got a bag of cheto today. And about 3 dozen snails for $3.00. Added bonus the guy threw in two bumblebee snails by mistake.

Yea I would grow it in a sump. This stuff removes nutrients like crazy. It may start to grow a little in your tank, but if you get some tags and hermit/snails it would never get out of controll. I bet all your fish are healthy because of this algae.

My sentiments exactly.
Paul

my fish are extremely healthy. Plus I feed them with garlic extract in their food. Thanks guys. So I would be better off going BB in my main with 6" DSB in my sump.

I had major hair algae problems, and did all these treatments you all did. I then started doing this, leaving the lights on for no more then 8 hours a day, started feeding the fish and corals WAY LESS!!! 10% water changes weekly with RO/DI water, I used a turkey baster or a power head to blow the live rock and sand bed off to rid them of any detris. And all of a sudden My problem started going away. I still have the HA on my back wall, but that is going away slowly as well. It's a long slow process to get rid of it. But just keep working at it. You will win!!! nutrient export is the only way to rid yourself of this problem!!! My turbo snails and urchins and emerald crabs, none of them seem to touch the GHA. Hope this helps you out!!! I feel for you with this problem!!!

From all the feedback I got I think I will do the following.
- Go bare bottom. (75gal main)
- Sand in the sump (75gal sump as of today)
- Scrub my rocks and rinse them very well before returning them to the tank.
- Scrub the inside of my tank.
- I will transfer some of my sand to the sump with my new sand to help seed it.
- I will do 30 gallon water changes weekly.
- Blow off my rocks everyday and let the detritis float to the sump.
- Get a crap load of critters to help with the rocks and for in the sump.

If I go BB in my main, what kind of critters should I use up there?
If I have sand 6" deep in my sump, what should I get for down there to help with the sand. I might put a few pieces of live rock down there too.

I think if I stick to this strongly, I can beet this. I