How to get rid of hair algae?
 

I have a huge problem with hair algae! It's growing all over the rocks, on the sand, and even on the circulation pumps! Here's an image:Attachment 279721
The snails eat some algae, but they barely make a dent in the overall growth! Any advice?

Well, your best bet is to try and figure out what is feeding this algae. Excess nitrates/phosphates? Could be your water change water?

I had success using turbo and the larger of the cerith snails consuming hair algae. Then again, it was just a very tiny amount. Nothing like your photo.

Are you running a sump? If so you could throw some chaeto in there to take up some nutrients. A phosphate reactor running gfo works to keep it away. I think you should remove as much as you can manually and figure out whats feeding it. Are you using rodi water?

Try mollies to get rid of HA.

I tried testing the water, and the nitrate level is 10 ppm. Is it too high? Also, I change water quite rarely, since when I changed water frequently, my anemone died :sad1: . Would getting more cleaner snails and more hermit crabs help?

Also, I can't get more fish since the tank is only 42 gallons, so I can't get mollies. It sounded like a good idea though.

Mexican Turbo Snails mowed it down in a few days when I had an outbreak. They are like little bulldozers though and once they have done their job most people donate them back to their LFS. What others have said is correct... the Turbos will get rid of it but you have to solve the root problem to keep it from returning.

Thanks, I have a few turbos but not enough to fix the problem. I'll go buy more now!

You have a phosphate problem IMO and testing probably won't show it since the phosphate is being removed from the water very quickly by the over growth of HA. Figure out where it's coming from (excess feeding/biolode, rock leaching,etc.)

IME genus Dolabella sea hares are the best GHA eaters. 10ppm nitrate isn't horrific, but on the high side if you're having algae problems.

Smaller and more frequent WCs might be a good option.

Hmm...these are all good answers. I'll see how your suggestions go.

+1 Phosphates.

+2 on phosphates. It will read 0 because the it will all be stored in the hair algae itself. I had a terrible outbreak and I beat the battle with yanking it all out, using a phosphate pad, turn the lights off for a few days, and starting a refugium. I found my snails would not eat it if it was over an inch long which would take only a few hours in my tank.

So, others have taken a shot in the dark.

Do you have a sump?
Do you have a skimmer? If yes which one?
How many fish? What fish?
What do you feed?
How much do you feed?
Was the rock bought as live rock or macro rock?
Where was the rock bought from?
RODI water? Or tap water? How does the source water test?

That's a fair start.

Yes, I have a sump, I have a protein skimmer, I have 7 fish (1 yellow tang, 2 ocellaris clownfishes, 3 yellowtail blue damsels, and 1 sixline wrasse), I feed frozen brine shrimp once a week (sometimes I feed flakes like Tetracolor, Spirulina 20, and Prime Reef Flakes; once in a while, I also feed an algae wafer), I bought the rock as live rock, the rock was bought at www.reefsupply.com, and I'm not sure about the water. I purify it, then add the proper amount of aquarium salt.

Wait, the address isn't reefsupply.com. I'm not sure where I bought the live rock, possibly at www.saltwaterfish.com

How do you purify your water? What kind of purifier?

Also, that is a pretty high bio load.