90 Gallon FOWLR with algae problem

[bigntasty]

I have a 90 gallon FOWLR tank. It has been running for over 2 years and over the past couple of months I have had a serious problem with what i think is hair algae. It grows over everything in the tank including the walls and live rock. It is very slimy and can grow over a couple of inches long if I ignore it for a over a week. I have tested everything my testing kit can test and it all comes out fine. I have been manually trying to remove it with my hands but it is tiring process and always seems to grow back no matter how much i remove. By this description does this seem like hair algae? I have tried reducing the periods of light in the tank as well as reducing the amount of food i put in the tank. Any help on this problem would be appreciated.

 

[snakeblitz33]

1. Replace your lights if they are old and need to be replaced.
2. Reduce your phototime - or just turn your tank off for a couple of weeks, and only turn the lights on during feeding times.
3. Reduce your phosphate levels by adding a phosban reactor while your lights are off.
4. While the algae dies because your lights are off, perform water changes.
5. Add a clean up crew that will eat the shorter bits of algae once the larger bits have died.
6. If the problem persists, add a sea hare or rent one from a local reef club.
7. Reduce the amount of food you feed.
8. feed better quality foods and rinse your frozen foods a bit under tap.
9. add an algae scrubber
10. add a protein skimmer and use it religiously

 

[snakeblitz33]

If you don't have a lot of flow in the tank, you could try adding an additional powerhead to keep the build up of detritus minimal.
During your water changes, you should take a powerhead and blow off all of the rocks in the tank with it - and get it down in there deep. A lot of detritus will come out of the rocks. Do a 50% water change when you do this if you can. There will be a lot of floating debris which your filter will catch. You will probably have to change your filter out too.

 

[bigntasty]

I was thinking of adding some snails and crabs to do some cleaning to help as well. I am just hesitant because my pink tailed trigger might eat them.

 

[tangs rule]

Your alage problem is something most of us have fought/are fighting and there are a couple things that'll help rid your tank of it - but it'll take TIME - like weeks & months. Alage esp GHA needs light/nitrates/phosphates to flourish. Reducing photoperiod will help - I've run as little as 4 hours/day. ALSO old bulbs - either MH/HQI OR flourescent will really help alage grow. As bulbs age/run - they begin "red-shifting" or producing more red&orange spectrum light....GHA loves red & orange light - so halide bulbs over 12 months old or florescents older than 6-8 months would be suspect and might should be changed.
primarily, your nitrates&phosphates are high, and that's feeding the gha. Even though your tests may not show very high readings is likely due to 2 things, first the GHA is absorbing/growing on the excess nutrients thus making NO3 & PO4 levels "look" low - cause the GHA uses it up and 2nd, few tests are really very accurate - esp at very LOW levels - which is what your tank MAY show - but if you took away all the gha, your no3/po4 numbers would likely skyrocket - cause ther'd be nothing to consume it. Also test your water-source for problems too. My rodi filter needs at least 2 of 5 stages changed about 2x per year to maintain 000tds. making "new" saltwater that already has 'trates & 'phates in it to start with is pointless. Also reducing feeding and reducing bio-load (# of fish) may be necessary. If your 90g is heavily stocked with fish - you might need to consider adding a GFO reactor to assist with high phates.. Maybe a turf scrubber - though research that well
sadly, it's really hard to rid a tank of chronic GHA - cause your gonna have to starve the gha of light & nutrients for weeks/months while it dies off and there's no 1 thing or easy fix that'll rid it. It will take a combo of all the things mentioned

 

[bigntasty]

i appreciate the reply. I am going to try and use these tactics and see how it plays out. I have already tried using a few but i think i will have to use all of them.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Your absolutely right - don't just try one thing at a time - but multiple things at a time and keep hitting it until it's gone. I've combated hair algae so often over the years that I have practically got it down to a science... and can usually knock it out in a month or two. Just takes time.