Advice please!?

[reefkpr123]

I've had an ongoing problem with green hair algae in my tank for about 6 months now. I've done countless water changes, and have taken all of my rock out, and scrubbed it several times. All paramaters are good. Nitrates slightly elevated....but within reason.
I finally decided to take out all of the rocks that did not have any corals attached, and i put them in a sealed laundry tub with water circulating...but no light whatsoever.
I'll Just starve this nasty s#@t out of my tank!
So I've had the rocks in the tub for about 2 weeks now, and the Algae is completely gone....far as I can tell. YAY!
Now I'd like to do the same thing with the rest of the rocks, but they all have corals attached. They are all soft corals Colt, Kenya, Buttons, Stars, and Shrooms.
Can I kill off the algae on these rocks, and expect my corals survive in complete darkness for a week or two? Or is there some other way to get rid of this stuff.....
I appreciate any advice......but please consider that I've already done water changes, I've backed my lights off to about 5hrs a day, I feed a very small amount every day, and my water quality is good, according to testing I've done.
THANKS!!

 

[meowzer]

Have you tried a seahare? Emerald crabs, or sally light foot crabs?

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3214228
Have you tried a seahare? Emerald crabs, or sally light foot crabs?

Meowzer makes a very good point. I am afraid that the hair algae is going to return. The best you can do is get the right critter to eat the stuff. I scrubbed my rock to give my CUC a head start….problem solved.
I have a 90g tank and use a blue spotted Kole tang, and lawnmower blenny to keep the H.A. down. They do a great job.

 

[socal57che]

Guys, I have to say it makes my skin crawl to advise people to add livestock to control an algae problem...no offense intended.
Algae needs food to survive. Your elevated nitrates leads me to believe that you may be overfeeding your tank or not performing adequate water changes. Even if you have changed feeding habits, he rock will absorb and hold nutrients. Romoving the rock and basically cooking it as you have done forces the algae to consume nutrients present in the rock.
What is your phosphate reading?
What do you feed and how often?
What is your water source?
What is your water change schedule?
Do you run a skimmer?
What lights do you have?
Does your tank get direct sunlight?
What is your turnover rate?
What is your stock list? Any sloppy eaters? (trigger, puffer, etc)
Is your calcium low?
If you have a lot of algae uptaking nitrates and still have a high nitrate reading, you likely have a bigger nitrate issue than you think.
To eradicate the algae, you need to remove it's food source...just like you did in the bucket. If you can answer the questions I posted above, I can recommend changes that could lower the dissolved solids/proteins/nitrates that is feeding your algae bloom.
Adding livestock may remove the hair, but the cause remains...besides adding to your bioload.

 

[meowzer]

SOCAL...You are right...100%, but I stil lthink sometimes you need a little "critter" help....It took me a few months to get rid of my hair algae in the 225G...I cleaned, changed lighting, changed filter stuff, cleaned some more, and added some critters to help...I will NEVER say the critters got rid of it..LOL...but I will say they helped

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by socal57che
http:///forum/post/3214708
Guys, I have to say it makes my skin crawl to advise people to add livestock to control an algae problem...no offense intended.
Algae needs food to survive. Your elevated nitrates leads me to believe that you may be overfeeding your tank or not performing adequate water changes.
What is your phosphate reading?
What do you feed and how often?
What is your water source?
What is your water change schedule?
Do you run a skimmer?
What lights do you have?
Does your tank get direct sunlight?
What is your turnover rate?
What is your stock list? Any sloppy eaters? (trigger, puffer, etc)
If you have a lot of algae uptaking nitrates and still have a high nitrate reading, you likely have a bigger nitrate issue than you think.
To eradicate the algae, you need to remove it's food source...just like you did in the bucket. If you can answer the questions I posted above, I can recommend changes that could lower the dissolved solids/proteins/nitrates that is feeding your algae bloom.
Adding livestock may remove the hair, but the cause remains...besides adding to your bioload.

I have to go to work...
My water is RO and my numbers are all good. I'm not over run with hair algae, however algae is a part of life in a fish tank. Algae eaters are a part of the CUC. My Kole tang and lawnmower blenny are happy nibbling whatever algae they can find to eat, most times I must supply algae sheets.
So whenever a person says all numbers read good and are doing regular water changes...I say up the CUC.

 

[socal57che]

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3214718

I have to go to work...
My water is RO and my numbers are all good. I'm not over run with hair algae, however algae is a part of life in a fish tank. Algae eaters are a part of the CUC. My Kole tang and lawnmower blenny are happy nibbling whatever algae they can find to eat, most times I must supply algae sheets.
So whenever a person says all numbers read good and are doing regular water changes...I say up the CUC.
The people that don't post actual test results sometimes don't actually have them. I like to see actual findings from a known good test kit. "my water tests good" usually means "I didn't really test my water and it's easier to say my water is good."
To suggest adding livestock without knowing the variables involved is asking for trouble. To add a potentially toxic cucumber to a tank with high nitrates is asking for trouble. I know that you have experience and he probably has enough algae to keep the sea hare alive for at least few months, but to add livestock to contol an algael bloom is at the very bottom of my list of suggestions. Another fish to feed is not going to help his bioload and nitrates.
Reefkpr, I forgot to ask what your PH was at.

 

[king_neptune]

Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3214228
Have you tried a seahare? Emerald crabs, or sally light foot crabs?
Emeralds are pretty lame for algae. Sally light foot does pretty good, as for sea hare.....OMG!WOW!! I love mine!
Devastated my long algae in my 125DT within a month.
Check them out.

 

[socal57che]

I admit that sea hares do a fine job of eating green hair algae. They also help mask the problem that the green hair is a result of. Treat the cause, not the effect.