Algae from hell

snwman

New Member
I have tons of green hair algae and i keep killing it and it grows back it's already killed my polyps how do i get rid of it
 

bigarn

Active Member
Originally Posted by snwman
I have tons of green hair algae and i keep killing it and it grows back it's already killed my polyps how do i get rid of it
water parameters, lighting, are you using tap water?
 

reefkprz

Active Member
Tang+algae blenny+pristine water+decent cleanup crew= no hair algae.
not really good math for a 20G.
Like bigarn asked what are your tests reading?
also just a side note distilled water while completly pure while in evaporative form can pick up traces of whatever metal piping is used as a condenser (usually copper but steel is not unheard of) test your water for Iron, both chelated and non as well. chelated being the safer of the two. chelated Iron is used as a supplement for plants and algaes, non is just toxic and can afterbeing broken down in the natural cycle lead to more algae.
 

snwman

New Member
what u mean parameters, I have a clown and 2 anemones, 30 pounds live rock , and the water came straight from the distillers at my work Hinckley and Springs
 

reefkprz

Active Member
parameters are:
specific gravity
ammonia
nitrite
nitrate
phosphate
temperature
PH
age of tank
Bio load or what fish and critters you have
you have already listed tank size and lighting
with out this information there is really no way to tell whats going on. its like walking into a room full of blind men and asking "how does my makeup look?"
 

chilwil84

Active Member
with out this information there is really no way to tell whats going on. its like walking into a room full of blind men and asking "how does my makeup look?"
lmao funny but true
 

reefkprz

Active Member
Originally Posted by snwman
and the water came straight from the distillers at my work Hinckley and Springs
what kind of condenser do they use?
 

emonemo

Member
a distilery of water uses RODI to distil the water. thats basically what hes got.
Hey ive got a 20 g man. you need to try and keep you phosphate and nitrates down. Since you and I both have only 20g of water and 30lbs of rock we cant really add many fish because the chemistry will go haywire!
so here is what you do. get yourself a good amout of those scarlet hermit crabs, like 5-8. snatch up some snails. heck, use 1 snail per gallon. then get into the macros. macro algae are eating up the phosphate and nitrate in my water before the hair algae gets a decent hit at it. I have a clump of chaeto anchored by some rock that does a decent job. It will also house tons of amphipods and copepods that will help in eating detrius. there are some really good looking macro algae out there. looks around and really go for it.
Grass Algae is also pretty cool looking, i just got some tonight.
A few cleaner clams or scallops will also help nitrate reduction.
in effect, you just going to have to starve the hair algae while making the tank cleaner and look better.
also DONT keep you light on for more than 9 hours. i was running them for 12 a day and my hair went UP UP UP..
hope that helps.
 

reefkprz

Active Member
Originally Posted by snwman
we don't use condensers and is there any easy way 2 kill it
if they dont use condensers then its really not distilled water. sub-micron filtered maybe.
but I thought you meant you use actual distilled water, that post where you said that, led me to think that, kinda crazy on my part, I know
 

earlybird

Active Member
still don't know his water parameters or bio load. It may just be a case of overfeeding or lack of flow?
 
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