Bad Hair Algae Problem

[kirkreynolds]

I have really bad hair algae problem and i cant get rid of it. i wipe the inside of the tank every week but it still just comes back. its not just on the walls though it is on all the live rock and the sand as well. can anyone tell me how to get rid of it?

 

[b bauer]

what are your water tests?also how long do you leave your lights on,and are you over feeding

 

[kirkreynolds]

i have never done any water tests except the quick dips,I leave the lights on for 10 to 12 hours a day, and i feed them once in the morning and once at night.

 

[nycbob]

test ur phospahte level. u r probably overfeeding and having the light on too long. get a few turbo snail from the pacific or mexico region. they r great algae grazers.

 

[kirkreynolds]

When i put turbo snails in there they died like two days latter and how long should i leave the lights on and how much should i feed them? Also what do i do if the phos. are to high?

 

[b bauer]

only feed 1 time per day and only enough that the fish eat it all in a few seconds.also what is your salt levels?turn lights down to 7 or 8 hrs

 

[dallas612]

dont know if this is normal but i put a lawnmower blenny in my tank that had ALOT of hair algae and it distroyed it in a few weeks! i actually seen the blenny eating it often.

 

[maxalmon]

IMO your overfeeding and running the light too long. The fact that your inverts are dying almost as soon as you put then in the tank is another issue which indicates that you have some water quality problems. Cut your feeding back to ever other day or minimal amounts once a day. Reduce the lighting to 6-7 hours if you don't have any corals 8-9 hours if you do.

 

[flricordia]

I understand that sea hares are really great for eating hair algae, but you have to remove them once the algae is gone or they will starve. If you could get one or two, and while they are doing their jopb of eating the algae you could be getting the tank parameters in chack as suggested above.

 

[201_0_o_datsnj]

u dont have to feed too much. just once every other day depending how much they eat. yea leave the lites off for a longer period of time

 

[symon]

Remember you are trying to emulate a normal daytime schedual, 10-12 hours is way to long! Water changes, cut back on lighting and feeding will help considerably. Sea hares do a great job , But as mentioned above you will need to remove them. But it seems you have other issues, get some real test kits and check things out , might want to test for copper as well.

 

[maxalmon]

The key to a long term marine tank is solving problems, not masking or countering the problem by adding something else. Try and understand whats happening and then you'll see the reasons for everything.
It's a delicate balance of food, lighting, flow, water quality and livestock, once you learn the basics it gets really easy. You have to get to the root of the problem or it will never go away. Jim
.
It sounds like your water chemistry is way off, copper could be an issue since the inverts die off so quick. Has the tank gone thru a compete cycle?
.
Salinty? How did you measure it?
RO or tap water?
List everything you've put in the tank, including additives
How much LR?
What type of substrate?
How old is the tank?
What test kits are you using?
Any external filters and how many powerheads?

 

[coral keeper]

Did you solve the hair algae problem yet kirkreynolds?