Does This Work???

[mikeymutt]

I currently have green hair alge and trying to get rid of it.My local fish store said to turn out the lighting for 48 hrs being that i dont have any fragile coarls.Will this work or im i justing WASTING MY time..My scarletts and blue legged may have time to chew???????ANY ADVICE pLEASE

 

[alix2.0]

if you completely darken your tank for a few days the hair algae wont be able to photosynthesize and it will die. it would probably take more than 48 hours though. also it wont work if you have light getting into the tank like through a window or something. ive heard some people wrap their tank in thick blankets to keep it dark.

 

[m0nk]

You might also want to find the source of the stuff. Hair algae feeds on phosphates. Test your water, pre-mixed, and mixed, for phosphates before you do your next water change.

 

[alix2.0]

yeah. blocking out all the light will help with the symptom, but its not a cure. test you water like m0nk said, cut back on your feeding, photoperiod, and increase water changes.

 

[nick76]

Originally Posted by mikeymutt
I currently have green hair alge and trying to get rid of it.My local fish store said to turn out the lighting for 48 hrs being that i dont have any fragile coarls.Will this work or im i justing WASTING MY time..My scarletts and blue legged may have time to chew???????ANY ADVICE pLEASE
If your using Tap water thats probably the cause of the growth. If your serious about the Hobby u can look into an RO/DI Unit, it takes your tap water and removes all the bad things from it. Minerals, phosphates, etc.
Cutting back on Feeding and the amount of Light you have the lights on will help. How old are you Bulbs? After a Year it is always good to change your bulbs.

 

[mikeymutt]

How long would it take to rid the tank of alge,also how long do I leave the lights off without harming my coarls.I ck everything is fine execpt for phosphates.05..Also i only use ro water and tropic marine salt...

 

[acrylic51]

Any updates......The hair algae will feed on organic phosphate, and I'd bet if you tested for amonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate, you wouldn't find any, but should see some amonia, but what's fueling the hair algae is organic phosphate and the phosphate test kit won't pick it up....
Bob Goemans did an article just on this subject matter back I think in July 07 in FAMA. Might be some good reading material for some.

 

[nick76]

Originally Posted by mikeymutt
How long would it take to rid the tank of alge,also how long do I leave the lights off without harming my coarls.I ck everything is fine execpt for phosphates.05..Also i only use ro water and tropic marine salt...
Ok well how long do u leave your lights on daily? Say 12 hours, try cutting back to 9 hours a day.

 

[sly]

IMO, turning off the lights is a waste of time. It will only force the algae to become dormant. When you turn the lights on it will come back as strong as it was before.
Other than good water parameters, proper maintenance, cleaning out your prefilters and removing excess detritus from your substrate, what do you have for a cleanup crew? I have found turbo snails to be the best for removing algae. They won't eat the long stuff... but they will keep it from coming back.
One other thing... scraping the algae off is one of the worst things you can do. It only spreads it throughout your tank. It's best to siphon it out and then let the snails eat the residue.

 

[magooo2]

Changing the water source is always a good place to start. Phosphates in teh water are a mojor culprit in hair algea growth. In my area the water is very hard and even with a ro/di unit it still have some efffect. I havent been able to eliminate it but it has been greatly reduced