green hair alg

[aceiswild7]

ive asked this a few times but havnt actually gotten a clear response
i have green hair algae that was present on a few rocks when i bought them i thought the tangs would enjoy nipping at it.. my question is whether or not the algae actually Causes any problems? i know its the result of high phosphates but does the presence of it actually make the water worse?
thanx

 

[q]

It will eat nutrients out of the water. The hazard is that if the nutrients increase so will the algea. Leaving you with a lot more hair algea which will be even harder to get out.
If you eliminate the phosphates the algea will go away. Having a refugium would help quite a bit in this respect because the algea in the refugium would out compete the hair algea for nutrients.

 

[nm reef]

Hmmmmm...."will the algae actually cause any problems"....seems to me that if you want a saltwater tank that features primarily hair algae then its not a problem...but...if you want a tank that features coral/good water chemistry/healthy fish&inverts/and is a pleasure to look at then yup algae may be a problem...myself I try to take all steps possible to eliminate any and all unwanted algae growth...there is always some....but personally I think that a properly maintained reef will have minimal amounts