Green Hair Algae GRRRRRR!

joejubee

joejubee

Member
Arrgh. If it's not one thing, it's the other, right?
My tank (180, 4x 250 14k, MRC-2R skimmer) is (still) being overrun by green hair algae. On the rocks, on the sand, corals, snail shells, back glass wall, etc...
My tank parameters are fine. (Calcium Hardness is a bit low, but I'm working on that)
My bulbs are maybe 4 months old, and I'm only running 2 of them 6 hours a day.
My RODI filters are good, and fresh water tested negative for phosphates.
I'm barely feeding.
Skimmer is working fine. (Might need a little cleaning, though)
Just added 60 hermits, snails don't seem to last long.
Any ideas? Should I just drop 300 hermits and 300 snails in there? My tangs (yellow, kole, sailfin) are ignoring the algae, even though they are barely getting fed.
It's so frustrating to see the potential of a tank get ruined by green hair algae over everything.
Ideas would be helpful. I've tried scrubbing the algae off, plucking it off, scooping it off the sand, but there seems to be too much. In a week or so, it just comes right back.
Frustrated in Loganville, GA
Joe
 
A

alexmir

Guest
do you have a reugium? IF you dont, i would try and put a rather large one in for a 180. Once i added my refugium within a month the hair algea started dying, and within 2 months it was all gone.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Here is an article I found earlier on algae contorl, maybe something here will help.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/338819/reeftank-algae-control
 
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dennis210

Guest
Just so you don't feel all alone. I have a 210, Three years ago I bought it used, took it down rock by rock all sand, corals etc. Reused half the systems water and made fresh salt with RO water. Went through the cycle with lots of algae and after fighting a losing battle for 4 months I was forced to remove all rock and scrub it then freshwater dip it and then reset the tank. No more algae. Then this July I decided I needed a better arrangement of rocks for corals so I reset the tank. After resetting tank By end of August I was fighting hair algae again. So last week I gave up the ghost once again
and removed and scrubbed rock and reset tank. I hope this one is good for years again. The only 2 outbreaks I have had are after resetting the tank. I think by disturbing even the surface sand layers releases bound up nutrients and allows for the out breaks to occur. While we don't find levels jumping up I have found it might be becuase are test only go as far as checking organics not inorganics. Good luck.
Dennis
 
salt nate

salt nate

Member
I have one small rock with some long (1 ") green hair algae. Should I worry too? Should I take it out and clean it or something? This doesnt sound like a fun problem!
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
lawnmower doesnt eat hair algae. the only sure things r sailfin tang. most "mexican" turbo snails will also eat them.
 
batchelor

batchelor

New Member
I've been fighting hair algae for 6 months. My water perameters are great. I use rodi water, i have a 30 gallon fuge with chaeto, i cut my mh lights back to 5 hours a day.I practically stopped feeding. I bought a phosban reactor. I added 30 mexican turbo snails. I added a lmb, and a desjardini sailfin tang. NOTHING WORKED! Finally I removed half of my live rock and put it in a rubbermaid bin (with water from the tank, a heater, and a powerhead ) and left it covered in total darkness for 2 weeks. After the 2 weeks , I took it out of the bin, scrubbed it clean and put it back in the tank. Then did the same thing to the other half. So far it has worked. The snails, lmb, and tang seem to be keeping any new growth in check. From what I've read, once you have hair algae, you'll always have hair algae. The trick is controlling it. Don't give up!
 
trish&dave

trish&dave

Member
Well I scrubbed mine down with a toothbrush last night for about 2 hours. Got most of it. I will let you know if it works out.
 
deejeff442

deejeff442

Active Member
everytime i had hair algea i bought a cleanup crew like they sell on this forum and 2-3 days later all gone.problem was after the algea was gone the snails and crabs die off to starvation.
hard to feed 50 crabs and 50 snails without messing up the water quality
 
deejeff442

deejeff442

Active Member
i dont get the package with the stars and cukes.just the snails and crabs.
they would all probaly live if i knew how to feed them.
funny my whole 90 gallon was covered with hair algea.i dumped all the snails and crabs on one side.instead if spreading out they ate the algea from left to right.3 days and the tank was spotless.i have about 10 crabs in my 150 gallon now and they constantly are cleaning the rock.i keep 15-20 empty larger shells in there and they just keep growing.
 
maxsmart

maxsmart

Member
I've recently made some headway on my hair algae problem.
I got a bunch of new critters, and I've seen a few of them GOBBLING the hair algae:
Decorator Crab: He put 2 stalks of algae on his head like antlers and climbs up the walls and overflow and rips out the hair algae amd gobbles it down!
Pincusion Urchin: I got the purple ones from this website, 2 of them - they are pooping like crazy so I can only assume they are downing quite a bit of algae overnight.
Emerald Crab: I got 3 of them, not sure how many are still alive as they are elusive. They grab a stalk of hair algae and munch on it like a piece of celery. It's cool to watch. The biggest one I got will grab a whole ball of hair algae and lie on his back eating it.
Over the past year or so, I've been experimenting with the length of my "day" in the aquarium. I noticed the dominant type of algae changed the more light I allowed. As I increased the length of the day from 8 to 14 hours, I went from seeing hair algae to vines (I dont' know what they are actually called) to halimeda (reef-building algae) to sea grapes. Then when I got a new light, I went back to 8 hours and hair algae went nuts again. I've inched it back up, and I've got tons of vines and halimeda now. Sea grapes were the best - they can be pruned by snapping off the end with your thumb, and tend to float towards the top so you can get at them easy.
I actually have what I'm not sure is hair algae - it's brittle and prickly, like tumbleweed, with a reddish color. It tends to crumble in your hand when you try to remove it.
Fish never worked for me. Our LMB occasionally 'kissed' the glass but never touched other algaes. The bicolor also pecked at the rocks, but he too quit once he realized that eating the flakes was tastier and easier.
 
veni vidi vici

veni vidi vici

Active Member
Originally Posted by MaxSmart
http:///forum/post/2864995
I actually have what I'm not sure is hair algae - it's brittle and prickly, like tumbleweed, with a reddish color. It tends to crumble in your hand when you try to remove it.
Grape Caulerpa/C. Racemosa Is probably your grape algea
does the red algae look like either one of these?
 
maxsmart

maxsmart

Member
Originally Posted by Veni Vidi Vici
http:///forum/post/2865027
Grape Caulerpa/C. Racemosa Is probably your grape algea
does the red algae look like either one of these?

On the left side that might be it. It's VERY thin, thinner than a needle. It forms spongy pads, because the little branches are brittle and grow inter-tangled. Kind of lfeels ike steel wool, except that when you squeeze it it crumbles into little bits.
I also have something that looks like the right side, but it's even thicker and stone hard - it appears to be a coral of some type, it has tiny hairs coming out of it. It appeared recently and has been spreading.
 
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