Green hair algae

[urodude]

The tank is 8 years old and has been care-free until recently. Been struggling with hair algae for about 6 months. I've read several good posts on the subject but not getting anywhere.
All levels are low but obviously there are nutrients for the algae still there. I have turned off the lights, changed the wet-dry pad more frequently, stared using Algone(which does seem to help a little)
Now I'm going to stop feeding the fish for a week or so to see if that helps
Every week or so I have been scrubbing the live rock to debulk the algae growth, but it keeps coming back
Unlike most people, I do have a denitrifier(which I've had for all 8 years without a problem). I'm wondering if I should increase the nitrogone drip in the anerobic chamber.
The fish load is small- 1 purple tang, 1 small foxface, 1 percula clown, 2 flame angels(they get along fine), 1 red hawkfish, 2 wrasses- 130 gallon tank with around 100 lbs live rock
Would appreciate other suggestions.

 

[ncjetskier]

You may want to look at what kind of hair algae you have. If the hair looks like a fern leaf (you need to look REALLY close) then it may be burosa (sp?) algae. I struggled with this for several years (trying everything including what you listed) and nothing worked!!! I finally broke down the tank and cloroxed (bleached) everything that was not alive. I removed all of the substrait, and replaced most of my live rock. It was a real pain, but well worth it. It has been gone for over one year now. Good luck.

 

[maxalmon]

Did you recently replace the bulbs or are how old are the bulbs, did you change the food brand, have there been any changes at all to anything in the last 9 months, kinda getting at my cause/effect theroy Im working on.
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I'm assuming that since you tank is well established that you have a good understanding of reef keeping and that you've already done all the preliminary deepcleaning and inspecting all areas of the tank for the source.
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On my frag tank I've made an interesting discovery and will post pics in a seperate thread. I have 14k 250wMH on the L side and 20K 250MH on the R side. I just noticed the back wall of my frag tank on the LEFT side is totally covered in about a 1/8 thick carpet of some type of algae while the RIGHT side has absolutley no algae, same tank, same water, only difference is the K rating of the bulbs on each side and there is a visible line, right down the middle of the tank, actually angles to the R a little because of light pattern.
I also noticed that I had a few bubble algae outbreaks, but again only on the L side, not R. Obviously there is a response by the algae to the lower K rating.
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What bulbs are you running on your tank? Might be an interesting test to increase them to something like a 20K bulb and see what happens...Jim

 

[zman1]

Originally Posted by maxalmon
On my frag tank I've made an interesting discovery and will post pics in a seperate thread. I have 14k 250wMH on the L side and 20K 250MH on the R side.
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What bulbs are you running on your tank? Might be an interesting test to increase them to something like a 20K bulb and see what happens...Jim
Max, I ditto on your observations. When I had 20k K MH bulbs in for 6 months I saw a significant reduction. I was crediting my husbandry on it. However, I didn't like the color and in six months put 14.6k K bulbs in and have had a re-insurgence of algae under the lower Kelvin bulbs. Also,, My 75 gal is now (05 I think) on the same system water/sump with the 120 gal. (MH) I have never had a hair Alge issue. Other than the first 4 months in 02 when I converted it from SWFO to reef, It's a 4 bulb VHOs only.

 

[maxalmon]

I've been doing an informal survey/documentation of people who post problems with algae, there is definitley a trend with respect to K rating and algae growth, I'll post pics of the Frag tank in just a little while, you can see a defined line of algae, you can even see where the tank braces interupt the light patern and there is no algae in brace shadow area....

 

[coral keeper]

Hey max, im having a hair algae problem as well, I got PCs on the tank not MH, but do you think if i put a 20k bulb that it will make the hair algae stop growing?

 

[maxalmon]

At this point I don't have enough datat to say for sure that increasing the K rating will decrease algae, but from casual observation and talking with other reefers there seems to be some merrit that 20k bulbs tend to inhibit algae growth.....Granted there are a host of other issues involved, water quality, bio-load etc...But my frag tank is proof that 20k's don't promote the algae growth that the 14ks do.........

 

[urodude]

The light theory is certainly pertinent. When the problem started, must admit I had been lax about changing the bulbs. I have power compacts, 300 watts total. As we know, just because the tank looks bright, the bulbs may not still be good. So I did go and change them all out. I am not always consistant about which color/wattage bulbs I substitute, so its possible I made a wrong choice. In any event, putting in brand new bulbs didn't solve the problem
I am inclined to break down the tank and rescrub the live rock- I couldn't bear to bleach live rock.
I may also buy new pumps, wondering if the water flow has diminished over the years(I'm already on my second pump for the wet/dry, but maybe I'm due for a third)
I'm going to call my denitrifier consultant and see what he suggests about the nitrogone dosing.

 

[coral keeper]

Hey max, can you post some pics of your frag tank?

 

[candycane]

Welcome to the wonderful world of what could possibly be cladophora alga. Nothing gets rid of it if you have nothing to get rid of it. If that is indeed what it is. LOL. It requires little light, no nutrients, no chemicals to grow - and spreads really quick if you try to remove too much at once.
Phototrophic algae use light wavelengths between 400-700 nanos. However, I don't know if this is what you have. In addition, certain algae, like corals, do utilize certain wavelengths or spectrums of light - to control their pigment. The darker the light may constitute the alga becoming darker in color (or lighter), however usually does not contribute to its growth.
Ferric Hydroxide is something you MIGHT want to read some about. If it is cladophora that you have, I was able to get rid of mine with a sailfin tang and removing only small chunks at a time. I mean inches. This will cause the other areas to grow longer but usually not larger. In one tank, I by NO MEANS recommend this, I purposely introduced red slime alga to basically kill off the green hair alga.