Hair Alagea

[yimmy]

I haven't posted in a while and I think its time. My tanks 7 months old...its a 95gal, LSB and I have power compacts.
This is my fish and invert list
Bicolor Blenny
Blue Hippo (At my moms office they have a 240 and he would go in there once he gets big right now about 4in)
Flame Angel
2 Ocellaris Clowns
Royal Gramma
Sally Light Foot
Cleaner Shrimp
My phosphates are down and I run lights 7hrs a day. Everything else is right on the money. Does Anyone have ideas? BTW I started out swim, and recently got my first soft coral. Thanks for the input

 

[mudplayerx]

Due to the relative lack of sensitivity of home phosphate tests, any reading of phosphates in your water is a concentration high enough to cause hair algae. Phosphates are referred to as a "crystal poison" as they inhibit corals and calcareous alges from utilizing calcium, so you are hit with a double whammy.
First make sure your topoff and replacement water do not contain phosphates. If it does, your problem may never go away. After you are sure of your topoff quality you can begin to do larger than normal water changes in your tank and utilize phosphate-absorbing resin like "Phosguard."
Can you tell us your other water parameters as well? Sometimes you can miss something that may be important. Also, you may not have all of the test kits that are necessary for the hobby. For instance, most "master test kits" don't include a test for alkalinity, calcium, phosphates, etc..

 

[yimmy]

Here are the parameters
SG 1.026
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Phosphate 0
as for pH 8.2
I can syphon it out easily, but its just a pain because there are a few pieces that dont come off. As for R0 water it doesn't contain phosphate and salt is IO

 

[am3gross]

yes once you find the cause of the hair algae problem i would recommend getting a sea hare to go in and eat all the algea.... once the algae is gone you will have to take the hare out because this is what they mainly eat and they will starve and die.... i to had the algae problem and found out it was coming from lfs ro water....... changed the source of water and phosphates went down and then i got a sea hare and it is totally gone now...i wanted to get a hare and have him as a loan-a-hare where he could be passed around to othere hobbiest so we could see how big we could get him to grow.

 

[blazehok68]

remove as much as possible and do frequent water changes with RO water. inbetween these water changes maybe an algae treatment could help you rid the nuisance algae. i have been using algae magic. it takes a while but after 30 days i am actuall starting to see some good results. but to me i think the most important part is the manual removal.
i also remember seeing that having an elevated calcium level could help. having the calcium higher helps to promote coraline algae which then out competes the hair algae and eventually wins...i think. anybody else agree with this? i may be wrong.

 

[toonascott]

I have an "eye lash or lawnmower blenny" he keeps the tank clean as a whistle, I actually have to grow hair algae on small rocks in another tank to feed him. I noticed your SG is 1.026, why so high? I was under the impression that was too high, but I am far from being an expert, just curious. By the way, my lawnmower blenny is one of the coolest fish I have ever owned.

 

[yimmy]

My SG I've been trying to lower to 1.025, I'm not new to the hobby but am still definately learning, whats a sea hare?. I have a Bicolor blenny? Wouldnt he take care of the alagea, he actually sleeps in it when its there and uses it as a bed