Hair Algae and Corals

[djcanis]

Ok, so I have green hair algae growing like crazy. It is starting to grow over my star polyps... What should I do? Is this bad for the coral? I run lights 8 1/2 hrs a day, all the water paramaters are fine, top offs daily and 10% every other week for water changes... Not sure what to do... Any thoughts

 

[salami trigger]

THe hair algae has to go..can smother some corals..
get off as much as u can...get some turbo snails and there are products online to help reduce it...along with phosphate removers.

 

[bizzmoneyb]

you have to eliminate the excess nutrients in the tank thats feeding it.
feed less, and do more water changes. i would do once a week.
also you might need some more flow as well.

 

[i<3reefs]

Yep, your hair algae is working as a filter for you. You need to identify what is causing your excessive nutrients. A refugium with plants/algae you want to grow can replace having nuisance algae in your DT. Hair Algae is only a symptom of the problem, removing it is a band-aid solution. A few things really stick out as possibilities.
1. Low flow - 101 starter thread explains this topic
2. overfeeding - I know people who feed daily with no problems
3. lack of filtration - A solid refugium fixes a lot of problems.
gl

 

[djcanis]

My flow could be better, I just ordered 2 more of the Korelia #2's. My sump is nto really set up to well, its more of a place to put the skimmer. I feed every other day and since I only have 2 3/4" clows, I feed very little. Lights are timmed, 8 1/2 hours a day. I test every other day and everything is perfect.
How do I go about getting algae off of a coral? My star polyps are becoming overgrown, it hasnt effected them yet, as far as I can tell. They bloom daily and are looking great, but the frag is covered in algae. On rocks I scrape it off with a tooth brush, but I dont want to damage the coral. Any suggestions?