Hair algae and low flow

alyssia

Active Member
Does anyone know if low flow in a tank contributes to hair algae? I am having a problem with it in my seahorse tank.
 

reef.magic

Member
yes ma'am it does, give's the algae a "safer place to settle"
seahorse tank? sweet! do you have any threads with pictures of it? i <3 the ponies
 

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by Reef.Magic
yes ma'am it does, give's the algae a "safer place to settle"
seahorse tank? sweet! do you have any threads with pictures of it? i <3 the ponies
Sorry, no pics

I need to figure out how to post some though.
 

reef.magic

Member
lol thats cool, but i would love to see them some time
how big is it and what kind of lights are on it......are the lights sustaining any life or can they be set to a shorter photo period? or maybe even turned off for a few days
toothbrushing LR is an easy way of removing some algae from easy access areas
 

alyssia

Active Member
It is a 20 gallon with standard ( came with the tank) lights. I don't have any of the algae on the rock, just on the glass and the fake coral I use for hitching posts. I have been sticking them in my reef tank every few days so my tang and angel can pick the hair algae off.
 

am3gross

Member
you might check for phosphates. are you using ro water or tap. you might want to test the source of the water. i had a big problem with hair algae. tried everything to get rid of it. lawnmower blenny, tangs, water changes, sea hares...... but this is what i figured out.
i used tap water for 1 week because my lfs ro unit broke. after that week started to use ro again then started to notice the hair algae. i assumed thta i got it from the tap water, figured it would go away by itself. it got worse and worse. come to find out the water i was getting from the lfs was high in phosphates. so was my tap. i quit buying water ffrom them and found another place to get my water. 1st i checked for phosphates. it was good. i did several water changes to get my phosphates back down to 0. in the mean time i bought a lawn mower blenny. he didnt even touch the algae.....made me so mad. well he ended up swimming up the power head.that wass ugly......when i started to notdice the algae wasnt getting worse and ym phosphates were at 0 i bought a sea hare.this thng is ugly but it ate all the hair algae. i do have to warn you tho. sea hares are posinous to the tank if they die in your tank. they will let off a dye and it will kill every thing. the best way to do it is to put him in for a week or so and monitor him very closely. when his job is almost done take him out and back to the lfs. they will only eat the hair algae and if you leave him in there after all the algae is gone he will starve. my lfs actually has a loan-a-hare. its preety cool! any ways i hope this helps and best of luck.
 

am3gross

Member
you might check for phosphates. are you using ro water or tap. you might want to test the source of the water. i had a big problem with hair algae. tried everything to get rid of it. lawnmower blenny, tangs, water changes, sea hares...... but this is what i figured out.
i used tap water for 1 week because my lfs ro unit broke. after that week started to use ro again then started to notice the hair algae. i assumed thta i got it from the tap water, figured it would go away by itself. it got worse and worse. come to find out the water i was getting from the lfs was high in phosphates. so was my tap. i quit buying water ffrom them and found another place to get my water. 1st i checked for phosphates. it was good. i did several water changes to get my phosphates back down to 0. in the mean time i bought a lawn mower blenny. he didnt even touch the algae.....made me so mad. well he ended up swimming up the power head.that wass ugly......when i started to notdice the algae wasnt getting worse and ym phosphates were at 0 i bought a sea hare.this thng is ugly but it ate all the hair algae. i do have to warn you tho. sea hares are posinous to the tank if they die in your tank. they will let off a dye and it will kill every thing. the best way to do it is to put him in for a week or so and monitor him very closely. when his job is almost done take him out and back to the lfs. they will only eat the hair algae and if you leave him in there after all the algae is gone he will starve. my lfs actually has a loan-a-hare. its preety cool! any ways i hope this helps and best of luck.
 
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