Hair algae outbreak..I need help

[flower]

I have hair algae in my seahorse tank. I have so much macroalgae that I had hoped it would starve the HA and overcome. They seem to be dwelling happily together. So what can I do?
I do regular water changes using RO, the problem is that they are messy eaters and even though they go to a feeding dish they still make a mess. I have 5 peppermint shrimp, a hectors goby, 2 yellow clown gobies and 20 nassarius snails...I figured surely they will eat up any extra food. The hectors goby is supposed to like HA.
I was thinking UV sterilizer....will that help stop it from spreading?

 

[1guydude]

well flower today on my bowfront iam on the 2nd day of no lights! I leave my fuge light on from bout 5am to 9pm so im hopin that the chalupra(SP) will kinda win lol! HA is a pita....not a lot of it but still unsightly in the reef! LOL

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 1guyDude http:///forum/thread/386553/hair-algae-outbreak-i-need-help#post_3396051
well flower today on my bowfront iam on the 2nd day of no lights! I leave my fuge light on from bout 5am to 9pm so im hopin that the chalupra(SP) will kinda win lol! HA is a pita....not a lot of it but still unsightly in the reef! LOL
This little SH tank is loaded with coral and desired macroalgae, I can't do the no light thing. That's why I thought a UV would be useful since the horses don't eat copepods anyway. I don't know about amphipods...maybe just run the UV at night, I've heard of people doing that.

 

[1guydude]

my tank is loaded with coral....shrooms, LPS, palys/zoos, a kenya tree. I heard it wouldnt hurt em and they would be more vibrant when the lights came back on! Im thinkin ill only go two dayz instead of three though! Dont hold me to it, im still runnin the test LOL wat about some kind of phosphate removing media or even anmonia remover? Idk throwing some things out from left field i guess lol

 

[mproctor4]

Hi Flower-- If you have the room an algea turf scrubber does a great job getting rid of unwanted algea. It was easy to make and inexpensive, but does take some space. Originally I set mine up to reduce nitrates. I still hear what a wonderful job they do for nitrites, but for me personally it didn't help the nitrates at all, at least in the 6 months I had it up. One interesting thing though was despite the high nitrates, it almost completely eliminated the algea in my tank. I took mine down about 3 weeks ago because I got a new, bigger protein skimmer and I wanted it in my sump. I didn't have room for both so I took the scrubber down. Since it has been down, I am now seeing algea starting back. I am not happy about that. I have been thinking about setting it back up, just need to think of a new way to make everything fit. Since getting the new skimmer, I started vodka dosing, I should probably just wait a few weeks and see how that goes, but the scrubber was simple and natural.

 

[packrat05]

had a real bad hair algae problem a few months back but found by bumping up my magnesium up to around 1600ppm it melted almost all of my hair algae. was told as long as i dont go over 1800ppm it wont harm any coral. as long as you raise it up slowly following the directions it shouldnt harm any thing in your tank that is. so far things have been doing good and i only see small patches pop up every now and then that have been easy to take care of. only problem i did have was didnt know i needed to watch my PH and KH when adding it. but every thing is looking nice now.

 

[kiefers]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///forum/thread/386553/hair-algae-outbreak-i-need-help#post_3396049
I have hair algae in my seahorse tank. I have so much macroalgae that I had hoped it would starve the HA and overcome. They seem to be dwelling happily together. So what can I do?
I do regular water changes using RO, the problem is that they are messy eaters and even though they go to a feeding dish they still make a mess. I have 5 peppermint shrimp, a hectors goby, 2 yellow clown gobies and 20 nassarius snails...I figured surely they will eat up any extra food. The hectors goby is supposed to like HA.
I was thinking UV sterilizer....will that help stop it from spreading?
Is the HA in a place where it is easy to get out and scrub off? If and when you do a W/C take out the algae and scrub it off with a tooth brush (recommened a new one ) Take the rock or whatever out dip in old water and pull, scream, call it bad names, and then put it back. You may have to do this a couple of times but by scrubbin the hair off you should get the spores too.
Just JMO..

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kiefers http:///forum/thread/386553/hair-algae-outbreak-i-need-help#post_3396654
Is the HA in a place where it is easy to get out and scrub off? If and when you do a W/C take out the algae and scrub it off with a tooth brush (recommened a new one ) Take the rock or whatever out dip in old water and pull, scream, call it bad names, and then put it back. You may have to do this a couple of times but by scrubbin the hair off you should get the spores too.
Just JMO..
I have it on my rock wall...so I won't be removing anything. Thanks, what you said would work....but not for me..sigh

 

[kiefers]

*big sigh* sorry......you could pick it off. Just turn off the filtration and have a small net in hand to catch the floaties....

 

[mproctor4]

Too bad you can't have seahorses with tangs! Throw a little tang in there for a couple of weeks and that would be the end of the hair algea. I know.......just throwing it out there