hair algae, phosphates

[shobby]

I have been fighting hair algae now for at least a year with no hopes of finding a cure. I was told it was the lights, changed the lights, turned out the lights for three days straight, just to have it come back again, and again and again. Told it is phoshates, added phosgaurd, still have phosphate problem just not as bad, added a poly filter, phospates went down only to come back.
I have only three fish, one sand sifter, and a sea urchin, plus some hermit crabs but they eem to dissappear, so, not sure how many are left. I change the water weekly, and brush the rocks off at least two to three times a week but yet, it still keeps growing. Also, only feed every two to three days to keep the waste down. How can I rid my tank of this algae? Not to mention, now I have hard calcified algae on the glass, which doesn't seem to be coming off.
One other question, how can you figure out where the phospate is coming from? It isn't in my water, checked that, not in te salt either, checked that also, so where can it be coming from, thought of food, but for the problem that I am having, I don't feel that I feed them enough for it to keep coming back so often, so quickly.
Thanks Shell

 

[snakeblitz33]

how many pounds of live rock do you have? What type of filtration are you using? Do you have a protein skimmer? How big are your water changes? What type of substrate are you using? What are your water parameters? What is your internal flow rate? What type of top off water are you using? What is your TDS reading of your top off water? What type of clean up crew do you have? What spectrum of lighting are you using? Do you have a sump? Do you have a refugium? What type of fish do you have? How much do you feed when you feed?

 

[snakeblitz33]

Also, could we see a pic of the tank? How about a full tank shot as well as detailed pics of certain problem areas perhaps? By the way, what type of lights are you using? How big are your fish? Are you using a canister filter? Do you have a UV sterilizer?

 

[shobby]

Wow, so many questions. Not sure tat I have the answers to most of them. I have a sump pump, I guess, it is under the aquarium with blue balls in it. Yes, I have a protein skimmer. Not sure about the ive rock, parents gave me the aquarium and it had three good ize rocks, and I have added several other rocks over the years. One ippa tang maybe two to three inches long, one wrasse, same size and the a cheap 4.00 fish. One sand sifter, I guess that is what he is called, did have a sea slug, haven't seen it in months, bought a sally light foot, dissappeared a few weeks ago, bought 25 hermits but can't say that I see that many, one sea urchin, and I did have two peppermint shrimps in there but like other things they have dissappeared. Did have a major problem with aptasia, bought shrimp, problem gone but algae came. Saw a shrimp about a month ago, but I haven't seen it since.
Water parameters, not sure of any of that, I just take the water to the shop. I use tap water, checked for nitrates and such before, the water was fine but it has been a while since I had any testing stuff other than the phosphate test. The substate and stuff was al given to me so I really do not know much more than that.
Not sure on how to upload a pic on to the web site and when I try to take a pic, it comes out with a bright light and can not really see the aquarium.
Shell

 

[snakeblitz33]

Well, are you using live sand or crushed coral on the bottom of your aquarium? Are you washing off the bioballs in the sump? How long are you lights on per day? What kind of protein skimmer is it? Do you see any lables on it?
If you are declorinating tap water to top off your tank, that could definately be a problem. So many things dying in your tank - and then not doing adequate water changes can also be a contributing factor. If your protein skimmer isn't pulling out much black sludge, then it's not doing it's job. Depending on how much water you change and how often could also be a contributing factor to the hair algae.
Use the search button to read some really great threads on how to get rid of hair algae. Use this thread to ask specific questions once you educate yourself on how to take care of your situation. I think then we will all be better able to help your situation.
Use photobucket.com and upload pics, then copy and paste the img tag into the post. Pretty simple.

 

[shobby]

Recently, I have been adding two gallon of water once a week and changing out five gallons once a week. The bottom is sand. Yes, I have a skimmer and it is pullin out sludge, not a huge amount but it does pull. No it doesn't have any labels but it is a hang on the back skimmer.
Yes, I am declorinating the tap water. The lights are on for 4 hours a day. And no I never clean te balls, didn't know we are supposed to clean tem, thouht that was part of the filtration and to leave it alone.
I have been reading about hair algae and really have not seen anything on how to get rid of it.
Shell

 

[snakeblitz33]

Start using RO/DI water for top off water. Use clean RO/DI water mixed with salt for water changes.
Clean half of your bioballs once a month. Bioballs can get clogged up with gunk and that gunk can contribute to nitrates and phosphate buildup. If you have any sponges, you should also remove those too. They basically do the same thing.
Clean your protein skimmer regularly as well and make sure it is functioning properly. You might be asking - how in the world is this going to solve my hair algae problem? Well, if you get rid of what is fueling the outbreak, it will go away after some picking at it.
You should also get a UV sterilizer. If you manually pick out the hair algae, spores will be put into the water. The spores go off and create new threads of algae. IF you have a UV sterilizer, the UV rays will essentially kill the spores (or render them unable to reproduce) and that will take care of a lot of your problem right there. Also - when you manually pick out hair algae, you should also dip your fingers in a freshwater bath to kill the spores on your fingers before you put your hand back in the tank.
At all times, when you can, use a siphon to get hair algae out of the tank. It's much easier if the hair is on the sandbed. Yes, you will loose some sand, but you will get rid of some hair.
Also - how deep is your sandbed? Is it an inch or less? Is it 2 inches plus? Let us know!
You should try a lettuce nudibranch, sally lightfoot, or maybe even a seahare. Seahares are great little creatures - ugly as heck, but they will work and eat all the hair algae in your tank. Once you don't have anymore, they will starve though. So, be careful.
Some turbo snails even eat hair - I've seen it!
Just keep researching and don't give up - there is a way out.

 

[rgf1046]

I have had good look with really large (golf ball sized) turbo snails, they seem to love it.

 

[golfdude171]

I had a bad problem with hair algea also and added another powerhead and moved my other 2 around and it cleared up in less than a week.. Hope this helps

 

[ninjamini]

If you have a hair algae problem then read my cure all. I just recently took a tank off someone's hands, a very experienced reefer too, who had a hair algae problem that they could not fix. But the fix is so easy when you understand it. This is the instructions for a established tank. If your tank is under 3 months old read below* first.
Hair algae wont grow if you don't feed it.
1. Use Ro/DI water ONLY. If your not doing this then you are making a fatal mistake.
2. Pick off the big clumps of hair. Pull the rocks out you can and pull pull pull. Dip them back in the water to get the algae to hang down. Turn off the flow for the rocks you cant remove while you pick it off. By picking off the big clumps you remove the nitrates and phosphates from the water.
3. Know why it grows. It consumes nitrates, phosphates and light. Export the nitrates and phosphates with water changes and some cheto. Rember if you test says that you have 0 Nitrates and 0 Phosphates that does not mean you don't have them. It just means that they are consumed. If you have algae growing then you have nitrates and phosphates. Yea there in there.
4. Cut back on feeding. Where do you thing those nitrates and phosphates come from. If you have any really piggy fish then you may want to move them to QT.
5. Turn down the photo period by shutting the lights off and only turn them on for 6 hours a day. Most corals can handle this for a month. Just think of it as the rainy season.
6. Get a emerald and some mexican snails. Yea the big ones. They will both eat the short stuff.
7. Time. Give it 3-4 weeks then start to turn the lights to 7, 8...more hours till your back to a normal amount of time.
Done. Now I have my nano cube filled with sand, rocks, zoos and fish because I was able to follow this plan and he was not. Which is weird since he has an awesome sps tank.
*If your tank is new that is less than 3 months old then the question is not how to get rid of them but understanding that this is only part of the natural cycle of a new tank. If this happened just as your ammonia and nitrites test at 0 then its going to grow. Its the same reason because there is alot of nitrate and phosphate in the water. This would be the time to do your first water change and then add your clean up crew. They will take care of the algae along with water changes.
Remember don.t feed your nuisance algae and it wont grow.
Good Luck.

 

[shobby]

Thanks for every ones help. I believe that te sandbed is under two inches, and the aquarium as been up and running for at least four years, maybe longer.
On my next water change, I will pull out the bio balls and clean half of them, and go from there. The light isn't on now for 6 hour so I really can't change that.I do have a sponge in the back that I cean out every few days, should I remove it completly or just get a new one?
I have considered buying a nudi branch but I have two power heads and I don't want them to get killed.
Shell

 

[ninjamini]

sponge, bio balls....
I run a small tank with some cheato and a protein skimmer. thats my filtration...yep thats it.

 

[saltincalif]

I had the same problem. I tried lots of solutions. Then, I bought 8 emerald crabs for my 24g nano and it was cleaned up in a few days. now, i have to feed them algae tablets each day to make sure they don't starve. simple, fast fix. also, didn't take the time to read the whole entry but tap water has phosphates. you must use RO water