Hair Algae Problem?

[paulidee]

I have had this problem for some time now. It seems to get better and then all of a sudden it gets worse. My water parameters are fine:
Nitrates 0
PH 8.2
Salinity 1.26
Phosphates 0
I only use RO water.
I had my lights on for about 10 hours, but I cut it down to 8 hours for a few weeks now and it doesn't seem to be helping.
I was feeding the fish Frozen Mysis and adding Reef Nutrition Oyster Feast every other day, but I cut that to every three days.
The only other thing out of the ordinary is that I bought a Aquaripure Nitrate filter several months ago and stopped running my skimmer. I thought that might contribute so I put that back on.
Any help would be much appreciated!
Paul

 

[mattfrancis]

That's not hair algae. Its aptasia anemones and cynaobacteria. Both are very bad.

 

[nycbob]

+1. those r aiptasia. looks like u hv many of them. joes juice or peppermint shrimps should take care of them. the shrimp is no guarantee.

 

[stars4105811]

I have the same problems. Does anyone know how to get rid of this algae?

 

[ibanez]

Some say chemiclean red slime remover, but use with caution. It comes down to poor water condition, if you use chemiclean to clear it up, make sure you fix whatever your doing wrong with the water. More frequent, larger water changes, less feeding, making sure all uneaten food is removed. Maybe you need new ro filters. Clean out as much ditritus, without over cleaning, which doesn't seem to be your problem. The aptasia removal will be tough for you because you have many large ones. I would remove a rock at a time to a small bucket with tank water in it, during a water change, and blast them with joes juice and aptasia-x. You could try pepperment shrimp, but often they only eat the small aptasia, if they eat them at all. Also try to increase water flow in that area with a power head, or koralia.

 

[oceankid]

It looks yuck

 

[fishlawyer]

While I usually avoid the chemical approach, I usually hear that peppermint shrimp get mixed results... You may want to try JJ...

 

[westwind77]

Originally Posted by FishLawyer
http:///forum/post/3240195
While I usually avoid the chemical approach, I usually hear that peppermint shrimp get mixed results... You may want to try JJ...
I ordered 3 pepermint shrimp, took care of mine very quickly!

 

[paulidee]

I tried Peppermint shrimp for the aptasia, but my dottyback ate the small ones, one of the larger ones survived for a couple of days, but I haven't seen him since

 

[trainfever]

Old bulbs, dirty water and slow movement are all recipes for aipstasia. Try doing water changes more often and increase the water flow in your tank. How old are the bulbs you are using? It may be time to replace them.

 

[nycbob]

Originally Posted by trainfever
http:///forum/post/3240382
Old bulbs, dirty water and slow movement are all recipes for aipstasia. Try doing water changes more often and increase the water flow in your tank. How old are the bulbs you are using? It may be time to replace them.
aiptasia isnt caused by old bulb, dirty water or flow. did u mean algae?

 

[novahobbies]

The oyster feast is great for spot feeding, but I wouldn't add it to my tank as a shotgun food (just my opinion of course). I would spot feed your corals with the oyster feast twice a week, every three or four days. It WILL cause an excess of nutrients that will cause a cyano bloom and of course that beautiful profusion of aptasia you've got there.
Everyone here has added tried and true methods for getting rid of these pests. Joes juice works great for aptasia. In your case, however, I'd try a trio of peppermint shrimp first. You've got a LOT of anemones to cover, and there may not be enough joe's juice to do them all! Try the shrimp, see if they start cutting the population down.
Also, I would recommend you test your ro water before you mix it or add it as makeup water. What is the phosphate level of the freshwater RO itself? You may be getting phosphate from the RO if the filters are older. The algae bloom will soak up the phosphate like a sponge for its growth, so you'll won't get a reliable reading from the display tank. You may want to consider adding a GFO reactor to your setup if you can; this will help reduce the phosphate level a good bit.
Other than that, pretty much what everyone else said: Chemiclean or Red Slime Remover to get rid of the cyano quickly, large water changes with more frequent tank maintenance schedule, shrimp and/or/ joes juice for the aptasia, and cut back on that oyster feast. Good luck!!

 

[xcali1985]

How big is this tank?
I would say go buy like 10-15 peppermint shrimp. They usually have a 33% success rate so good luck. Seems like you have a lot of them and only took a small snap shot of your tank.
Do you have corals? If not, kill the lights competely, peppermint shrimp are more active at night.
What ever you do do try to pull them out as they will release larva that lodges in rock and will grow more. I purchased 6 peppermint shrimp and they took out 2 apt in my tank in less than 24 hours.