hair algae problem

armageddon

armageddon

Member
i had to leave my tanks for a month and when i got back my 25 had went through an algae bloom. Hair algae covered all my life rock. I have a 10 gallon tank of blue leg hermits that feast on the rock, but when i put it back in the 25 hair algae starts growing again. Its a FOWLR....my light cycle is down to about 8 hours a day. I put a bag in my aqua clear with media designed to remove phosphates. One bag will treat 25 gallons, so it should be doing its job. My nitrates are at 10 ppm. I use Ro water. My salt mix contains no phosphates. I am wondering what the food source would be. Its really starting to make me mad. Any help would be appreciated. Could the phosphate levels still be high enough for a food source?
 
nerdy

nerdy

Member
Sometimes in my experience with hair algae the life span on the bulbs you have for the light ing has expired! Most bulbs have a lifespan of quality light for about 8 months! If you have older bulbs the spectrum could have expired on them causing an algae bloom!
 
nerdy

nerdy

Member
I'm in Hamilton, Ontario! I meant the spectrum of the bulbs. The spectrum dies out after the bulb has been in use for a while. A poor spectrum causes plant growth (algae). When you get fresh bulbs (with a spectrum in the required range(there should be a graph on the side of the case) the spectrum will be full!
 
musipilot

musipilot

Member
I went through a horrible hair algae situation in my reef tank, here's what I did:
Removed the corals from the tank to others, and cut the light out COMPLETELY for a week.
I restarted the lighting one hour a day for a week, then added an hour every week until I was back at 8.
I did a 15% water change EVERY THREE DAYS. This is the biggest thing you can do to help, since it removes nutrients from the water.
It took about 2 months, but the hair algae is gone. My sailfin in that tank is now wondering where it all went!
 
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