Hair Algae- still fighting

drewdog82

drewdog82

Member
I have been battling hair algae ever since I set up my tank. I have done everything I can think of to rid it and still it persists. My latest strategy was to add phos-buster and also to put some phosphate remover media in my filter. Some how I had gotten phosphates in my tank and I have been trying to remove them. I have finally gotten them below .25 mg, but their still are traces of them. One other thing that I am going to try in the near future is to add a sump and also a seperate refugium. I currently have a skimmer, powerheads, and a canister filter which I have now emptied because of the realization of it being a nutrient trap. I am only running phosphate remover in the filter and I will occasionally run carbon. I guess I have 2 questions:
1. How long after I get rid of my phosphates will it take for the hair algae to also dissapear????
2. Any suggestions on a type of refugium....?? As of right now I am leaning towards a simple 20-30 gallon tank with a 6 in. sand bed with absolutelly no lighting. I have read that this works as a nitrate/phosphate reduction center and the sand will be a safe haven for worms and copepods...... Eventually when I get some more money, I will add some high intensity light and some Trid. clams as I have read that they are excellent filter feeders.
Any Opinions?
 
valgae

valgae

Member
there might b a few more places that phosphates can come from. what kind of water are u using? how often do you feed your fish? what kind of lighting do you have the bulbs could be old and lost their correct intensity. i had some pcs a while back and had a really bad outbreak of hair algae. realized that my bulbs were like 8 months old :scared: replaces them and the problem went away. took about 3weeks but it went away. also try a product called marine s.a.t. u should b able to find it at your lfs
 
drewdog82

drewdog82

Member
Originally Posted by VALgae
there might b a few more places that phosphates can come from. what kind of water are u using? how often do you feed your fish? what kind of lighting do you have the bulbs could be old and lost their correct intensity. i had some pcs a while back and had a really bad outbreak of hair algae. realized that my bulbs were like 8 months old :scared: replaces them and the problem went away. took about 3weeks but it went away. also try a product called marine s.a.t. u should b able to find it at your lfs

RO water, haven't fed tank yet--no fish, brand new T-5 lighting...... thanx though. I feel like I've tried everything, but I will give it some more time as my phosphates are starting to go down.... I feel like I need an emergency fuge and sump...
 
drewdog82

drewdog82

Member
Originally Posted by MOPARDWH
Do you have any pics?
I wish, unfortunatelly I wont have a digital for another 2 weeks...
 
valgae

valgae

Member
sorry worth a shot. where do u get ur ro water from? im sure u have already done this but check it for phos.
 
monalisa

monalisa

Active Member
When I first started my 37gal, I made the mistake of putting a live rock in that was covered with hair algea. It was also covered with really tiny feather dusters, so scrubbing it was not an option. After many, many months of cutting down feeding, cutting down light time, making sure that top offs and water changes were with RO, and much pulling and cleaning, I finally have things under control. It took a LONG time though, and I had to learn the very important lesson of being patient. Nothing in this hobby, it seems, goes very fast.
I wish you best of luck. You'll get it under control, it'll just take time.
Lisa :happyfish
 
mandarin w

mandarin w

Member
How about your sand, What type of sand did you put in there, some sand has silicates, and that will help raise your phosphates.
How long do you keep your lights on? If you do not have any fish in there yet, The lights only need to be on a couple hours a day.
Flow, How much flow do you have going in your tank? Try some powerheads, and put them so there are no dead spots.
You rock might have had some hair alge in it.
If your tank is fairly new, like I am thinking, it may just be a phase the tank is going through. Once the tank builds up enough good bacteria to fight it off, I will take care of itself.
 
balibaby

balibaby

New Member
i had really bad hair algea like whats going on in your tank and when i replaced my crushed coral with a very fine sand a lot of it went away. i have some in the tank now but i think that is because i probably am over feeding since i have added a sun polyp to the tank. i found out that chemically crushed coral as it breaks down raises the phosphates...i think it has something to do with silicates and phosphates in teh crushed coral as it slowly is breaking down. its an extremely slow process but continuous almost.
 
symon

symon

Member
Originally Posted by balibaby
i had really bad hair algea like whats going on in your tank and when i replaced my crushed coral with a very fine sand a lot of it went away. i have some in the tank now but i think that is because i probably am over feeding since i have added a sun polyp to the tank. i found out that chemically crushed coral as it breaks down raises the phosphates...i think it has something to do with silicates and phosphates in teh crushed coral as it slowly is breaking down. its an extremely slow process but continuous almost.

I just snapped, I have been battling Hair Algae too, I changed out about 2/3 of my crushed coral to LS , but there is still some mixed in, I am now wondering if that's why i can never seem to get my phosphates down! :mad:
 
ninjamini

ninjamini

Active Member
You need:
emerald crab(s)
mexican snalis
and to find out where you are getting phosphates. They come from feeding. and they can be stored in sand
Cut down on feeding.
cut down on number of light hours.
take away the algee food (phosphates and light) and introduce the things that eat it.
 
jabhook

jabhook

New Member
I recently added ,about 40 snails and several hermit crabs to my 37 gallon tank,and within a couple weeks,am now worried about what to feed my snails,hahaha.I had a bad green algae problem,and hair algae on live rock,and heater.Now,my heater looks brand new,and ca'nt find algae anywhere
.I read at least 1.5 cleaners' per gallon,is needed.
 
drewdog82

drewdog82

Member
Thanks for all the replies.... I have noticed my hermits have been eating my snails which also could be a cause...depleted clean-up crew. I was thinking of starting to feed my tank, so that my hermits stop eating my snails... I will also go buy some more snails. As far as the sand I am using, it is arag-alive and about a 2 in. bed. I really want to add an overflow to a sump and also have a side refugium, but the problem is my tank is up against the wall. It would be a total pain to move it out and I was wondering if anyone knew of a way to hang the overflow from the side of the tank???
 
ninjamini

ninjamini

Active Member
Originally Posted by drewdog82
I have noticed my hermits have been eating my snails
They do that because they want the shell. Put a variety of empty shells in the tank.
 
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