Hair Algae

tropills

tropills

Member
Hi All,
my question is I screwed up aprox 2 months ago when changing filters on my ro/di unit. I never took it off bypass and ended up using straight well water for my top offs for aprox 2 weeks till I checked my ro system and noticed it
now I have a severe hair algae outbreak due to phosphates,
have seince gotten phosphates down to zero in the main tank itself
but my problem is the live rock i'm sure has absorbed the phosphates
into itself, so can I pull all the live rock (some 200 lbs) and recure it in a covered trash can so no light can get to it for a couple weeks,? will this get rid of the hair algae for good ???? I will do daily water changes on the rock
to help keep the cycle to a minimum in the trash can. :help: :help:
Thanks Greg
 
reefnut

reefnut

Active Member
If the tank has no inhabitants you could... or just shut the main tanks lights off for a few weeks.
You can also run some phosphate remover to help. Do you have a refuge??
 
tropills

tropills

Member
running phosban now, tank has quite a few inverts, corals, anemones,
so turning the lights off it the DT is not a option, Yes I have a fuge, has cheato, sand and 2 mangrove plants.
will the trash can idea work ???? I really don't have a problem looking at a some what bare tank if it will take care of the hair algae. Just need to know if this will give the rock a chance to release the phosphate it has absorbed?
 
ninjamini

ninjamini

Active Member
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.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/255585/do-you-have-hair-algae
 
aztec reef

aztec reef

Active Member
Originally Posted by tropills
Hi All,
my question is I screwed up aprox 2 months ago when changing filters on my ro/di unit. I never took it off bypass and ended up using straight well water for my top offs for aprox 2 weeks till I checked my ro system and noticed it
now I have a severe hair algae outbreak due to phosphates,
have seince gotten phosphates down to zero in the main tank itself
but my problem is the live rock i'm sure has absorbed the phosphates
into itself, so can I pull all the live rock (some 200 lbs) and recure it in a covered trash can so no light can get to it for a couple weeks,? will this get rid of the hair algae for good ???? I will do daily water changes on the rock
to help keep the cycle to a minimum in the trash can. :help: :help:
Thanks Greg
i had the same similar problem a few months back.. my ro unit got knocked down from the standing position cause i did'nt mount it on wall so the filters broke. then i was using tap water for a month and i went through heavy algea bloom. so what i did was i ordered my new ro/di maxcap unit in the mean time i went to lfs to buy r.o. water and eventually was all gone . all it takes ro/di water changes and for the hairy algea if you can you can take the lr out of tank and scrape it off .i've done this many times with hair algea in my tank h with no problems.
 
tropills

tropills

Member
Thanks to all that have given me ideas so far,, but knowone has yet to answer my main question???
tank is as follows/...
125 gallon
55 gallon sump?fuge
2 seio 2600
2 MJ 500
1 aquaclear 110
huge DIY skimmer
1 yellow tail blue dam.
1 green cromis.
1 black sailfin blenny
1 orange spotted goby
1 Heniochus butterfly
aprox.50 blueleg hermits
12 mexican turbos
24 astrea snails
2 brittle stars
2 flower anemones
1 huge carpet anemone
1 clarki clown
1 huge toadstool leather
50 mushrooms
SG 1.025
temp. 79
amon. 0
nitri. 0
po4. 0
nitra. 20
kh. 125mg
ph. 8.2
calc. 460
200+ live rock
100 sand
2 400watt 14K halide 5 hours per day
4 7100K pc 6 hours per day
2 10K vho 6 hours per day
phosban reactor with phosphate remover
2 mangroves in fuge
chateo in fuge
2 inch sand bed in fuge
20 lbs live rock in fuge.
I think that all, please tell me if I can just recure my rock to get rid of it, I've tryed to scrub it off, pull it off, have a good clean up crew, but like I said the rock has absorbed the phosphates and will continue to grow the alage in the DT so by removeing the rock and putting it in a dark place for several weeks won't that kill all the alage and in turn the phoshates will by depleated so alage won't come back ??? also to add the tank is 1.5 years old and have always used ro/di water for everything, also use tropic marin pro reef salt. :help:
 
ninjamini

ninjamini

Active Member
That will work but it does not need to happen. You would be better taking out the real light demanding corals and turning down the light in your tank. But yes the garbage can will work fine. I just would not do it . you will kill alot more than the algae that way. You also do not need to cycle the rock. Dont forget heat and snails and to export the nutrients.
Ya know what I would not recommend the garbage can. Just follow my directions above. It works.
 
tropills

tropills

Member
Originally Posted by ninjamini
That will work but it does not need to happen. You would be better taking out the real light demanding corals and turning down the light in your tank. But yes the garbage can will work fine. I just would not do it . you will kill alot more than the algae that way. You also do not need to cycle the rock. Dont forget heat and snails and to export the nutrients.
Ya know what I would not recommend the garbage can. Just follow my directions above. It works.
ok so I should just let it stay like it is ??? change 15% of the water once a week, and hope it just goes away on it's own ??? man it will take a year or more for the phoshates to leach out of the rock and won't the hair alage contribute to adding more phosphate,nutriants back to the system thus the alage cycle will never end??? don't get me wrong I'm willing to give it some time but I also don't want to not do anything and still have this problem.
thanks for the help ninjamini but I'm still open for any other members opinion on this ..... also forgot to mention in my list of tank stock I also have 10 little neck clams all aprox. 2 inches
 
ninjamini

ninjamini

Active Member
Originally Posted by tropills
ok so I should just let it stay like it is ??? change 15% of the water once a week, and hope it just goes away on it's own ??? man it will take a year or more for the phoshates to leach out of the rock and won't the hair alage contribute to adding more phosphate,nutriants back to the system thus the alage cycle will never end??? don't get me wrong I'm willing to give it some time but I also don't want to not do anything and still have this problem.
thanks for the help ninjamini but I'm still open for any other members opinion on this ..... also forgot to mention in my list of tank stock I also have 10 little neck clams all aprox. 2 inches


Keep up with the phosban. Youve got it all right. Cut back on the lights. You have alot of light. Watch your anenomee. He will suffer from the reduced light but they should be ok. If you watch him you can always pull it from the tank and put it in qt with a strong light.
good luck.
 
tropills

tropills

Member
don't get me wrong and thanks to ninjamini but is this all I can do??
anyone else have a opinion on this ???
 
ninjamini

ninjamini

Active Member
Originally Posted by tropills
don't get me wrong and thanks to ninjamini but is this all I can do??
anyone else have a opinion on this ???

OK since noone else took this question I will readdress it. Is this all you can do?
I do not understand the question. What more do you want besides getting rid of it and knowing how to not have another outbreak.
If you dont like what will work then how about something different. Take all 200+ pounds of live rock from your tank. Scrub it down with fresh salt water. Hull off as much algae as you can by hand. Get tweezers and pull off the rest. Put the rock into a large garbage can with some power heads and a heater. Let it sit for about 4 weeks. Then move it back to your show tank.
O'yea. While your busy cleaning off the algae you will kill off any beneficial sponges. Kill off a lot of the coraline and many of the critters that make a established tank established. It will stress out your fish. Kick up your sand and be a pain in the butt and....but wait...hey its worth it you wont have any hair algae left.
No wait even better:
I guess you can give away all your live rock and buy new. Here is a link to some that you did not have this problem with.
I guess you can give away all your live rock and buy new. Here is a link to some that you did not have this problem with.
 
tropills

tropills

Member
Originally Posted by ninjamini
OK since noone else took this question I will readdress it. Is this all you can do?
I do not understand the question. What more do you want besides getting rid of it and knowing how to not have another outbreak.
If you dont like what will work then how about something different. Take all 200+ pounds of live rock from your tank. Scrub it down with fresh salt water. Hull off as much algae as you can by hand. Get tweezers and pull off the rest. Put the rock into a large garbage can with some power heads and a heater. Let it sit for about 4 weeks. Then move it back to your show tank.
O'yea. While your busy cleaning off the algae you will kill off any beneficial sponges. Kill off a lot of the coraline and many of the critters that make a established tank established. It will stress out your fish. Kick up your sand and be a pain in the butt and....but wait...hey its worth it you wont have any hair algae left.
No wait even better:
I guess you can give away all your live rock and buy new. Here is a link to some that you did not have this problem with.
I guess you can give away all your live rock and buy new. Here is a link to some that you did not have this problem with.

This post was very uncalled for.. :mad: I did not say I would not try the things you sujested, and I no there is not much else I can do ,,, but maybe someone else has done somthing that I have'nt tried.
I know recuring the rock will have some semi-sevire die off but if this is what it comes down to then thats, that. and to add THANK YOU
belive me when I say this, I take everthing that is said or recomended to heart
and try to use that to my advantage. please keep up the advice I've been in this hobbie for 17 years and still need help on matters such as this..
 
ninjamini

ninjamini

Active Member
Originally Posted by tropills
.. years and still need help on matters such as this..
Your right and we all do.
 
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