Hair algae
- Thread starter eel head
- Start date
damsel in distress
Member
Hey....welcome to the board!! 
Ok there is no real "wonder" cure for hair algae...but patience is the key! First of all, I need you to answer some questions before I can help you out. (when asking a question like this one, it is best to give every bit of info you have...this helps other members give you a better answer to your question) What are your water parameters? What kind of fish do you have? Any live rock? Clean up crew? What are you feeding your fish and how much? Do you have a skimmer? How long are you leaving your lights on?
A few things you can do to start getting rid of the algae is.... only leave your lights on the tank for about 6 hours a day and limit the food you feed your fish. Only feed once every two to three days. The hair algae feeds off of the lights and extra food which makes the hair algae grow extremely fast! I suggest getting a good clean up crew if you do not have one already.
I hope this advice gets you back on the right track...just let me know some answers to those questions above and I can help you a little better.
Jessica
Ok there is no real "wonder" cure for hair algae...but patience is the key! First of all, I need you to answer some questions before I can help you out. (when asking a question like this one, it is best to give every bit of info you have...this helps other members give you a better answer to your question) What are your water parameters? What kind of fish do you have? Any live rock? Clean up crew? What are you feeding your fish and how much? Do you have a skimmer? How long are you leaving your lights on?
A few things you can do to start getting rid of the algae is.... only leave your lights on the tank for about 6 hours a day and limit the food you feed your fish. Only feed once every two to three days. The hair algae feeds off of the lights and extra food which makes the hair algae grow extremely fast! I suggest getting a good clean up crew if you do not have one already.
I hope this advice gets you back on the right track...just let me know some answers to those questions above and I can help you a little better.
Jessica
eel head
New Member
Sorry, my tank has about 150lbs live rock, 24" snowflake eel, coral beauty, flame angel, try-color angel, 2 six line wrasse, yellow tang, 6 hermitt crabs, very large green serpent starfish, chocolate chip starfish, 8" brain coral, pollips.
I feed the fish frozen brin shrimp, the eel fresh shrimp all every other day. Lights are on about 10 hrs a day. I do have a skimmer.
I feed the fish frozen brin shrimp, the eel fresh shrimp all every other day. Lights are on about 10 hrs a day. I do have a skimmer.
damsel in distress
Member
I agree that a lawnmower blennie will help clean up your tank free of hair algae, but it has to be compatible to what is already in your tank. I am not sure on this, but I dont know if it is compatible with an eel. YOu might want to check in on that a little bit more...or maybe a shark can help with this one!
OK, what are your water parameters??????? Nitrates? Nitrites? Phosphates? etc. How long has your tank been cycling and if it is complete?
Also, for that huge amoumt of live rock I would suggest getting a bigger clean up crew! Such as more hermits (blue, red, or both), turbo snails, and maybe try a few emerald crabs. I can tell you right now that 6 hermit crabs are not going to do the job for that big of a tank. The general rule for turbo snails is one for every 2 gallons. With a bigger clean up crew along with the skimmer....you should see a difference. But do remember like i said before, I would cut down on how long you have your lights on. 10 hours is too long when you have an outbreak of hair algae...try 6 or 7 hours a day. Cut down on food to every 2-3 days.
When we had a huge outbreak of green hair algae, we did a 25% water change and while we were doing the water change we took our live rock out and used a tooth brush to scrape off any visible hair algae. After we got most of the visible algae off the rocks, the clean up crew and the skimmer did the rest.
You can get rid of the algae, but it takes time!! Be patient!
I hope this helps!
Jessica
OK, what are your water parameters??????? Nitrates? Nitrites? Phosphates? etc. How long has your tank been cycling and if it is complete?
Also, for that huge amoumt of live rock I would suggest getting a bigger clean up crew! Such as more hermits (blue, red, or both), turbo snails, and maybe try a few emerald crabs. I can tell you right now that 6 hermit crabs are not going to do the job for that big of a tank. The general rule for turbo snails is one for every 2 gallons. With a bigger clean up crew along with the skimmer....you should see a difference. But do remember like i said before, I would cut down on how long you have your lights on. 10 hours is too long when you have an outbreak of hair algae...try 6 or 7 hours a day. Cut down on food to every 2-3 days.
When we had a huge outbreak of green hair algae, we did a 25% water change and while we were doing the water change we took our live rock out and used a tooth brush to scrape off any visible hair algae. After we got most of the visible algae off the rocks, the clean up crew and the skimmer did the rest.
You can get rid of the algae, but it takes time!! Be patient!
I hope this helps!
Jessica
@knight
Member
EEL HEAD,
the choc. star is a carnivore, and will eat things beneficial to your reef, not to say it will hurt you, it is not recommended.
secondly, how long has your tank been set up and running? the reason I ask is that a diatom bloom about 2 months (give or take) is completely normal and is part of the cycle of establishing a healthy reef tank. If this is the case, snails and hermits will help, but in the end it will require water changes, ut mostly patience. a skimmer will help as well.
the choc. star is a carnivore, and will eat things beneficial to your reef, not to say it will hurt you, it is not recommended.
secondly, how long has your tank been set up and running? the reason I ask is that a diatom bloom about 2 months (give or take) is completely normal and is part of the cycle of establishing a healthy reef tank. If this is the case, snails and hermits will help, but in the end it will require water changes, ut mostly patience. a skimmer will help as well.
@knight
Member
your algae problem sounds like a normal diatom bloom and should resolve itself within a month. if it gets too bad, you can scrub your LR to help, but it will just grow back until the nutrients that the algae is feeding off of is gone. Give it time, and you will be fine.
[ September 30, 2001: Message edited by: @knight ]
[ September 30, 2001: Message edited by: @knight ]
salisbury a d
Member
NO NO NO!
Lawnmowers are ugly fish and do nothing for hair algae.
They are lazy and just displace water.
Emrald crabs are the only thing that I have that eats it.
The reason you have hair algae is probably phosphates. If you do not have an ro unit get one.
That is the next thing on my list.
Adam
Lawnmowers are ugly fish and do nothing for hair algae.
They are lazy and just displace water.
Emrald crabs are the only thing that I have that eats it.
The reason you have hair algae is probably phosphates. If you do not have an ro unit get one.
That is the next thing on my list.
Adam
kimmisue
Member
I have a lawnmower and love him..true he isn't the prettiest in the tank but he does eat algae...I havn't seen him touch the hair algae sorry to say. I am cutting down my light time (for my problem) and reduced the nutrients in the water.
Skimmer and careful feeding of food and supplements.
Just my .02 on my own problem
Maybe someone can learn from my mistake and benifit from it
Kim
Skimmer and careful feeding of food and supplements.
Just my .02 on my own problem
Maybe someone can learn from my mistake and benifit from it
Kim