Hair Algae
- Thread starter gammabill
- Start date
reef_dart21
Member
do you have any shrimp in your tank?
fishygurl
Active Member
Originally Posted by GammaBill
HELP........I'm having a terrible problem with hair algae....how do I combat it?
Destroy what it is causing it. Which could be:
Having lights on too long
Feeding too much
Old lights
Having direct sunlight hit your tank
New tank
I might be forgetting some things, if anyone can think of anything else please add
HELP........I'm having a terrible problem with hair algae....how do I combat it?
Destroy what it is causing it. Which could be:
Having lights on too long
Feeding too much
Old lights
Having direct sunlight hit your tank
New tank
I might be forgetting some things, if anyone can think of anything else please add
gammabill
New Member
Thanks Fishygurl. I have my lights on between 10 to 12 hrs. My lights are almost a year old and usually I replace them in March. Not sure on my feeding...I give them (10 fish) in a 80 gal tank some bloodworm and mysis shrimp. these are about the size of an eraser on a pencil. Also I give the tang some dried seedweed about an inch square. This food is given every night about 8 p.m. . In the morning just a pinch of flake fish food. The tank I have had for 6 years and this is the first time I've had this problem.
flricordia
Active Member
I have seen excellent results with the product Weiss Algae Magic in combatting hair algae in different tanks of different sizes and bio-loads. Never seen anything detremental from its use toward coral, invert or fish. It can take up to a month to take full effect, but seems to work very well. During this time you should be able to find and correct what is causing the hair algae growth so it doesn't return.
gammabill
New Member
I do use RO/DI water. I have the system in my basement and I did check out all the filters/carbon etc. They are fine. My water PH is right on. My Nitrates were alittle high, but got them under control. Calcium is right on also. I failed to mention along with the hair algae, I also now have bubble algae. So there is something seriously going on.
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.
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.