Hair Alge

[chrishorne]

I have a 30 Gallon reef tank with few corals and 7 fish. Recently large patches of long thick green hair alge has been growing. Some of it I can scrape off, but some is in places I cannot reach and some is growing on my live rock. I have some yellow pollups where the alge has started to grow into. How do I get rid of this stuff? I feed twice a day and my water changes have not been the best but about 1/4 to 1/3 every month.

 

[chrishorne]

I do not keep them. Alkalinity and Calcium is all I track. Bad move?

 

[chrishorne]

Assuming they are through the roof what can I do? Do phosphate spunges work? Woman at the pet store told me 10% water changes a week, lots of blue legged crabs, a lawnmower blenny and scraping it off? What other options do I have? Is there a good chance of getting rid of it?

 

[reefaddicted]

I have been having problems with it for a while. You absolutely must monitor nitrates. They should be steady in a mature system. Because they are the last product of the nitrogen cycle they can indicate changes to the ecosystem of your tank. That being said, nitrates also are food for hair algae. I have a large fish load and have to keep my macro fuge going, plus have my skimmer going, my nitrates are now down to around 5. Since I have gotten them down this far my algae problem has decreased greatly.
7 fish sounds like alot..assuming they are all 1" long you exceed the 1" per 5 gallons "rule of thumb". (I have about 20" of fish...hence..rule of thumb not "rule") this is most likely the root of your problems. Do a search and read up on skimmers and refugiums. If you don't already have these they may be somoething for you to consider for the future. HTH
Good luck

 

[chrishorne]

How deep is considered deep sand? I have about 2 inches nothing underneath it. Yes I have several blue legged crabs and 10 snails. They are obviously not doing the job. Yes as you can see I am a rookie at this but I want to succeed. Should I start with getting a test kit for the Nitrates and Phosphates?

 

[chrishorne]

I do have a small skimmer on the back of the tank (red sea prizm skimmer). Pulls some out. Should I take some fish out? What can I do to get Nitrates down besides water changes?

 

[nm reef]

& fish...algae problems...dounds like a excess nutrient problem. I'd look at reducing the bio-load and improving the filtration ability. Could you list the fish?
Also the suggestion to check into a sump/refugium is good information. Sometimes algae issues can be addressed simply by improving filtration/reducing bio-load/adaquate circulation...best way to avoid algae problems is to not allow the algaes the things they need to thrive. Keep everything in balance and algae issues will be minimial.

 

[tigriss]

About 5 months ago my tank crashed. I was going to break the tank down and redo it but someone suggested that I would kill things that were still alive and hiding so I took that advice. However while I was waiting for the levels to come down and recycle itself I had gotten the worst case of hair alg. When u looked in the tank it looked like a 55 gal tank of hair. I thought I would never get a clean tank. I went on e-bay and bought 6 emerald crabs, 100 lil blue legs, cucs, and serpent stars. I added a phosorb pad and a yellow tang for a 55 gal reef. I feel this is the best move I made but now I cannot keep alg in my tank. I even been buying corals half price in fish stores because of hair alg and my rock is cleaned in a day.
this is only my opinion. I have no more problems with alge. now I add greens to keep everything fed. Of course for a smaller tank u would get less for a bigger tank more. Any reef keepers I know keep a clean-up crew. Now my husband dosent have to keep his hand in the tank scraping rocks and my corals are not being strangled from it.

 

[chrishorne]

What is the benefit of a deep sand bed? What happens with more sand? Also what is a refugium?

 

[ophiura]

Completely OT, but that is a nice looking system Kipass4130!!!

 

[quazi]

Are you using an RO filter for water input into the tank. I had no end to problems before purchasing an RO filter. I would recommend an RO/DI for total filtration. A good investment for most hobbyists that have this type of problem.
You should check the water you put into your tank. It may contain phosphate and ammonia. If that is the case, water changes are not really going to help you. You will have to get an RO filter or at least RO water from some source.

 

[kracker]

I have been battleing a huge hair algea problem too.All my water checks out fine.Phosphates were like .2 so i have been using phosguard but as of about 2 weeks its just getting worse.I got a product last sunday called s.a.t.It says it kills off hair algea in a few weeks or so.Competes for the nutrients.I will let ya know if the product works or not.It is my last effort then i'm giving up.

 

[mad_dog]

Same problem, run away green hair alage, trying light depravation with 2 hours a day for week, then 3 for a week, so on and so on.... Tank approx 3 years old, very light bio load, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, Nitrates always off the mark with 20 ppm the best, I mean best I've every managed. Got a skimmer and a tide pool2, water change 10% once a week ( what a pain )
SIMPLE Question ????
What is the absolute best way to eliminate Nitrate Build up ???

 

[rabid frog]

Ive tried the marine s.a.t. and it didnt work for me, first what I did was change the bulbs on my lights, then once a week I do a water change.... it goes somthing like this, I turn off the whole system except the lights, scrub off the rocks with a tooth brush in the tank, let all the stuff settle on the bottom of the tank, then get my syphon out and get it off the bottom of the tank, then take my over flow hose going into my sump and put and old tube sock on it, rubberband it to secure it. Take the sock and place it so it can drain into the bio balls, (I know I need to remove these) turn the system back on. I take out the sponge in my over flow box out and allow the tube sock to collect all the stuff that gets kicked around by the pumps. Leave that in there for about a day, it amazed me the first time, tube sock was full of algae. Then I take a micro bag and put some sea chem phosguard in it and place it into my over flow box. Its been working for I have reduced my hair algae a bunch and my corals are on the road to recovery.

 

[fishfreek]

Mad-Dog, do you have bio-balls in you tide-pool2?? If so, IMO, they are probably your sourse of exess nitrates. They tend to accumulate waste and break down to produce nitrates. I would remove them slowly, say a 1/4 gal a week till gone. You will see your nitrates slowly drop. HTH

 

[mad_dog]

fishfreek:
no bio-balls - just bio-wheel: if I remove this then my primary soucre of ammiona/nitrite negativity is gone. please explain >>

 

[fishfreek]

Your sourse of ammonia/ nitrite/ nitrate removal will be done by your L/R and L/S. (given you use both of these) Are you nitrates high??? If so i'd say your bio-wheel is to blame.
The bio-wheel converts your ammonia/ nitrite to nitrate but, (in my understanding) convert them too fast. Bacteria can't break it down fast enough, and you end up with high nitrates. Nitrates = high nutrient content = algae outbreak. HTH