Hair Algea = Throw away LR?

mademperor

mademperor

Member
I have a 15g tank with about 40lb of LRock. Hair Algea has gotten out of control, and is in all of my Live Rock.
I tried scraping it off, but it's everywhere and embedded in the rock. I have greatly reduced my lighting over the past few weeks. I only feed mysis ever other day, and only a little bit.
Lighting = 40w T5.
What can I do?
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
answer a few questions :)
1) phosphates/nitrates?
2) do you rinse your food before putting in the tank?
3) age of bulbs?
4) clean up crew?
5) fuge with any macro algae (chaeto, caleurpa)?
 
D

dennis210

Guest
Try removing the rock, freshwater soak it, scrub - rinse - scrub - rinse and then let it sit overnight with damp rags over the pile of rocks, next day reaquascape. Your tank will probably run a small cycle again. I did this myself and never had another problem with hair algae. And remember - the nutrients to let it grow have to come from somewhere, it is usually the fish keeper not the fish!
 
D

dragonzim

Active Member
Originally Posted by Dennis210
http:///forum/post/2472685
Try removing the rock, freshwater soak it, scrub - rinse - scrub - rinse and then let it sit overnight with damp rags over the pile of rocks, next day reaquascape. Your tank will probably run a small cycle again. I did this myself and never had another problem with hair algae. And remember - the nutrients to let it grow have to come from somewhere, it is usually the fish keeper not the fish!
There is a very good chance you will end up with more than just a "small cycle" if you leave your rock out overnight. A freshwater rinse can also kill off a lot of the beneficial bacteria on and in the rock.
Check your phosphates. There is a good chance that they are the cause.
 
mademperor

mademperor

Member
1) phosphates/nitrates?
Nitrates 0
Phosphates, why do people even ask this? They are 0, but that's only because of the algea.
2) do you rinse your food before putting in the tank?
Mysis, kind of
3) age of bulbs?
<3months
4) clean up crew?
1/2 dozen blue legs
5) fuge with any macro algae (chaeto, caleurpa)
5.5g Fug with Chaeto
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
Originally Posted by mademperor
http:///forum/post/2472724
1) phosphates/nitrates?
Nitrates 0
Phosphates, why do people even ask this? They are 0, but that's only because of the algea.
because we're trying to help and phosphates are generally the main reason for excess algae growth?
i'd add to your clean up crew, get an emerald crab or something and a few astrea snails and ONE mexican turbo.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
do you put that water into the tank, or strain it out?
might be a sourse for phosphates if you dont.
 
jhuggins

jhuggins

Member
About 6 months ago I had a bad hair algae problem. I did everything that everyone said finally I just took each rock out and scrubbed them with a tooth brush. They were only out of the water for a few minutes. Now I don't have any algae. It didn't take long and I had very good results. Sometimes once the algae has a firm hold on the tank even if you take away all of the phosphate you still need to remove the algae in the first place. Just my $.02.
Just don't give up and be patient!
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
You have a problem with phosphates if you have hair algae, they go hand and hand. And unless you have a very expensive test kit($50+, i.e. LaMotte) it most likely will not be sensitive enough to measure even when showing 0. Hair algae needs an energy source to grow, and that most always is phosphate. By a phosban reactor and watch it turn white... But that is only treating the problem, not the source. Do both and you won't have hair algae.
 
mie

mie

Active Member
If you do not have any light sensitive creatures (corals, anenomes) then cover your tank with a sheet for a few days and the alage WILL die. However this will allow your tank to look nice for a while, you need to find the source of the excess nutrients. My son had this problem really bad and a combination of less light more frequent water changes with ro water and less feeding we finally got it under control. Stay away from products to get rid of it, because they just mask the problem they do not fix it.
 
scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
Originally Posted by mie
http:///forum/post/2472848
If you do not have any light sensitive creatures (corals, anenomes) then cover your tank with a sheet for a few days and the alage WILL die. However this will allow your tank to look nice for a while, you need to find the source of the excess nutrients. My son had this problem really bad and a combination of less light more frequent water changes with ro water and less feeding we finally got it under control. Stay away from products to get rid of it, because they just mask the problem they do not fix it.
Keep in mind that when you kill off that algae in the tank its going to break down and add more nutrients (nitrates and phosphates) to your tank. Unless you have a system set up to remove the nutrients (like carbon filtration), you are most likely just going to a see a spike followed by more algae growth.
 
stdreb27

stdreb27

Active Member
Originally Posted by jhuggins
http:///forum/post/2472778
About 6 months ago I had a bad hair algae problem. I did everything that everyone said finally I just took each rock out and scrubbed them with a tooth brush. They were only out of the water for a few minutes. Now I don't have any algae. It didn't take long and I had very good results. Sometimes once the algae has a firm hold on the tank even if you take away all of the phosphate you still need to remove the algae in the first place. Just my $.02.
Just don't give up and be patient!
Those were my 2 cents too
this works.
 
jeffro63

jeffro63

Member
i had this same problem in a 55 ...... i told my guy at the lfs about it ( he's my guru )
here's what i did ......
take half of the water out and put it in the bath tub,
take all live rock and put it in bath tub with the water you took out of tank
stir the snot out of the sand ( substrate )
run a diatom till water clears up
get a new scrub brush (clean ... never used with soap etc.... )
scrub all the live rock
replace the rock in tank
mix up new water
fill tank again
do this once a week for 3 or 4 weeks and all is well
i havn't had hair in my tank ever since
oh yeah ... i added a lawn mower blenny and he does a good job too
good luck ,,,, hope it helps
jeffro
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
Originally Posted by ci11337
http:///forum/post/2473057
emerals crabs are the only thing i've actually seen eat it.

i have a frag that constantly is growing hair algae. I put the frag into the rock wall, and 10 mins later i ALWAYS see my emerald sitting on the frag, chowing down on hair algae. them and mexican turbos.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top