Hair Algea?

patrick8929

patrick8929

Active Member
i am just tiered of the hair algea and overall green look of the tank. i have done a water test and all the levels are pretty much perfect or as good as it gets and i do a 10 % water change every week but it wont go away. i had alot of green in my sand but my sleeper goby is taking care of that! :jumping:
any suggestions on wat to do how does everyone keep it from happening to there tank?
ps (please dont send me to another thread)
thnx
patrick
here is a pic
 
patrick8929

patrick8929

Active Member
well not really
i have like 1 hermit crab and thats it i really need one but last time i had one thhey all died and they didnt realy eat to much
 
sly

sly

Active Member
Snails are your best friend... but before you can add any, what are your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, alk, temp and SG?
 
patrick8929

patrick8929

Active Member
first four are like 0 or very slightly above 0 (very slightly)
dont know alk
temp is about 78-79
and wat is sg?
 
sly

sly

Active Member
Originally Posted by patrick8929
and wat is sg?
Specific Gravity... amount of salt in the water
pH is low. It should be 8.3
Low SG and low pH will encourage algae growth. Not having a cleanup crew doesn't help either.
 
patrick8929

patrick8929

Active Member
i do have a skimmer its made by red sea but i dont know the specific make of the skimmer
it is made for a 75 gallon tho
how do i bring up ph?
my sg is 1.025
i feed every three days
its two fish and i feed half a cube of frozen brine
 
sly

sly

Active Member
One way to bring up your pH is to use baking soda. You mix some of it in your top off water and slowly add it to the tank. But low SG can be caused by low alk. Low alk can be caused by low calcium...
hmm...
 
barchtruong

barchtruong

Member
how old is your tank?
type of salt has a big effect on your PH level. what type of salt?
feed your fish daily at a very small amount food rather than 3 days with that much of food (1/2 cubes for only 2 fishes).
I feed my Flame Angels, 2 clowns, a Six line and a coral banded shrimp daily with 1/4 cube of Mysis shrimp.
 
patrick8929

patrick8929

Active Member
i dont know my alk but i dont think is way off. i have lots of corals and all are doing great and both of my fish seem to be really hardy
 
barchtruong

barchtruong

Member
I wouldn't recommend anyone to use Baking Soda to bring up PH.
Something about Baking Soda that I read somewhere that I can't think up now, but it's a bad stuff for your tank in the long run.
 
patrick8929

patrick8929

Active Member
my tank is a year and a half old but i pretty much started from scratch about 2 months ago because i had given up on it and was tiered of the hby. one day i was really bored and i cleaned it all out and set up the live rock in the way it is in the pic. it has been doing great and i have always had hair algea but if i am going to keep on with this hobby i have to get rid of the algea.
i am using instant ocean sea salt and it says it is nitrate and phosphate free. my skimmer is a prizm
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
I'm guessing your skimmer is a Red Sea Prism, its a hang on type right? I have one on my 65 and it works alright, I wouldn't say its great but it does work. I wouldn't worry about the pH but then again I don't test pH so I might be a bad example. Don't try using buffers or such to raise pH unless you need to raise your carbonate hardness. As far as cleanup packages its really up to what you want in your tank. Some recommendations that I personally like would be.
Astrea snails - for cleaning glass I'd estimate 1 per 5 to 10 gallons
Nassarius snails - great for eatting food off the sand bed
Emerald crabs - anywhere from 1-3 depending on how much rock you have
Zebra hermits - A lot of people don't like hermits, they can kill snails for shells or just for fun but they are good at cleaning up as well.
 
patrick8929

patrick8929

Active Member
yes you are correct it is a hang on prism skimmer it does a pretty good job i agree. i love hermits but i do know they kill snails and sometime even eat corals. i would like to order one of the pakages off this site i have about 50 lbs of live rock and a 2 inch sand bed.
 
barchtruong

barchtruong

Member
I've been using instant ocean for almost 3 mons now.
I have so many corals in my tank including stony corals.
I've never had any prob with ph.
I only added Calcium in the tank twice a week due to the lack of calcium in instant ocean salt.
I change 10% weekly.
I have very strong flow in the tank thou. Strong flow help stablize ph alot.
 
patrick8929

patrick8929

Active Member
i have some flow but not alot it is enough that every part of the tank has flow. (some parts stronger then others)
 
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