Hair Algea?

steelgluer

steelgluer

Member
Originally Posted by patrick8929
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
Prepare stock solution
1. 1 tsp. pickling lime - food grade calcium hydroxide
2. 2 tbls. tap water.
boil water and lime in microwave for 40 sec.
keep closed plastic container in cool place.
You will need a vet syringe from a pet store that sells vaccinations
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
Not to disagree with other people's ideas I think the most important thing you need right now is snails, maybe other cleaners but mostly snails. They work well at eatting algae.
As far as the fuge it isn't required and it can be something you add later. As far as getting chaeto you can find it forsale online at online auctioning sites, just type chaeto in the search and you can probably get a good handful for 10 dollars shipped.
If you do set up a fuge I would highly advise against using two pumps because as I mentioned it would be nearly impossible to balance the flow and advoid water overflowing everywhere. You can look around the DIY section and find instructions on how to build and overflow if you want to save money.
Another good tool is a magfloat, makes cleaning the glass easy.
 
patrick8929

patrick8929

Active Member
yea i have a mag float im just lazy.

i guess that will help but the rock work is wat im more worried about because of all the corals. i dont want them to get overrun by the algea. i think my biggest thing is just a clean up crew.
after that i guess i can try to set up a fuge. my sand is looking good tho
my sleeper goby is making good work of that!
 
patrick8929

patrick8929

Active Member
can i turm my hang on the back filter into a refegium?
if i take everthing out and then put plants and crabs in it?
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
Originally Posted by patrick8929
can i turm my hang on the back filter into a refegium?
if i take everthing out and then put plants and crabs in it?
Yes, as long as you have room, I did this with mine before, it was a millenium 3000. I wouldn't put any crabs in it unless it is huge and you just need to mount a light over it, not a fancy light, a desk light works well and use a 13 watt bulb (the kind you buy for regular light called energy savers that replace a regular 60 watt household bulb.)
 
patrick8929

patrick8929

Active Member
that is the exact filter i have
so i can do that then.
i guess i will work on it and hopefully it will help
thnx for all your help!

patrick
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
Originally Posted by patrick8929
that is the exact filter i have
so i can do that then.
i guess i will work on it and hopefully it will help
thnx for all your help!

patrick
No problem. If you need any specific help let me know. The conversion was fairly easy, I just took the filter parts out of one side of the filter and put the chaeto right in there, I had to cut a hole in the cover of the filter so the light could shine through and tada! You don't need sand or rock but if you do use small pieces of rubble rock at the bottom and if you use sand use a filter bag to keep it out of the filter pump. Then once a month or so take out the extra chaeto so it has room to grow again.
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
I suppose you could but you don't need to, I only transformed one side, if you do both sides you'll probably need 2 lights or find a way to mount one light higher so it reaches both compartments.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
Not to disagree with other people's ideas I think the most important thing you need right now is snails, maybe other cleaners but mostly snails. They work well at eatting algae.
As far as the fuge it isn't required and it can be something you add later. As far as getting chaeto you can find it forsale online at online auctioning sites, just type chaeto in the search and you can probably get a good handful for 10 dollars shipped.
If you do set up a fuge I would highly advise against using two pumps because as I mentioned it would be nearly impossible to balance the flow and advoid water overflowing everywhere. You can look around the DIY section and find instructions on how to build and overflow if you want to save money.
Another good tool is a magfloat, makes cleaning the glass easy.
I have to disagree with this advice on snails and such for hair algea :thinking: They won't even scratch the surface on the hair algea issue......You can read all night long on the other big chat forum on this topic, and the only real conclusive combatant on hair algae or bryopsis is a lettuce nudibranch and some other type of sea hair I can't remember.....
 
alfieferenzo84

alfieferenzo84

Member
buy a lawnmore blenny if you are cutting corners like me the blenny cleared the hole tank up in 2 days!!!
check your phosphate and nitrates!!!
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Honestly you just got a freak lawnmower blenny.....They aren't a typical hair algae eater......Kinda like saying go out and fill the tank with FW Mollies....Some will and some won't eat......So why not just get a lettuce nudibranch which is proven to get the job done.....
 
alfieferenzo84

alfieferenzo84

Member
Originally Posted by acrylic51
Honestly you just got a freak lawnmower blenny.....They aren't a typical hair algae eater......Kinda like saying go out and fill the tank with FW Mollies....Some will and some won't eat......So why not just get a lettuce nudibranch which is proven to get the job done.....

im sorry i thought they eat it for sure? Yeah he/she is a freak its so fat now too i should post a pic lol
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
It has been my experience that most commonly sold snails such as Astrea snails will eat hair algae along with other types of undesireable algae, even if they don't fix your hair algae problem I am pretty certain they will help and you will notice a drastic improvement. The reason I recommend snails is because they will continue to live even after the hair algae is gone and they are inexpensive. I'm attaching photos of my tank, one covered in hair algae and one now. I did not do anything crazy to go from one to the other, just added a cleanup crew and did the conversion I spoke about earlier to my HOB filter.

 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Go to the other big forum and look up the bryopsis thread.......Enough said on the snails.....they aren't efficient at it.........
 
payton 350

payton 350

Member
phosphates???? get a reactor or some media.....a refuge is a great idea too to help....cut down on feedings and light.....clean the rocks by hand ...scrubbing them if possible and remove as much as you can...clean outside of tank... in a bucket of tank water......
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
I guess I am unclear about why recommending Patrick to get snails is bad information, his tank has more types of algae then just hair algae and he had questions about what kind of cleaners to get. I gave my recommendation based on what I think would work for him in the long run. I didn't recommend a sea hare because although they I've heard they are great at cleaning hair algae they are extremely ugly and will usually die after their hair algae supply is gone. Other factors I considered in my recommendations were cost, availability, and long term results.
There are probably thousands of things Patrick can do to deal with the algae but I am trying to recommend simple, effective methods that have worked for me. I had horrible hair algae, every rock in my tank was covered, I tried pulling it, running phosphate removal media, turning off my light, reducing feeding, doing huge water changes and none of these had good results. I saw results within a week after converting my HOB filter into a fuge with chaeto and adding a bunch of astrea snails.
So I stick with my recommendation, you should have some sort of cleanup crew and snails are a vital part. Try adding chaeto either to your display or like we already mentioned into your HOB filter.
 
artist55

artist55

Member
Read through this thread and decided to go and see if could get a Lawnmower Blenny today as I was having a problem with hair algae too. Well, I found one at an LFS about 20 miles away for 20 bucks. I have only had him in the tank for about 1 hour and he is my new best friend. He is going to town on the algae already. I suspect within the next week or two my problem will be under control. Meanwhile, I got a Phosphate test kit and found that it was a bit high so that's my next project to get it down to nothing. These message boards have been a tremondous help to me over the last yar and I sure do appreciate all the help.
 
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