hair algea

[madaquaristsoc]

I've seen reef safe liquid treatments for hair algea, is there any other solution? I have a 125G with coral and perk clowns and sea anemones but i can not get a solution to the hair algea growth, and its not pretty. its taken over my live rock, and realy detracts from the look of the aquarium.

 

[nycbob]

ever thought about getting a lawnmower blenny?

 

[alabama reefer]

There are a lot of posts about hair algae. You have some underlying problem causing the outbreak. Lights, phosphates and nitrates all promote your algae growth. Unless you figure out what is causing the growth you will continue to have this problem. Lights on to long? Over feeding? Not using RO/DI water? Direct sunlight in your tank? The lawnmower blenny will not eat it unless it is really short. A seahare will mow it all down but once it is gone you have to continue to feed it or get rid of it because it will starve.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by Alabama Reefer
http:///forum/post/2507714
There are a lot of posts about hair algae. You have some underlying problem causing the outbreak. Lights, phosphates and nitrates all promote your algae growth. Unless you figure out what is causing the growth you will continue to have this problem. Lights on to long? Over feeding? Not using RO/DI water? Direct sunlight in your tank? The lawnmower blenny will not eat it unless it is really short. A seahare will mow it all down but once it is gone you have to continue to feed it or get rid of it because it will starve.
Excellent points

Figure out why you have the hair algae.

 

[trigger11]

Originally Posted by madaquaristsoc
http:///forum/post/2507318
I've seen reef safe liquid treatments for hair algea, is there any other solution? I have a 125G with coral and perk clowns and sea anemones but i can not get a solution to the hair algea growth, and its not pretty. its taken over my live rock, and realy detracts from the look of the aquarium.

I have had a bad hair algae outbreak as well so I feel your pain. I agree with previous posters in that you need to get to the root cause. Here are the points I believe are important to check.
1. Lighting on too long. If you have stronger lighting it should not be on more than 8 hours a day.
2. RO/DO water instead of tap. Although I think this is really only going to more of an issue if there are phosphates in your tap water. If you dont have a phosphate test kit I highly recommend getting one. Check your water source that you are adding. And also check the tank. Do not let a 0 phosphate reading in the tank fool you though. It may very well be at 0 because the hair algae is consuming it.
3. Feeding schedule. If you feed every day cut it back to every other day.
4. Check your ammonia level as well. If you have trace amts of ammonia then you may be overstocked. The extra ammonia goes through the cycle causing extra nitrates which the hair algae loves as well. (This is the problem I have in my recently upgraded 200G tank. Got one too many fish before getting better filtration.)
Options-
If none the above seem to be the culprit.
Improve your filtration. I just put in one of those two little fishy's phosban reactor 150's and that seems to be helping pretty well. In fact I ordered two more and they just showed up today so I can get them installed.
Another option to help get rid of the algae quicker is to get one or two small sea hares. Keep in mind this would not solve the root problem though. And depending on how fast they do eat the algae you might have to supplement with algae sheets or take them back to the store. Also, if some hares die they can release a bad toxin which can foul up the tank.
Best of luck.