Help 911. Red hair algae taking over

Please help my tank is being over run with red hair algae.
What can i do to help/stop this??? I do water changes often. I used to use lfs water but i recently started making my own and have seen great results(Coraline). All levels are good nitrates are 20. They always are 20. Any ideas? Please help me it looks horrible... I run a fluval 305 and a power head for added current.
 

uneverno

Active Member
In that case, frequent water changes. I'm doing 25% twice a week, and while I've tried some other things (like the hermits in my thread), I believe it's the water changes that're what's making it go away. It just takes time - like a month or two.
It's quite possible that LFS hasn't kept up on cartridge changes, so there may be phosphates and/or silicates in their water.
 

pezenfuego

Active Member
Originally Posted by Younngballa88
http:///forum/post/3009536
Yes i have a rodi that i use with coraline salt mix
Coralife?
Just do very frequent and larger water changes. It will go away, but it won't be easy. Look into getting some animals to eat it...there is nothing wrong with that.
 

bizzmoneyb

Member
the algae is feeding off of excess nutrients in your tank.
feed less
increase flow in your tank (more or bigger powerheads)
do more frequent water changes
how old are the bulbs in your light? old bulbs can stimulate algae growth.
do you have any snails in your tank? ive heard mexican turbos will mow hair algae down.
 
Originally Posted by PEZenfuego
http:///forum/post/3009546
Coralife?
Just do very frequent and larger water changes. It will go away, but it won't be easy. Look into getting some animals to eat it...there is nothing wrong with that.
LOl yea thats what i ment. And what types of things should i be looking for that will eat this?
Can i try and brush someof it off with a clean toothbrush or will this just spread my problem?
 

pezenfuego

Active Member
Originally Posted by Younngballa88
http:///forum/post/3009548
LOl yea thats what i ment. And what types of things should i be looking for that will eat this?
Can i try and brush someof it off with a clean toothbrush or will this just spread my problem?
Mex turbos as already mentioned I've heard to do good things for it...
I doubt you would be able to brush it off??? If you can start a siphon and brush it off and suck it up, that would be best. Otherwise it will just die and produce more things for it's counterparts to eat.
Just curious...do you have any pictures?
 
OK. Thanks so much for all your help. any more info or tips are welcome. I have a 40 gallon. About 3 to 4 months old now. Just starting to see coraline on my rocks. How many gallons should I be changing?
 

pezenfuego

Active Member
Originally Posted by Younngballa88
http:///forum/post/3009559
OK. Thanks so much for all your help. any more info or tips are welcome. I have a 40 gallon. About 3 to 4 months old now. Just starting to see coraline on my rocks. How many gallons should I be changing?
The more the better. Do you have anything that wouldn't take kindly to frequent or large water changes? Anything really fragile or touchy when you do them?
Do some big ones like 25% and as often as you want...not like daily though
 
A

arlene1995

Guest
Hi!!!
I've been battling hair algae for some time now in my nano reef and am finally getting the upperhand. The two best algae eaters I've found are the Blue Tuxedo Urchin and the Mexican Turbos. My problem was phosphates so with the combination of water changes, Mangroves, and Phos Buster Pro, I've finally overcome it. Hope this helps!
 

pezenfuego

Active Member
Good advice ^ but mangroves have been proven to not really do a whole lot...get macroalgae such as chaeto
if you don't already have some. It could help a lot.
 
Originally Posted by PEZenfuego
http:///forum/post/3009566
The more the better. Do you have anything that wouldn't take kindly to frequent or large water changes? Anything really fragile or touchy when you do them?
Do some big ones like 25% and as often as you want...not like daily though

Well i have coraline thats growing on my fluval plumbing... Will the coraline be affected by being out of water for a minute or two?
 

pezenfuego

Active Member
Originally Posted by Younngballa88
http:///forum/post/3009587
Well i have coraline thats growing on my fluval plumbing... Will the coraline be affected by being out of water for a minute or two?
Absolutely not. It will be stressed and recover. By doing this it will however produce spores which will cause your coraline to spread faster.
 

pezenfuego

Active Member
Originally Posted by uneverno
http:///forum/post/3009594
In that case, I'm draggin my coraline out of the tank daily

At least this is what I've heard people say. In any case it is a hardy algae, it won't be harmed by getting a little air.
 

uneverno

Active Member
I was just kidding - lol. If I wanted it to spread faster, I'd scrape shavings off the rock and let it go where it wanted to.
I couldn't drag it out of the tank w/o breaking the tank down... I have bought pieces of "junk" rock from my LFS's frag tanks specifically to seed my tank though. I've got the beginnings of lime green, purple, pink and dark red going. We'll see what happens...
 

pezenfuego

Active Member
Originally Posted by uneverno
http:///forum/post/3009607
I was just kidding - lol. If I wanted it to spread faster, I'd scrape shavings off the rock and let it go where it wanted to.
I couldn't drag it out of the tank w/o breaking the tank down... I have bought pieces of "junk" rock from my LFS's frag tanks specifically to seed my tank though. I've got the beginnings of lime green, purple, pink and dark red going. We'll see what happens...
COOL. Hopefully you will keep some variety...and one color won't dominate.
 
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