how to get rid of green hair algae?

[btwk12]

is there anything reef safe that will eat green hair algae? i was leaving my lights on for to long while i was at work and now im getting algae all over my rocks and some on my corals.

 

[usirchchris]

Turbo snails. I got three for my 120 and they just about have it (the hair algae all over my rocks) all in two weeks time.
Forgot to add...they will, Inadvertently, knock things over, so make sure you have anything of importance "tied down". Meaning corals and such, being that you have a reef tank.

 

[invertical]

lawnmower blennies love hair algae, and all types for that matter....perfectly reef safe. Blue hermits, Scarlet hermits, and Astrea snails are some others that will help drastically..I just got past a bad hair algae outbreat with these, and a couple of turbo snails as well for my 55 gal. If you only have fish in the tank and no corals, after add the cleanup crew mentioned above you can leave the lights off for a few days and cover the tank so its in complete darkness....it's what I had to do....plus a big water change using ro/di water instead of tap water, tap water is by no means any good for saltwater tanks period...hope this helps!

 

[btwk12]

will the blennies starve after its all gone?

 

[btwk12]

 

[mr.clownfish]

 

[nycbob]

 

[cveverly]

 

[cveverly]

 

[fau8]

 

[btwk12]

 

[paxrom]

 

[jw0934]

i just recently had a bad outbreak as well. I have nova extreme lighting and luckily i can keep my acitnic lighting on. Most likely reason for outbreak is overfeeding. Too much waste in tank reacts with your lights and you get lovely greenhair allover. Eventually nutrients will be gone and so will algy. Just takes time. Very frustrating i know.

 

[rotarymagic]

The algae scrubber is the end all solution!!!!