piscesblue
Member
Ok, as many of you know, my reef has been cast into a life or death battle against the unmerciful, invading army of green hair algae. I'm going to make this a thorough post and try to include the backstory and what actions I have taken as general in this operation.
5 weeks ago I decided to "experiment" with keeping a small (10") snowflake eel in my reef. I took out all fish except my 6-line wrasse to save them from the eel and to keep the bioload down. The eel did great, adjusting well and not trying to kill my shrimp. He did eat my 2 emerald crabs, reducing the natural algae eating lifeforms in my tank. At this same time, I upgraded from 144w of 1yr old pc's to 192w of new pc's, increasing the light in my tank by immeasurable amounts. After 2 weeks, I noticed hair algae gaining a foothold on the gravel. It was obvious at this point that the eel was not going to work. I took him back, got my pygmy angel back and a red scooter blennie and did a 50% water change. The water was so clean, my skimmer did not work for a week. I had to go out of town for the 4th, leaving my tank unattended for 4 days. When I got back, the hair algae was still there and trying to strengthen it's position. The length has yet to grow to 1/4 inch, so it was just growing in thicker. I went to 3 stores around town until I could locate some emerald crabs, purchased 2 and tossed them in. After a week, the algae grew a little thicker. I went back to the store bought 3 more hermits and a clump of calpera and I am still unable to combat the invading army effectively. It's been a week since I added the hermits and calpera with no luck. I'm at a point were I need help. My scooter died (never been able to keep one alive for more than a month, always starve to death) and my serpent star is fat and happy. My corals only showed a small sign of unhappiness this morning, confirming my scooter died and the tank spiked. The algae has gained ground, appearing on 2 rocks that are only populated by some maroon encrusting algae. None of it has managed to grow in length, but it is managing to spread. The only thing I have yet to do, that I know of, is shorten the lighting period. I currently run the lights for 11.5 hours a day and have been for the past 1.5 years. How much should I cut the light back by? I only have mushrooms, stars and leathers. My tank is occupied by two 1.5" fish, a pygmy angel and a 6-line wrasse, 4 shrimp, 2 emeralds, 1 green serpent star and an army of hermits of mixed colors.
Please help me fight this horrible battle. It's the first time this reef has ever seen hair algae since being setup 1.5 years ago. My first attempt at reefkeeping was ended by this same threat 3 years ago and I don't want to give-up this time.
Here is a pic of the battle being waged in my tank. The emerald is doing his best to beat back the invading army in this pic:
5 weeks ago I decided to "experiment" with keeping a small (10") snowflake eel in my reef. I took out all fish except my 6-line wrasse to save them from the eel and to keep the bioload down. The eel did great, adjusting well and not trying to kill my shrimp. He did eat my 2 emerald crabs, reducing the natural algae eating lifeforms in my tank. At this same time, I upgraded from 144w of 1yr old pc's to 192w of new pc's, increasing the light in my tank by immeasurable amounts. After 2 weeks, I noticed hair algae gaining a foothold on the gravel. It was obvious at this point that the eel was not going to work. I took him back, got my pygmy angel back and a red scooter blennie and did a 50% water change. The water was so clean, my skimmer did not work for a week. I had to go out of town for the 4th, leaving my tank unattended for 4 days. When I got back, the hair algae was still there and trying to strengthen it's position. The length has yet to grow to 1/4 inch, so it was just growing in thicker. I went to 3 stores around town until I could locate some emerald crabs, purchased 2 and tossed them in. After a week, the algae grew a little thicker. I went back to the store bought 3 more hermits and a clump of calpera and I am still unable to combat the invading army effectively. It's been a week since I added the hermits and calpera with no luck. I'm at a point were I need help. My scooter died (never been able to keep one alive for more than a month, always starve to death) and my serpent star is fat and happy. My corals only showed a small sign of unhappiness this morning, confirming my scooter died and the tank spiked. The algae has gained ground, appearing on 2 rocks that are only populated by some maroon encrusting algae. None of it has managed to grow in length, but it is managing to spread. The only thing I have yet to do, that I know of, is shorten the lighting period. I currently run the lights for 11.5 hours a day and have been for the past 1.5 years. How much should I cut the light back by? I only have mushrooms, stars and leathers. My tank is occupied by two 1.5" fish, a pygmy angel and a 6-line wrasse, 4 shrimp, 2 emeralds, 1 green serpent star and an army of hermits of mixed colors.
Please help me fight this horrible battle. It's the first time this reef has ever seen hair algae since being setup 1.5 years ago. My first attempt at reefkeeping was ended by this same threat 3 years ago and I don't want to give-up this time.
Here is a pic of the battle being waged in my tank. The emerald is doing his best to beat back the invading army in this pic:
.