Is this hair algae

[rstiles]

I had a problem with hair alge, did the same thing tried scrubbing it worked for a few days,added snails, crabs, lawn mower blenny,still had problem, finely last week I added a sea bunny (stylocheilus longicauda) ate every thing in sight, now I have to add a alge sheet just to feed him.

 

[wright824]

Originally Posted by reefreak29
can u list your lighting and water perameters , also what size tank and inhabitants including inverts , is it a reef or a fish only?
40-44g corner tank
40-45 lbs of live fugi rock
5 pounds of tonga branch
40 lbs of live sand
1 heater (will be getting a second for back up in future)
whisper 3 filter (came with tank. I know i need a better filter )
coralife 65g skimmer
1 aqua clear 50 powerhead with filter-270gph
1 powersweep 228 power head with pre-filter -270gph
1 powersweep 226 powerhead with pre-filter 190 gph
corallife 24" compact fluorsent with actnic and daylight and 2 lunars
Fish and invert. stock:
1 cleaner shrimp
2 green chromis
2 scarlet crabs
2 turbo snails
6 nassarius snails
1 bubble tip anemone
1 royal gamma
1 yellow watchman goby ( with personality! )
amonia 0, nitrate 5.0 nitrite 0 ph 8.2, cal 420, phos 0, salt 1.023
I had been adding tap water, i have well water and it is treated with a softener. Just sprung for the RO/di unit and it came to day. I have that making its first 10 gals right now. instructions said to dump first 10 gal so once i do that i will make it for the tank, any suggestions on how many gals of a water change i should do with it and how long i should wait until i do it again. ? You thing the water could be the problem..its the only thing i can think of. I am getting brown stuff on the glass now and i think diatamons <sp>. at least i think that i what is on my rocks. brownish rustish color and they blow off fairly easy.
all i do know is that it is not red slime

 

[carter3]

bump

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by wright824
40-44g corner tank
40-45 lbs of live fugi rock
5 pounds of tonga branch
40 lbs of live sand
1 heater (will be getting a second for back up in future)
whisper 3 filter (came with tank. I know i need a better filter )
coralife 65g skimmer
1 aqua clear 50 powerhead with filter-270gph
1 powersweep 228 power head with pre-filter -270gph
1 powersweep 226 powerhead with pre-filter 190 gph
corallife 24" compact fluorsent with actnic and daylight and 2 lunars
Fish and invert. stock:
1 cleaner shrimp
2 green chromis
2 scarlet crabs
2 turbo snails
6 nassarius snails
1 bubble tip anemone
1 royal gamma
1 yellow watchman goby ( with personality! )
amonia 0, nitrate 5.0 nitrite 0 ph 8.2, cal 420, phos 0, salt 1.023
I had been adding tap water, i have well water and it is treated with a softener. Just sprung for the RO/di unit and it came to day. I have that making its first 10 gals right now. instructions said to dump first 10 gal so once i do that i will make it for the tank, any suggestions on how many gals of a water change i should do with it and how long i should wait until i do it again. ? You thing the water could be the problem..its the only thing i can think of. I am getting brown stuff on the glass now and i think diatamons <sp>. at least i think that i what is on my rocks. brownish rustish color and they blow off fairly easy.
all i do know is that it is not red slime
i think the big culprite here was the well water , using well water adds nitrates to your tank. also your sg should be 1.025 for the inverts.by using rodi the problem should clear up , i wrote somthing up a while ago that could help u
algea control in the reef tank by:reefreak29

[hr]
one of the most annoying problems in the home reef tank is endesirable algea.three major problem algeas that ive incuontered in my reef are green hair algea,brown diotoms and red slime algea aka cyono bacteria.
BROWN DIATOM ALGEA: usually accurs in newer reef tanks. mostly because of the introduction of live rock, wich introduces silicates and nutrients to your tank.
a brown film soon coats your sand bed.The control of diotoms is fairly easy.u first need a benificial cleen up crew trochus and astraea snails eagerly consume the brown diotoms. The second thing u want to do is perform regular water changes to remove access nutrients.
CYANO BACTERIA: red slime algea has to be one of the most frustrating for new reefers.It usually breaks out on the surface of the sand substrate.2 ways that i know to remove the cyano is to first increase your water flow u want to remove any stagnent areas by the substate. Two remove excess nutrient, I prefer to do a 10 percent weekly water change with ro di water or di water. (do not use tap water) while doing a water change syphon out as much red algea as possible,also dont be afraid to cut your light back and your feeding, I leeve my light on for 10 hrs a day in my 90 gal tank its ok to cut back to 5 hrs for a couple of weeks.
GREEN HAIR ALGEA: who hasnt experienced this.this algea loves bright light and astablished reef tanks. Green hair algea consumes excess nutrients faster then any other algea.Below are measures and steps of riding this FOREVER
1.-make sure u have a protien skimmer and its suitible for your size tank, for proper working conditions make sure u clean out skimmer cup every other day to have 100 percent working capability also make sure your pump stays clean for maximum flow
2. decrease lighting just like with the cyono cut your light in half
3. perform regular water changes again i like 10 percent weekly, when doing a water change suck out as much algea as possible, use only di water or rodi.
never use tap , tap water has high nitrates, phosphates and nitrites.
4.phisicly remove the algea by riping it of the rock,keep a cup of di water next to u to rinse your fingers each time u put your hands back in the tank to insure all spores are off and your not reintroducing the algea to your water,after about 20 hrs of manually removing the algea your inverts aka cleanup crew should keep it under control.
in colclusion please do regular water changes, feed small amounts every other day, only use rodi or di water and dont keep your lights on for more then 10 hrs a day. everyone experiences algea blooms in there tank i hope this help in managing the problem algeas

 

[symon]

Originally Posted by reefreak29
i think the big culprite here was the well water , using well water adds nitrates to your tank. also your sg should be 1.025 for the inverts.by using rodi the problem should clear up , i wrote somthing up a while ago that could help u
algea control in the reef tank by:reefreak29

[hr]
one of the most annoying problems in the home reef tank is endesirable algea.three major problem algeas that ive incuontered in my reef are green hair algea,brown diotoms and red slime algea aka cyono bacteria.
BROWN DIATOM ALGEA: usually accurs in newer reef tanks. mostly because of the introduction of live rock, wich introduces silicates and nutrients to your tank.
a brown film soon coats your sand bed.The control of diotoms is fairly easy.u first need a benificial cleen up crew trochus and astraea snails eagerly consume the brown diotoms. The second thing u want to do is perform regular water changes to remove access nutrients.
CYANO BACTERIA: red slime algea has to be one of the most frustrating for new reefers.It usually breaks out on the surface of the sand substrate.2 ways that i know to remove the cyano is to first increase your water flow u want to remove any stagnent areas by the substate. Two remove excess nutrient, I prefer to do a 10 percent weekly water change with ro di water or di water. (do not use tap water) while doing a water change syphon out as much red algea as possible,also dont be afraid to cut your light back and your feeding, I leeve my light on for 10 hrs a day in my 90 gal tank its ok to cut back to 5 hrs for a couple of weeks.
GREEN HAIR ALGEA: who hasnt experienced this.this algea loves bright light and astablished reef tanks. Green hair algea consumes excess nutrients faster then any other algea.Below are measures and steps of riding this FOREVER
1.-make sure u have a protien skimmer and its suitible for your size tank, for proper working conditions make sure u clean out skimmer cup every other day to have 100 percent working capability also make sure your pump stays clean for maximum flow
2. decrease lighting just like with the cyono cut your light in half
3. perform regular water changes again i like 10 percent weekly, when doing a water change suck out as much algea as possible, use only di water or rodi.
never use tap , tap water has high nitrates, phosphates and nitrites.
4.phisicly remove the algea by riping it of the rock,keep a cup of di water next to u to rinse your fingers each time u put your hands back in the tank to insure all spores are off and your not reintroducing the algea to your water,after about 20 hrs of manually removing the algea your inverts aka cleanup crew should keep it under control.
in colclusion please do regular water changes, feed small amounts every other day, only use rodi or di water and dont keep your lights on for more then 10 hrs a day. everyone experiences algea blooms in there tank i hope this help in managing the problem algeas

I agree with all of this, But once hair alge gets a foothold, it can be very hard to beat, I got a sea hare , and magic it's gone!

 

[earlybird]

Originally Posted by mterrace
If its small white "web" like stuff - it might be die-off from your LR....I am cycling my tank now and I am getting white web - almost looks like thin cotton...and I believe it is die-off. I am just lightly scrubbing the rock with a new toohbrush to clean it.
I had the same thing on several spots, took a picture and it was confirmed a sponge. Beneficial filter feeder.

 

[wright824]

Originally Posted by Symon
I agree with all of this, But once hair alge gets a foothold, it can be very hard to beat, I got a sea hare , and magic it's gone!
Is a sea hare reef safe and non agressive?

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by wright824
Is a sea hare reef safe and non agressive?
yes its reef safe , there hard to keep though i bought 3 that didnt touch my hair algea and they always ended up in my sump, some other good inverts for hair algea are mexican turbos and emerald crabs, i just found it best to manually remove it but everyones situation is different

 

[wright824]

Thanks for all the info. i did my first water change with the ro/di water. I did a 10% change. should i wait a week or should i for another one in a couple of days? I am going to try the sea hare also and see what happens i started trying to clean the rocks anyway. i have my daylight running 10 hrs and my actnic (sp) coming on 1 hr before the daylight and it doesn't go off until 1 hr after the daylights then the lunars come on for the night. does that sound about right? I know you said to cut it back but i want to make sure i don't have it on too long assuming everything was normal.

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by wright824
Thanks for all the info. i did my first water change with the ro/di water. I did a 10% change. should i wait a week or should i for another one in a couple of days? I am going to try the sea hare also and see what happens i started trying to clean the rocks anyway. i have my daylight running 10 hrs and my actnic (sp) coming on 1 hr before the daylight and it doesn't go off until 1 hr after the daylights then the lunars come on for the night. does that sound about right? I know you said to cut it back but i want to make sure i don't have it on too long assuming everything was normal.
that sounds a tad long for the lights i would shave 2 hrs off do another 10 percent wid week then another 10 next week and every week after that

 

[wright824]

that sounds a tad long for the lights i would shave 2 hrs off do another 10 percent wid week then another 10 next week and every week after that[/QUOTE
Should i cut back on the daylight light or both the actinic and the day light?
right now this is what i have: :thinking:
actinic on at 8am
daylight on at 9 am
daylight off at 7pm
actinic off at 8 pm
lunar lights on at 8pm til 8am
what would you suggest?
thanks

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by reefreak29
that sounds a tad long for the lights i would shave 2 hrs off do another 10 percent wid week then another 10 next week and every week after that[/QUOTE
Should i cut back on the daylight light or both the actinic and the day light?
right now this is what i have: :thinking:
actinic on at 8am
daylight on at 9 am
daylight off at 7pm
actinic off at 8 pm
lunar lights on at 8pm til 8am
what would you suggest?
thanks
this is jmo ,i would do this
actinic on at 10am
daylight on at 11 am
daylight off at 7 pm
actinic off at 8 pm

 

[wright824]

Originally Posted by wright824
this is jmo ,i would do this
actinic on at 10am
daylight on at 11 am
daylight off at 7 pm
actinic off at 8 pm
ok i will give it a try. you think this might help prevent the alage also? what kind of feeding schedule do you use. i usually feed when the daylight comes on with basic mixed flake and freeze dried mini krill, then some prime reef flake at noon then either just before the daylight go off or during the actinic is on at night i give them mysis. could i be feeding to much? I only give half a cube of the mysis since i don't have too many fish yet (2 chromis, 1 yellow goby, 1 royal gamma then my inverts and just added mushrooms and polyps)

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by reefreak29
ok i will give it a try. you think this might help prevent the alage also? what kind of feeding schedule do you use. i usually feed when the daylight comes on with basic mixed flake and freeze dried mini krill, then some prime reef flake at noon then either just before the daylight go off or during the actinic is on at night i give them mysis. could i be feeding to much? I only give half a cube of the mysis since i don't have too many fish yet (2 chromis, 1 yellow goby, 1 royal gamma then my inverts and just added mushrooms and polyps)
i feed my fish once every other day , i think your feeding to much.more important then the lights are getiing rid of your nutrients and using rodi only.
a goos cleanup crew is equilly important, by the way what kind of lights do u use and how old are the bulbs , i ask this because as the bulb ages the spectrum changes which also attributes to the algea

 

[wright824]

Originally Posted by wright824
i feed my fish once every other day , i think your feeding to much.more important then the lights are getiing rid of your nutrients and using rodi only.
a goos cleanup crew is equilly important, by the way what kind of lights do u use and how old are the bulbs , i ask this because as the bulb ages the spectrum changes which also attributes to the algea
since i got the ro/di unit this week it is the only thing i have been using. i have coralife compact fluoresent aqua light w 2 lunars and just got it 2 weeks ago, so it is brand new. i had a 2 plan old fluorescent strip lights before. I just got the timer the same time i got the light so its been on a timer the last two weeks It seems like the fish are starving every time i feed them. thats why i have been feeding so often, as for a clean up crew. I know i had 4 scarlet crabs and they are there some where 6 nass. snails and 3 turbos. and a cleaner shrimp i have a couple of cerith snails and 3 more crabs that i will be picking up monday. it seems like my turbs will clean up the glass and then drop dead once they are all done I have had the crabs since i started the tank and honestly sometimes i can't tell if its a crab part of the rock when they are sitting on the rock!