need help with hair algea

[superman59]

I have the red sea max(36g). my levels are good,I use ro/di water with new filters,I change 8-10g every week and still have hair algea.what should I do? the onlything I can think of is I dont have much of a clean-up crew. could this be the problem if so what should i buy?

 

[clay12340]

Astrea snails do a good job for me with hair algae. It shouldn't be a problem without them though. The source of the algae's food is most likely your problem.
What is the tank stocked with, how long has it been running, what do you add to the tank? etc etc.

 

[superman59]

the tank has been running for 6 months and the only fish i have is a firefish and a coral banded shrimp. I do have some corals but i stopped buying live stock until i fix the problem

 

[susiestank]

Are you overfeeding? That is a common thing that causes hair algae, along with not enough flow and or dead spots.
One of the things that has kept mine away is a. have enough cleaners and b. everyother water change I take apart my power heads and clean the insides out. Stuff gets all in there.

 

[georgev845]

Nitrogen cycle, because when you overfeed--->ammonia--->nitrates--->nitrites---> algae take in nitrites for a food source... run your skimmer and do waterchanges that might help,
btw i do have astrea snails (2) and they havnt really touched the stuff they mostly hang on my glass and eat that algae although i did see one go near a patch the other day...couldnt tell if it was eating it though

 

[coral keeper]

chaeto algae will work. You can buy a soap dish and hang it in your tank and put the chaeto algae in there and the chaeto starves the hair algae and the hair algae dies. You can make some money off of the chaeto algae as well.

 

[reef diver]

An algae blenny may do the trick. ATM I cannot remember because I cannot get rid of my cayano!!!!!!

 

[meleerock]

I have heard emerald crabs will also halp. Its a hit or a miss type thing though.

 

[wickedwes]

What type of lighting are you using and how long are you cycling? If the problem continues after you have tried these various things (easiest is a handfull of crabs and snails), you can take each piece of rock out and scrub it with a new toothbrush every time you do a water change. This should help