One More Time Long Hair Green Algae
- Thread starter jms10256
- Start date
lazuruskfp
Member
1.) Reduce feeding to every other day... or at least reduce the amount you feed at one time.
2.) Reduce lighting to 3-6 hours a day.
3.) Check for phosphates. If present seek out phosphate remover pads.
4.) Pull as much algae as you can pulling from the roots near the rock. Be sure to pinch it between your fingers then remove it from the tank and rinse your hand in a container of water to eliminate spores. You can brush each rock with a stiff toothbrush.
hair algae feeds on nitrates as well so one of the best solutions is a refugium with healthy macro algae.
2.) Reduce lighting to 3-6 hours a day.
3.) Check for phosphates. If present seek out phosphate remover pads.
4.) Pull as much algae as you can pulling from the roots near the rock. Be sure to pinch it between your fingers then remove it from the tank and rinse your hand in a container of water to eliminate spores. You can brush each rock with a stiff toothbrush.
hair algae feeds on nitrates as well so one of the best solutions is a refugium with healthy macro algae.
cjason3041
Member
remove as much as possible manually, and lower trates, and phates....cut back on feeding, and light............can be a process.... but you can win!!!!
O
oreo12
Guest
I have had some recent trouble with my 55 growing hair algae. What I done to help was buy a tooth brush. I scrub it all off the rocks while they are in the tank being careful not to hurt the corals but also brushing it off them. I then did a water change and waited about 2 hours and then cleaned off all the screens on power heads and pumps. I did this every other day for 1 week now I only scrub the rocks once every week. before i change the water. I use ro water have done nothing different or added any corals and this stuff just popped up one day and I let it go until it took over. It took 2 hours the first time 1 hour the next and it took 20 min. on Monday the tank looks real good today. I know you will still want to check your phosphates and nitrates. Maybe cut the lights down to 8-9 hours a day. good luck
ninjamini
Active Member
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/255585/do-you-have-hair-algae
If you have a hair algae problem then read my cure all. I just recently took a tank off someone's hands, a very experienced reefer too, who had a hair algae problem that they could not fix. But the fix is so easy when you understand it. This is the instructions for a established tank. If your tank is under 3 months old read below* first.
Hair algae wont grow if you don't feed it.
1. Use Ro/DI water ONLY. If your not doing this then you are making a fatal mistake.
2. Pick off the big clumps of hair. Pull the rocks out you can and pull pull pull. Dip them back in the water to get the algae to hang down. Turn off the flow for the rocks you cant remove while you pick it off. By picking off the big clumps you remove the nitrates and phosphates from the water.
3. Know why it grows. It consumes nitrates, phosphates and light. Export the nitrates and phosphates with water changes and some cheto. Rember if you test says that you have 0 Nitrates and 0 Phosphates that does not mean you don't have them. It just means that they are consumed. If you have algae growing then you have nitrates and phosphates. Yea there in there.
4. Cut back on feeding. Where do you thing those nitrates and phosphates come from. If you have any really piggy fish then you may want to move them to QT.
5. Turn down the photo period by shutting the lights off and only turn them on for 6 hours a day. Most corals can handle this for a month. Just think of it as the rainy season.
6. Get a emerald and some mexican snails. Yea the big ones. They will both eat the short stuff.
7. Time. Give it 3-4 weeks then start to turn the lights to 7, 8...more hours till your back to a normal amount of time.
Done. Now I have my nano cube filled with sand, rocks, zoos and fish because I was able to follow this plan and he was not. Which is weird since he has an awesome sps tank.
*If your tank is new that is less than 3 months old then the question is not how to get rid of them but understanding that this is only part of the natural cycle of a new tank. If this happened just as your ammonia and nitrites test at 0 then its going to grow. Its the same reason because there is alot of nitrate and phosphate in the water. This would be the time to do your first water change and then add your clean up crew. They will take care of the algae along with water changes.
Remember don.t feed your nuisance algae and it wont grow.
Good Luck.
If you have a hair algae problem then read my cure all. I just recently took a tank off someone's hands, a very experienced reefer too, who had a hair algae problem that they could not fix. But the fix is so easy when you understand it. This is the instructions for a established tank. If your tank is under 3 months old read below* first.
Hair algae wont grow if you don't feed it.
1. Use Ro/DI water ONLY. If your not doing this then you are making a fatal mistake.
2. Pick off the big clumps of hair. Pull the rocks out you can and pull pull pull. Dip them back in the water to get the algae to hang down. Turn off the flow for the rocks you cant remove while you pick it off. By picking off the big clumps you remove the nitrates and phosphates from the water.
3. Know why it grows. It consumes nitrates, phosphates and light. Export the nitrates and phosphates with water changes and some cheto. Rember if you test says that you have 0 Nitrates and 0 Phosphates that does not mean you don't have them. It just means that they are consumed. If you have algae growing then you have nitrates and phosphates. Yea there in there.
4. Cut back on feeding. Where do you thing those nitrates and phosphates come from. If you have any really piggy fish then you may want to move them to QT.
5. Turn down the photo period by shutting the lights off and only turn them on for 6 hours a day. Most corals can handle this for a month. Just think of it as the rainy season.
6. Get a emerald and some mexican snails. Yea the big ones. They will both eat the short stuff.
7. Time. Give it 3-4 weeks then start to turn the lights to 7, 8...more hours till your back to a normal amount of time.
Done. Now I have my nano cube filled with sand, rocks, zoos and fish because I was able to follow this plan and he was not. Which is weird since he has an awesome sps tank.
*If your tank is new that is less than 3 months old then the question is not how to get rid of them but understanding that this is only part of the natural cycle of a new tank. If this happened just as your ammonia and nitrites test at 0 then its going to grow. Its the same reason because there is alot of nitrate and phosphate in the water. This would be the time to do your first water change and then add your clean up crew. They will take care of the algae along with water changes.
Remember don.t feed your nuisance algae and it wont grow.
Good Luck.