sea hair/ hair algea....? HELP!!!!!!

newbie12

newbie12

New Member
i have an 8 gallon biocube.
i only have like 2 nice chunks of live rock in it.
i have had the tank for more than a yr now.
now this hair algea or whatever its called is taking over my tank.
i was told that i probably dont have enough live rock in my tank and if i added more this would help.
i also bought some hermit crabs.....which they dont seem to eat it....
he also told me i should take out the bio balls in the back and put in that blue filter sponge stuff.
does anyone know if this is a good idea? or has any sugesstions>?
or knows something that really eats hair algea...that is small enough for an 8 gallon.
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
You are going to have to manually remove it. What water are you using? How often do you feed? What are the inhabitants of the tank? Can you post pictures? How often and what do you feed the tank? Algae is fueled by excess nutrients in the tank. What do you have in the back chambers? For instance in my Biocube 14, I run purigen, chemi-pure, rowaphos and have made a built in refugium. All in the hopes of keeping nitrates and phosphates in check. Mexican turbo snails eat hair algae, but in my opinion, they will be too large for your small tank. But you should be able to get most of it out manually and then your clean-up-crew should eat the rest.HTH
 
newbie12

newbie12

New Member
well i have 2 clownfish
1 featherduster
some soft coral
a clam
and a scallop
just feed the fish once a day.
ive tried removing it...theres just so much....its everywhere...and if you leave a tiny peice it grows all over again
i dont know what all that stuff is that ur talking about....lol
i know how to keep my stuff alive i think but dont have the time to be that involved.
what is that u built in the back?
you took out the bio balls?
is that adding more live rock?
would that help?
i had a turbo snail...but he was giant....got rid of him.
 
veni vidi vici

veni vidi vici

Active Member
Lawnmower Blenny should do the trick.They have a great big personality too.It may nip at the clam however or may not.
 
subielover

subielover

Active Member
I figured, hehe.
I had a hair algae outbreak in my Biocube 14. Basically it came down to cutting down on feeding, once every other day is fine. Also a small amount, only what can be consumed in 30 seconds. Also the addition of purigen, chemi-pure and rowaphos helps to keep things in check. The thing that worked the best, was me aggressively pulling it out. You said that you try but it comes back. When I did it, I would do about an hour a day for at least a week until I got it all. I pulled my rocks and scrubbed them with my brother's toothbrush to try and get every piece I could. Now I barely have any at all
It is just going to take some dedication to take care of it. You have an 8 gallon tank, it isn't going to be that bad. You can do it
 
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