This Hair Algae will NOT go away..

mony97

mony97

Member
So for about the past 2 months my tank has been slowly gaining a small amount of hair algae. It covers a good part of my sand bed, and is beginning to cover parts of my LR. I can not figure out what is causing this progression.
I killed my lights for over a week, started feeding every other day, continually suck it out during water changes. All with little to no effect always slowly coming back.
I use RO/DI water for top offs so I do not believe that is the issue. I have a good amount of flow but do have some slow moving spots and it does seem to be where the algae is growing, but I dont know what would be feeding the growth. I always do a weekly water change of 10G (I have a 65G) I did however go almost a month without a good water change due to wedding planning, but did a large 25G change after this period; again to no effect on the algae.
I have a decent clean up crew consisting of some Nass., Trochus, and Cerith snails, as well as a fighting conch and a Diadema urchin. And my stock list consists of a Potters Angel, two Ocellaris Clowns, a Two Spot Hogfish, and a Flame Hawk. I have a 10G sump with a vortex skimmer for filtration.
I really want to beat this hair algae so any advice will be welcome, Thank You
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
What are your test results? What exactly (and how much) do you feed? What type of filter is it you have, and what do you run in it?
have you considered emerald crabs and a sally light foot? also the turbo snails are great as well as astrea snails too
You could also get a sea hare, but after the algae is gone it will most likely starve
 
noah's nemo

noah's nemo

Member
Stop all and any flake food of any kind if your using it...Try feeding all natural stuff...By that i mean ,your angel shhould get ,spinach,broccoli,zucchini,brussel sprouts,and nori...also table shrimp,scallops,krill,squid...i have fed my tank for years this way with great success
 
mony97

mony97

Member
I feed mysis, rods food, and mega marine algae, and also feed angel formula by ocean nutrition every couple of days or so. I feed a small amount that seems to all get eaten with in 5 min or so.
For filtration I have a ten gallon sump with a vortex protein skimmer as well as some dead rock rubble.
And meowzer will the emerald crab, sea hair etc eat the algae even though it is a little thicker, not just the baby hairs? and I do have 1 Astrea snail that I forgot to mention.
I tested my water just before the large water change which was about a week ago, and my results were 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 20 trates, 8.2 pH. this was the highest my trates have ever been.
 
noah's nemo

noah's nemo

Member
Everything is fresh frozen(washed first,ofcourse) ,some from garden ,some from the store.I then thaw it out and just cut it up into bite sized pieces.Also, I only use the florets.The Angel loves them,he also get mega marine algae ,and mega angel,and formula 2
 
noah's nemo

noah's nemo

Member
I've heard mixed reviews about rods,some say its pretty messing in the tank...are you sure it all gets consumed?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
So you have no actual filter???? You may want to look into adding some chemi-pure, or the elite....what are your phosphate and nitrate readings?
I had a BAD HA problem in the 225G...the CUC helped a lot....of course the physical maintenance, and filtration did more, BUT, I had gotten like 8 emerald crabs, 1 sally light foot, the sea hare..also 5 large turbo snails.....
I'd say yes to them eating it...thick or thin, LOL As I said, My tank was green all over
 
mony97

mony97

Member
The rods can be messy sometimes yes, there are some large chunks sometimes that do not seem to get eaten, but figured my snails would get to the chunks.
 
mony97

mony97

Member
No no actual filter as far as chemi-pure etc. I dont really have a place where I could sit it with enough flow. Or at least I do not think I do. I may rebuild my sump to accommodate things like this.
I havent tested the phosphates yet and trates were at 20 when i tested last, but this was before the large water change, and was the first time I had tested that they were not at zero.
And it sounds like bumping up the CUC as well as some emerald crabs and possibly a sea hair would be a good help? What would you suggest as a total? How many and of what?
Oh and what should I be doing as far as physical maintenance? Scrub the rocks, vacuum my sand bed etc?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by mony97
http:///forum/post/3284877
And it sounds like bumping up the CUC as well as some emerald crabs and possibly a sea hair would be a good help? What would you suggest as a total? How many and of what?
Oh and what should I be doing as far as physical maintenance? Scrub the rocks, vacuum my sand bed etc?
As far as the cuc, I would add 2 emerald crabs, 1 sally lightfoot, 3 turbos....and a seahare (??)...I also would remove as much manually as you can....I use to reach in and pick it off....a little every day....BLAH....took some time, but worked
You can place some chemi-pure in a filter bag and hang it in front of your flow that enters the sump
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
There is a hair algae syndrome caused by letting ammonia spike too high during the initial cycle. It usually clears itself after a year or so once all of the nutrients inside the live rock are consumed.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
I and this is just me, would start removing the top layer of my sand bed that has the hair algae a section at a time and toss it and replace it with new sand. this should give you time to deal with the live rock.
 
mony97

mony97

Member
Cool thank you all for the suggestions, if there are any more keep them coming :) but as for now I will do my best with the advice on here just roll up my sleeves (literally) and start removing the algae this way, as well as a boost in my CUC I may try the sand thing as well?
Also Bang, you mentioned this syndrome once before for me as well and it seemed to make sense, but can my sand bed have the same issue or has it just spread naturally?
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Originally Posted by mony97
http:///forum/post/3284902
Also Bang, you mentioned this syndrome once before for me as well and it seemed to make sense, but can my sand bed have the same issue or has it just spread naturally?
If the sand was live sand present during the cycle then the same thing can happen. If you used dry sand for the cycle and only added your live sand afterward then it could be that you're simply overfeeding.
 
kjr_trig

kjr_trig

Active Member
Are you sure it's hair algae? Could be Bryopsis, which is tougher to kill...Commonly mistaken for hair algae.
 
mony97

mony97

Member
Thx Bang, yes it was LS from day one went through the cycle and all. Is this common or did I just get lucky? and also is it a year from my start date or a year from when the HA began?
kjr_trig, cool I'll look in to that? If it is Bryopsis how can I get rid of it?
 
kjr_trig

kjr_trig

Active Member
Originally Posted by mony97
http:///forum/post/3285141
Thx Bang, yes it was LS from day one went through the cycle and all. Is this common or did I just get lucky? and also is it a year from my start date or a year from when the HA began?
kjr_trig, cool I'll look in to that? If it is Bryopsis how can I get rid of it?
Pull the rock out and scrub it with a wire brush. DOn't scrub it in the tank as that will cause it to spread. Sea Hare's are the only thing that will eat Bryopsis.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by kjr_trig
http:///forum/post/3285186
Pull the rock out and scrub it with a wire brush. DOn't scrub it in the tank as that will cause it to spread. Sea Hare's are the only thing that will eat Bryopsis.
Lettuce Nudibranch's will eat it....but they are slow....BUT they do work

BUT same as the seahare....after it is gone they also will starve to death :(
 
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