What's the best way to get rid of hair algae?

tirtza

Member
It's nearly week #3 in the cycling phase and I have hair algae....what's the best way to get rid of it?
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
There is several options:
1. Manually remove it from the tank with your hand. Before putting your hand back in the tank, dip you fingers in fresh water to kill any spores.
2. Get a clean up crew that will eat some of the hair algae such as green emerald crabs or a lettuce nudibranch
3. Water changes that reduce your nitrate and phosphate and other organics in the water column.
4. Only use RO/DI water with a TDS reading of 0.
5. You could rig up a DIY Algae scrubber that will grow the hair algae on the screen rather then in your tank where you can easily remove it.
6. Reduce your lighting time
7. Change your bulbs when your bulbs are recommended to be changed. Just because a bulb will last 15 months doesn't mean that its spectrum will remain the same throughout.
Anyone else care to contribute? lol, I got to get back to work!
 

acrylic51

Active Member
Sorry!!!!! Wasn't laughing at your question, just 1 of the responses......
Maybe a bit more info on your current setup might help determine what the issues might be.....What do you currently have in the system?
 

geoj

Active Member

There is several options:

1. Manually remove it from the tank with your hand. Before putting your hand back in the tank, dip you fingers in fresh water to kill any spores.
Sounds like work...
2. Get a clean up crew that will eat some of the hair algae such as green emerald crabs or a lettuce nudibranch.
Lazy workers don't clean where I want...
3. Water changes that reduce your nitrate and phosphate and other organics in the water column.
More work...
4. Only use RO/DI water with a TDS reading of 0.
Only works if nothing ever dies or decays like fish food and snails from starvation...
5. You could rig up a DIY Algae scrubber that will grow the hair algae on the screen rather then in your tank where you can easily remove it.
Now this sounds more like my lazy way, but I don't have the room...
6. Reduce your lighting time
I cant do this for to long becuase I have corals that need the light...
7. Change your bulbs when your bulbs are recommended to be changed. Just because a bulb will last 15 months doesn't mean that its spectrum will remain the same throughout.
:%%:


Anyone else care to contribute? lol, I got to get back to work!
Here SnakeBlitz33 more insight
I use all the above in one way or an other...
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Lol! Well, then your doing it wrong! lol

I dunno. Something else might still be the problem. Sometimes you will have to manually remove it from your system - but the best way to remove it and reduce your nitrates/phosphates that I have seen is to run an algae scrubber. You don't even have to have a big sump to do it, just a bucket and a couple of lights above your tank would do. There are ways to get rid of hair algae if you really work on it.
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by tirtza http:///t/387539/what-s-the-best-way-to-get-rid-of-hair-algae#post_3410681
It's nearly week #3 in the cycling phase and I have hair algae....what's the best way to get rid of it?
Give it time. This is typically a normal part of the process when setting up a new tank. Generally it will clear up after a little while if good husbandry practices are being used. There isn't much of a bio load in the tank right now so bacterial colonies will have to catch up before it can clear up on it's own. Other than that then the suggestions above are ideas to consider and look into as well.
 

sparty059

Active Member
Just look at all my previous posts. I had probably one of the worst outbreaks of HA. Read through them, many of the suggestions helped. One in particular that seemed to have helped a lot was reducing the light, and rinsing your food before you toss it in the tank. I found within about a month or so after rinsing all my food the HA started to go away. I found out I was going to have to take my tank down, and wanted to test the method out, so I stopped rinsing. After about 3 weeks, I noticed my tank was beginning to get HA. Just my thoughts.
 

caz2022

Member
I had a horrible HA outbreak that my CUC didn't seem to be able to handle. I spent 7 hours acclimating 1 male sailfin molly to saltwater. Let me tell you, best 7 hours I ever spent. He went to town on it. Within a week my tank went from looking like the amazon to HA free. Of coarse your tank is still cycling so I wouldn't do anything for now. I feel your pain though, waiting is the hardest part.
 

btldreef

Moderator
Do we have an ID on what type of hair algae it is? Bryopsis can be a real pain to get rid of, but there is a method that really, really works.
 

tirtza

Member
So far the long hair algae problem seems to be under control...I plucked out as much as I could by hand from the sand. The Mexican Turbo snail and the Lawn Mower Blenny seem to be taking care of the rest that's on the rock. There are still spots of it on the sand (the LMB and snail have no interest in what's in the sand) and I'm hoping in a couple of weeks I'll try to get a few hermit crabs to take care of it. It's certainly not completely gone, I guess only time will tell!
Is it possible to ever have it completely gone, or just to a point where there are bits here and there? Should I try and keep some around so my LMB doesn't starve?
 

btldreef

Moderator
Is your Blenny eating frozen or algae sheets?
Yes, you can completely rid your tank of it, but I will say that it's not easy and most of us have it somewhere, whether it's in the overflow, the refugium, etc
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Hair algae can actually be beneficial. lol! To think that a tank is healthy without some algae is ridiculous. 90% of what is in the ocean is different types of algae. We don't like to see hair algae in our display tanks, but algae grown elsewhere is really beneficial. Algae scrubbers use hair algae to remove nitrate and phosphate from aquariums. Instead of growing in the display tank, the hair algae is grown on the screen, and then can be removed once a week. Infact, the algae scrubber on my little 20g is the only form of filtration I have.
 

tirtza

Member
My Blenny isn't eating either frozen or algae sheets. Him and the Mexican Turbo snail have now gotten 85% of the hair algae that was on the rock, most of the hair algae that is in the tank now is in the sand. I don't see the Blenny or Mexican Turbo snail going anywhere near the stuff that's in the sand. Twice I've gone in the tank and plucked out as much as I could from the sand, but it keeps coming back! Can you guys think of any critters that will actually eat the long hair algae from the sand?
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by tirtza http:///t/387539/what-s-the-best-way-to-get-rid-of-hair-algae#post_3412973
My Blenny isn't eating either frozen or algae sheets. Him and the Mexican Turbo snail have now gotten 85% of the hair algae that was on the rock, most of the hair algae that is in the tank now is in the sand. I don't see the Blenny or Mexican Turbo snail going anywhere near the stuff that's in the sand. Twice I've gone in the tank and plucked out as much as I could from the sand, but it keeps coming back! Can you guys think of any critters that will actually eat the long hair algae from the sand?
You can try a sea hare
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
You could try a sea hare, but once you get your water parameters under control, you will have to get rid of it or it will die because there won't be anything to eat. Good luck!
 

btldreef

Moderator
I can't post links to other forums here, but do a search on the web about dosing Kent Tech M (Magesium) for hair algae control as well. It is safe, we've done it. I'm not a fan of resorting to chemicals, but the Tech M treatment really does work. The problem with using a blenny, or a sea hare or a ton of snails is you have to figure out what to do with these creatures once the algae is gone, because they very often will starve. Some sea hares/blennies will accept frozen or algae sheets, but many do not. I tried a sea hair, it cleaned my rocks of other things, but not the hair algae that I wanted it for. Tried a baby fox face, and while he is working, he's now discovered that there is a supply of good being offered daily and doesn't seem as interested in hunting for his algae.
 
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