You know you have hair algae problems when...

[reefaddicted]

That is an Astrea being eaten off of! LMAO
I call the scarlet upside down hermit "rumplstiltsken".

 

[sggavin]

beleive it or not but there IS a peice of live rock under that bush.....

 

[reefersx2]

That snail has a fro...

 

[reefaddicted]

Actually..I have problems using fish to clean it up because my Hippo will peck at my purple open brain if I don't feed it enough. So I have this downward spiral...Feed tang enough to save brain, leads to too much nutrients in water, leads to more hair algae ( even though I run a 20g macro fuge for last 4 months). My trates have gone down considerably since i got fuge and I think that I need to get them to zero from 5 to clean up completely.
However, I just got a 50 lot of blue legs from SWF last saturday and every day when I wake up it gets better Some don't like them but it seems to be working for me right now.

 

[smackdad]

fox face eats that?

 

[sggavin]

I had it all over the back of my tank, until i was feeding some live brine shrimp with my net, and i just decided to try to scrape it off with the net and it worked like a charm , so now half the battle is done, unless it comes back

 

[reefaddicted]

I go in occasionally with a submersible pump which has hoses on both ends. I use a small scrub brush attached to the suction end and a strainer over my fuge on the other. I just scrub away at the rock and the strainer fills with troll hair. Always comes back tho..at least before I got the 50 extra blue legs.
We'll see how it works long term.

 

[reefaddicted]

Redcorsair
I now have a total of around 75 blues in my 55.

 

[danrw84]

yikes
that would make me upset!

 

[cj]

ALGONE.COM

 

[ryebread]

I have been using a toothbrush lately and it works quite well.

 

[attml]

I only had a touch of hair algae but my Yellow Tang and my Pygmy Cherub Angel used to snack on it until it went away! I hear Lawnmower Blennies are great hair algae eaters! Judging by the snail it looks like you'll only need about 15 of them (kidding of course!). What kind of water are you using and how much are you feeding? Something (phosphates or silicates) is making that hair algae very happy!! Good luck!
Jamesurq - LOL!

 

[reefaddicted]

I use ro/di water from my LFS. I have 0 phosphates. o silicates.
I run chemipures and purigen from sea chem. My trates are steady at 5. I feed mysis, zooplankton, and DT's.
When I first setup my tank I used water from a bad LFS (I know now). The hair algae started from this water which was VERY high in phosphates. My problem is that I have not been able to keep it away. From my reading books...I have found that it is much easier to avoid hair algae than eliminate it.
I have ...
yellow tang
hippo tang
lawnmower blenny
75 blue legs
20 scarlet reef
50 astreas
1 turbo
6 emerald crabs
orange linkia(maybe fromia multipora sp?)
sand sifter
2 fighting conchs
20 gal macro fuge loaded with 10 types of macro
and a bunch of coral

 

[reefaddicted]

LMAO, I hear that bud!
It has been getter better since last weekend when I got 50 bluelegs and 5 emeralds Hope fully after i scrub the rest off this weekend they can keep up with stopping buildup.

 

[jonthefb]

i have this one damn patch thats nestled in between my candy coral, and teh stuff grows like nobodys business. i have a black sailfin blenny that eats it all except the stuff between the coral, 2 emerald crabs that turn their claws up at it, a rainfordi goby that doesnt think much of it and a bunch of snails/crabs that wont go near the stuff. its driving me nuts! like rye said, a toothbrush and a fine net seem to be the best methods of control!
good luck
jon