Green hair algae

[dylan p]

Anyone know a solution to getting rid of algae other then water changes and cleaner packs? Also what could be causing it?


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[Ziggy953]

Excess nutrients in your system.

What kind of water are you using? RODI?

 

[dylan p]

Yes and I do water changes every week I tested my water yesterday and everything was good


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[Ziggy953]

Yes and I do water changes every week I tested my water yesterday and everything was good


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If you are seeing GHA growing in your tank everything is not good. Something is fueling the algae.

What all do you have in the tank? Fish corals ect? What do you feed the fish? What kind of filtration do you have? What kind of lighting do you have?

When you say everything was good what were your numbers?

 

[dylan p]

It's not showing any ammonia nitrates or nitrites I have some soft corals and 3 damsels I feed the damsels tetra marine flakes and I feed my coral a dried powdery stuff not sure of the name it's a mixture of different stuff I feed them every 2 weeks. I keep macro algae in the display and use a white filter floss and a mixture of purigen and carbon in the filter I have my live rock in the middle of the aquarium to prevent dead spots.


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[Ziggy953]

Depending on how much hair algae you have growing in the tank you my not see much when you test. Also depends on the type of test kit you are using.

Like I said. The algae is getting fuel from some source. Flake food can contribute to phosphates and nitrates to a SW system. Dilution is the solution to polution. I would continue with the water changes and change some of your filter media out. Small changes are key to not shocking the system.

 

[Sniperhank]

Rinsed frozen food helps alot towards this issue rather than flakes/pellets.

 

[dylan p]

I change filter floss often and purigen mixture gets changed every month I'm going to switch to frozen instead of flakes. should I switch to zooplankton for my coral? How do I kill off the algae


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[Sniperhank]

You have algae because you are feeding your coral. That stuff is all phosphates right into the water column. Unless you have things that aren't photosynthetic, stop feeding. There is no need to feed.

 

[dylan p]

So I shouldn't feed them at all?


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[dylan p]

Ok now that I know not to feed flakes or feed my corals how do I get rid of it? Will it die off on its own? Or is there a chemical I can get to kill it with out hurting my other stuff. I have more then enough cleaners in there


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[Sniperhank]

Using ro/di water for your top offs and water changes along with the rinsed frozen food is the key. During water changes, start pulling it out and you can simply siphon it out as you pull. Don't do it all at once, just slowly plug away at it. Algae is a long drawn out battle that takes time and patience.

 

[dylan p]

I use ro/di this algae just recently started thanks for the help


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[jeffaquarius]

Aside from nutrients algae will start to flourish when the light frequency band, intensity and duration favors it. What kind of light do you have and have you made any changes before the problem started? Fluorescent lights will shift frequency band overtime and can cause algae problem.

 

[dylan p]

T5s when I get enough time I'm gonna set up my 44 gallon with halides right now I have everything in a biocube


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[BigRedsReefs10]

I saw on another thread that you get your water from a Walmart? Do you have a tds meter? Is the unit an ro/di or just ro? Most of the time the filters on these public machine are not changed often enough for reef purposes. This combined with the feeding habits are most likely what's fueling your problems. Also just curious but what kit are you using to measure nitrate and phosphate? And have you tested fresh mixed water?

 

[dylan p]

I've never done walmart I've seen them there and that's not the problem my grocery store changes them monthly and yes it's ro/di it says on it this hair algae just started and I've been using this water for more then a year


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[BigRedsReefs10]

Do you have a tds meter? Depending on the number if people that use it once a month might not be enough. And what about my other questions?

 

[dylan p]

I don't have a tds meter. I use the API salt water tests and this algae just started happening. I have tested the fresh salt water. And it's not showing anything . I really don't think it could be the water. The foods more likely because I used to feed frozen cut up shrimp and I never had a problem. Then I got them flakes a couple months ago and like 2 weeks ago I started getting algae


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[Mebbid]

The api tests aren't nearly accurate enough for a reef tank. The phosphate in particular isn't near sensitive enough, you need to be able to measure down to 0.1ppm