Hair algae maintinence

[JJ-MIK]

I have a 150g reef. 300 lbs of live rock. 3 fish and a few dozen corals. I have 4 1050 power heads and 2 500 gph pumps as returns. I have a skimmer and phosphate reactor with extrax phos . Lights are on 8-9 hours per day. And ro water changes mostly weekly. Sometimes every 2 weeks. Ro is 0 tds. No phosphates or nitrates in ro.. I have a deep sand bed and hair algae on everything!! Rocks and growing in my sand.. I cleaned every rock in hydrogen peroxide. And sucked out the top of sand bed multiple times. And it's all back in a few days.. Anyone else have any ideas on getting rid of this? I think I'm going to pull all corals and store in a seperate tank. Pull all rock and soak in h202 and black out in a tub. Cleaning weekly. And black out the tank... Any other suggestions?

 

[JJ-MIK]

Algae bedding in sand.... Not rocks growing in sand...... Haha

 

[Animal-Chin]

To me this sounds more like a bacteria than a hair algae issue. Can you post a pic of what it looks like? Is it brownish with bubbles?

 

[JJ-MIK]

Don't have a pic yet. But it's def hair algae. Long green and looks like grass.. Lol I can pull it off the sand in matts. But it grows right back the next day.

 

[Animal-Chin]

Wow thats crazy fast, when I had it I'd scrape it off the rock and it would take a couple of weeks. I'd go with removing rocks, sucking the top layer off the sand, remove coral to the other tank and black out your tank for a week after a HUGE water change. Lots of work but it seems like you have a serious issue with it.

Is the algea on your corals skeleton yet? Watch for that I lost a couple that way...

 

[herp_mommy]

You could try a couple of sea hares. One cleared out my 75gal a year ago and I haven't seen hair algae since.

 

[JJ-MIK]

It's growing around. And from under my corals. I read an article I guy posted. That he took his rocks out. Extensively cleaned them and put them in a tub for a few weeks. One week blackout is not enough because the algae is seeded inside the rock. A few weeks in black will kill it all. Plus he had power heads blasting the rock in the tubs so it blew out everything it could. Kept doing water changes til his po4 was at zero.
I have a deep sand bed. So I figured I would suck out the top layer. If I had the money I would suck every bit of it out and just put a thin layer in there new.. I have a bottom layer of crushed coral middle layer of aragonite and top layer of sand. I wonder ... Could I salvage the sand and re use it.. Or is it a bad idea? Since its been there a year..

 

[Daniel Fishy]

Checkout algae fix marine. Few people on here and other sites have had good success with it. Google around for info.

 

[ezy33]

Have tested your tank for phosphates? The algae is most likely feeding off it. The test readings will be lower due to the algae consuming the phosphates. I had problems until I added a DI filter on my RO system. A sea hare will clear your tank but will starve when the algae runs out. I have a Refugium where I grow Dragons Breath
and Chaetomorpha algaes to export the phosphates. Good luck!

 

[Animal-Chin]

Its really hard to get rid of, thats why there are so many threads about it. Seems like you're on the right track though. Another thing is do a huge water change in your tank cause even though you don't have phosphates it could be that the over grown algae is absorbing it really quickly causing it to grow.

Watch your coral too, if it's poking out the base it's probably on the skeleton and you can't do anything but physically remove it. I used a bowl that I filled with tank water then grabbed and removed the algae as much as I could then scrubbed the skelleton with a toothbrush. Worked on most of my hard coral...

 

[JJ-MIK]

Phosphates are below .05.. I do have do resin also. Haven't gotten a sea hair. But everything that eats it. Won't touch it cuz it's too overgrown..

 

[JJ-MIK]

I've peroxided every rock and sucked out multiple layers of sand and it comes right back. .. If blacking the tank out for 4 weeks don't work........ I don't know what I'll do next

 

[Animal-Chin]

Ya keep fighting or give up and start over. Thankfully mine was only on rock (not in the sand) but it was so deep into some I just took it out, put in in a tub of saltwater in a dark room with a powerhead and let it sit there for months. When It was done the rock was back to almost white it was so dead. I restocked my rock with 80% dead rock and 20% live, basically starting over.

Its a tough choice. Personally I think I'd do a heavy duty cleaning routeen first. Remove rock and scrub the crap out of it. Do a huge water change and put it back in with a big nasty sea hare. They'll eat the short stuff for sure. Then in a couple of days do another huge water change, just keep this up till its gone.

 

[JJ-MIK]

I've been on it for 2 months doing that. Scrub rock and sand. Water change.. Scrub rock water change. Lol I'm starting to wonder I'd my dsb is the cause...

 

[Jonnypro]

Get a phosband 150. I just put one on mine and within a few days almost all the algae turned yellow and is dying. Then you can scrub your rock in old tank water. It is one of the most annoying things that happen in a saltwater tank. I had it and i have an ato with rodi water, the foods I feed have little or no phosphates. The reason I think I got it was because my rock I had was cured in tap water with salt.

 

[JJ-MIK]

So was mine... Lol. I have a reactor. It's not doing much.. It slows down the glass but that's it.. I have pulled. All the rock out and is blacked out. Taking the fish out today. And blacking out the tank. I'll get rid of it one way or another!!

 

[mr_X]

Use Kent Tech-M and raise mag to 1500 or so. The Bryopsis will die off.

 

[Jonnypro]

Use Kent Tech-M and raise mag to 1500 or so. The Bryopsis will die off.

you have to raise it up between a few days. And bring it down in a few days. But using it bad with inverts.

 

[JJ-MIK]

X .. It's not bryopsis . It is hair algae . This is straight hair. It is not the leafy multiple steam type stuff

 

[JJ-MIK]

Pile of hair algae I pushed over.. Made 3 piles





All cleaned out. 200+ lbs of rock blacked out in a tub.




Now we wait.. Nothing like starting over.. Only good thing is I don't have to spend a few thousand on corals.. Already have them in another tank.