I Give Up!

[Djw311]

I've been battling hair aglae for about a year now and I just can't take it anymore.

I've scrubbed the rocks more times than I can remember, I pwc every week, I do not over feed, I don't have the led lights on for very long at all during the day, I use ro water, I am not overstocked with fish. Phosphates, trites, and ammonia are all 0. Trates don't go above 10.

Is there anything else I can do besides stripping it down and starting over? The tank has been up for almost 3 years now. I love the hobby, but I just can't keep putting in so much work for something that looks like crap.

 

[LaWoWee]

You can try blacking out your tank for a few days. That worked for me as a last resort on my old tank.

 

[Djw311]

I have a RBTA that needs the light or I would.

 

[Sniperhank]

Are there dead spots in the tank? 3 years could lead to one heck of a big pile of stuff causing your issue...
Have you changed your filters on your ro/di and tested the water coming from your unit? You could just be putting back the nitrate/phosphates back into the system that you are trying to remove...and then test 0 for them because the algae you are growing is consuming all of it!

 

[Sniperhank]

Oh, and how often do you feed? What do you feed? Cutting back there may assist this issue as well.

 

[Djw311]

There shouldn't be dead spots. I run a vortech mp10 that keeps it all moving pretty well. Its only a 40 G breeder. Yes, I am using ro/di water.

Feed about twice a week a mix of brine and mysis...and not very much at all. If I thaw 2 cubes, I usually end up tossing some of it.

 

[Sniperhank]

I feed the same way on my 55 reef. When was the last time you changed filters on your ro/di? Have you tested the water straight out of he unit?

 

[Packohotdogs]

Stupi question, but so you keep any Mexican turbos? They cleaned my tank once and fr all...

 

[Djw311]

Yeah, I have a bunch of turbo snails in there and they haven't helped at all.

 

[Sniperhank]

Pooping creatures aren't fixing the underlying issue though.

 

[MarinaClown]

I was having a small hair algae problem and what seems to be helping is running phosguard on a regular basis. Also, you can try Red Slime Remover but I suggest trying phosguard first. You mentioned your phosphates are 0 but you should still give it a try for a week or so. Good luck!

 

[jeh1487]

too much lighting

too much lighting causes that alot of times but sine you have had the tank up and running for a long time there might be something going on i would recomend taking the water and giving it to a aquarium shop to test and see what they say. if that doesnt work and you are still having issues and dont want to take apart the tank and start over i would hire someone to come in at least once a week and have them figure everything out and make them resposible for making your tank more effective at filltering out the green hair.

 

[Mebbid]

What lights are you running over your tank? What test kits are you using?

 

[jeh1487]

What lights are you running over your tank? What test kits are you using?

i am using an ecotech marine radion xr30w pro for lighting, its over kill for alot of things but the night and day settings are awsome it even mimics thunderstorms with clouds and lighting. i have probs and an apac controler system that test everything from nitrite to calcium. again overkill for alot of people but i am a marine bio major so i conduct experiments on my tank and study breeding habits of small fish. if i were you i wouldnt go all out on this type of system unless you have the money and time. i got a whole sales cost for my stuff because i went through a program at my school that does that. i would stick to the standard T5 HO lighing if it is FOWLR but if you want a reef setup i would look into LED AI its very trouble free because of to much lighting things can go a little crazy. getting back to the type of test kit to use i would find a REEF test kit it give more of options i would also buy add ons to the kit to make sure the whole bases was covered there are great books you can read that show you everything about reef tanks. i bought my first one at pet co

 

[Jcj0033]

I had a horrible algae problem a year ago. To fix it i did a 15 percent water change every 2 weeks I got a sea hare 4 turbo snails and ran phosguard and carbon. In about 2 Months hair algae was gone

 

[mr_X]

Use Kent Tech-M and raise your magnesium. It will kill off the Bryopsis.