nasty hair alage

[border324]

i have a geat deal of hair allege in my 55 gallon sw tank latey my ph has been dropping to 7.9 to 8.1 and my fish are acting nuts. i did a water change. and it been about 1 year and my trickle filter is looking pretty nasty also so i clean it up! i did not rinse my bio balls but every thing else i did. not crap is going to hell. i do have 60 pounds of live rock that nothing is growing on except hair allege and i just need to know how to take care of the hair and ph problem. all of my water prop. look great no ammo,nit, and very little nitrates
i am at the end of my sw hobby if i cant get the ball rolling again.
that bad cause i really like looking at them at night.
if some one can help i would be greatfull.
velvet

 

[steve-s]

Get your PO4 tested. Typically green nuisance algaes will grow like wildfire in their presence. With the pH problem looming there is also a good chance you may end up with a dinoflagellate bloom (snot algae).

What water source are you using?

When testing the pH, be sure you do so later on in the day. pH is affected by CO2 produced at night and will be naturally lower in the AM before or just after lights on. Also try to test at the same time each test to guage the consistancey of your pH for fluctualtions. If after the water change the pH is still remaining low your problem will be moreso environmental that chemical. Glass lid (or any solid lid), insufficient water movement (low GPH), overstocking and/or overfeeding?

Cheers
Steve

 

[phases99]

Are you using tap water for water changes? Phosphates are a major cause for hair algae. Also get some more circulation in the tank if you don't already have at least 10x water volume moving per hour. I have found that Astrea snails love to snack on hair algae.

 

[border324]

thanks i have a water pump thats great. i dont know how to measure it but i know its high. it blows the sand down at the bottom of my tank around.
i use tap my fish store told me its ok to use. but i have figure out he is a dumb *##
so i guess i am going to have to get distilled
thank guys
sorry it took so long to get back to you
aol took a poop on me
velvet
are damsels good fist to start with ?

 

[ambulocetus]

Velvet, be aware that while damsels are usually good hardy fish, they can be mean and territorial and then later when you add other fish they will pick at and fight with the new tanks mates. It is best to look around and decide what kinds of fish you are wanting to have in the tank. Then look at the compatability, and the order in which you should introduce them. In tis hobby if you really research your purchases (ahead of time!) you will save yourself untold amounts of hassle!

 

[quarryshark]

Actually a 3 stage RO unit would do a world of good. I added a deionizer to my 2 stage, upgraded my skimmer, put in a couple more powerheads, slowly removed my bioballs, added some more LR, deepened my sand bed and ran a PO4 sponge.
My PO4 dropped from 1.0 down too .03 and had remained there. Lo and behold the hair algea and cyno have all but dissapeared on its own.
As SteveS stated and I will testify. PO4 reduction is the key.