Please someone help, I'm fighting hair algae... and I'm losing!

[Wy Renegade]

Unless you have corals this is useless. The main reason for hair algae grown is water quality. There are phosphates that are present that the algae are consuming. Remove as much algae and do a big wc. The wc will remove the phosphates in the water and removing the algae will stop it from eating existing phosphates in the water. Keep this up weeks and they should eventually disappear.

True, however since the OP has corals in his tank and has stated that s/he can't remove all the rocks, this is hardly a useless step. Cutting back on lighting or shutting it off completely and covering the tank with a dark cloth during the day will eliminate the light the algae needs to grow and kill off the algae you can't scrub/remove.

Never scrub algae covered rocks in the tank, that simply spreads the algae in the tank. Once you've removed all the algae you can, as was stated you need to do a water change immediately to eliminate as many of the excess nutrients as possible. Adding a GFO, algae turf scrubber, phosban, or chemipure will all help with removing those excess nutrients as well, as will a refugium filled with macroalgae if/when you harvest the algae.

 

[Jake337]

True, however since the OP has corals in his tank and has stated that s/he can't remove all the rocks, this is hardly a useless step. Cutting back on lighting or shutting it off completely and covering the tank with a dark cloth during the day will eliminate the light the algae needs to grow and kill off the algae you can't scrub/remove.

Never scrub algae covered rocks in the tank, that simply spreads the algae in the tank. Once you've removed all the algae you can, as was stated you need to do a water change immediately to eliminate as many of the excess nutrients as possible. Adding a GFO, algae turf scrubber, phosban, or chemipure will all help with removing those excess nutrients as well, as will a refugium filled with macroalgae if/when you harvest the algae.

One day of total darkness won't get rid of any algae or kill it. Just keep up with the wc and you'll be fine.

 

[Wy Renegade]

One day of total darkness won't get rid of any algae or kill it. Just keep up with the wc and you'll be fine.

True enough, but several days in a row will, and it won't hurt your corals.

 

[Dav3]

Parameters are fine? They obviously aren't if you have algae issues. What are you using to test? Cut back on feeding but what are you feeding and how much? How often do you clean the canister filter?

 

[Massimo]

im hardly feeding my live stock! if i cut back on my lighting, will my anemone be effected?
im pretty sure that the problem im getting is from phospates. but everytime i test for phosphates its like not even detectable. my mag is at 1440, cal is 440, ammonia 0 nitrite 0 and a bit of nitrates (5)

 

[Massimo]

i feed once or twice a week

 

[Jake337]

im hardly feeding my live stock! if i cut back on my lighting, will my anemone be effected?
im pretty sure that the problem im getting is from phospates. but everytime i test for phosphates its like not even detectable. my mag is at 1440, cal is 440, ammonia 0 nitrite 0 and a bit of nitrates (5)

No phosphates are detected because the algae has used it all up. Lighting will effect your anemone. My own opinion is focus more on the water conditions and wc than the lighting. Lighting will slow down the growth of algae but not get rid of it.

 

[willbratz]

I had the same amount of hair algae as you a couple of months ago. What I did was took out the pieces of lr with the most and scrubbed it down with a tooth brush. Then I did a 20% wc and one week later all the algae was gone. Haven't seen any since.

I did this as well. However, depending on how much of the live rock you take out and scrub, could lead to a mini cycle. So, have water ready to go for any sudden water changes you may need.

 

[Massimo]

okay i just did a water change, when should i do another one? in a few days? a week?

 

[Dav3]

I wouldn't cut out the lights. Nitrates and phosphates won't register because the algae is consuming it. If the algae dies those nitrates and phosphates end up back in the water column. You need more frequent and/or larger volume water changes. Scrape off the algae you can in a bucket with take out water. Make sure you clean out the canister filter with each water change as well.

 

[Massimo]

alright thank you! ill do a water change once a week until its all gone