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

[Massimo]

ive been fighting this ugly stuff for a while now, i cut down on feeding to once or twice a week, should i be doing more frequent water changes?

37 gallon
reef octo bh1000 skimmer
canister filter with no filter media, all i have in there is live rock, phoseguard and carbon
3 PHs (750gph, and 2 425gphs)

live stock
2 clowns
1 six line
1 coral banded shrimp
1 anemone (i think its a Haitian anemone)
hairy mushroom coral
and a candy cane coral (i think)

 

[Shirtlessbill]

Water parameters pleae.


Also, what was the turning point for me was phosband . Might be worth checkin out. I leave it in a bag right in front of my return pump, replace it about every 2-3 months, and all hair algae is gone

 

[Massimo]

Do you think if i put some ChemiPure in my canister filter that would get rid of the algae? Or does phosband work better?

My parameters are fine, that's the thing, i have no idea where the heck this crap is coming from.

 

[Chevy55Post]

Do you use RO/DI water for your water changes? If so I had a similar problem and could not find a solution. Then I noticed my TDS meter was climbing and I changed my filters - after a few water changes the hair algae lost!

 

[Massimo]

Yes i do! i buy my ro/di water at my lfs, well they say its ro/di....... next time i go get some more water, ill test it. What if i start using distilled water?

 

[justjoe0202]

Look in to using phosban ether in a reactor or put in a bag in the filter! Also if you don't mind a new addition to your tank a Sally light foot crab will do wanders on hair algae.

 

[Massimo]

I use phosguard In my filter. I don't really have a cuc. My lfs sells hermit crabs and snails for $5 each... Way to expensive. If I get a proper cuc, do you think it would help?

 

[justjoe0202]

It would help, but finding the cause for the algae is the sure thing. I would check the water you are buying to see how it tests. That's usually the cause of algae

 

[Massimo]

Yeah I think that's the problem. I'll do tests tomorrow and see what I get

 

[Greenpillow]

How old is your tank?

 

[Massimo]

going to be 6 months soon.

 

[Clownfish25]

going to be 6 months soon.

Your tank may just be going through new tank syndrome. As your tank develops and builds up its bio load it will change and mature. Also the water is a big factor, however the rocks can hold phosphate and nitrate which algae uses to grow. When I upgraded to a 75g I encountered hair algae and still had perfect water parameters. Because the algae was using the nitrates to grow. Anyways after saying all that I do weekly water changes and purchased a GFO reactor in December from bulk reef supply. The gfo binds phosphate and helps starve the algae and over time has cleared the hair algae. Also another trick that can work is turning your lights off for a few days.

 

[Clownfish25]

Also check your mag levels because you can also slowly raise it to 1600 to help combat nuisance algae

 

[Jake337]

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.

 

[Massimo]

im gonna do a wc asap, im also going to clean my rocks. some rocks i cant take out of the tank because theres corals on them and the anemone... can i scrub the rocks inside my tank or should i just leave them alone and not clean them? i can take out most pieces to clean

 

[audifusion]

ever thought of doing an algae scrubber?

 

[Massimo]

what do you mean by an algae scrubber? i have a toothbrush and a bigger brush that i use to clean my rocks

 

[jeffaquarius]

How long do you leave your DT lights on? You can slow down algae outbreak by cutting down the lenght of time for lights. Return them back when algae are under control.

 

[Jake337]

How long do you leave your DT lights on? You can slow down algae outbreak by cutting down the lenght of time for lights. Return them back when algae are under control.

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.

 

[Massimo]

just cleaned my rocks and now im doing a water change! ill update you guys when its all done