Algae bloom

[SomethingFishy0]

I have uncontrollable amount of green algae. I want to keep my light on to help my soft coral. what should I use to clean up the algae and keep it clean.

 

[bribo12]

Green hair algae? Are you using tap or ro/di water? What are your nitrates and phosphate levels at?

 

[SomethingFishy0]

My test kit was stolen by my roommate and I don't have money for a protein skimmer. Need a cheap solution for now.

 

[SomethingFishy0]

Yes I'm using tap water. Yes it is green hair algae

 

[GouldFever]

No no no tap water! Tap water is bad bad bad lol Use RO water from your LFS. They generally charge less than $.50 a gallon.

 

[PurplePolyp]

Definitely don't use tap water. You can get a sea hare for around 20 or 30 bucks. It will clean up the green hair algae really quickly but they have a tendency to get stuck to your powerheads and die.

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[bribo12]

A sea hare will starve after the algae is gone. Switch to ro and manual removal are your best bet to beat it.

 

[PurplePolyp]

They have algae discs that work great for sea hares. Its just like any other animal. If you feed it, it will live.

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[bribo12]

They have algae discs that work great for sea hares. Its just like any other animal. If you feed it, it will live.

Sent from my XT1080 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

There is no guarantee the hare will eat this though. The hare also contributes to bioload and this to the cause of the algae.

 

[Dav3]

Since you cannot afford a skimmer as bribo suggested your only solution is to switch to rodi water and manually remove the algae. Continuing to use tap water will make it worse.