Algae

[bhuamani32]

I have this grass looking thing in my aquarium. I'm pretty sure it's green hair algae but when I look at the picture it looks slightly different. Could someone verify if this is green hair algae and maybe a good cleanup crew to get rid of it? Appreciate it thanks

 

[Mebbid]

Yep, it definitely looks like green hair algae. Blue legged hermit crabs should work quite well on it.

Adding a clean up crew however won't solve the algae issue. what are your nitrates / phosphates at? How long do you run your lights?

 

[bhuamani32]

Alright thank you and my nitrates are very low and I'm not sure about the phosphates. I bought a used system about 2 weeks ago and it did not come with a phosphate test kit so I have to order one. And yes I know I have to get algae off myself also I just don't want to disturb the tank too much. Also think I have an outbreak of aiptasia. Have these very small things with red tips coming out.

 

[Mebbid]

Do you have any pics of the aiptasia?

 

[Kristy3693]

The red tip things are probably feather dusters, harmless.

 

[bhuamani32]

This is what they look like

 

[mr_X]

"hair algae" is a broad term used to describe many types of hair-like algae. This is why you ran into the different pictures. See here, some of the many types-
Bryopsis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Kristy3693]

This is what they look like

Yup, those are feather dusters. Awesome hitch hikers!