Growth on my rock

[craig_will2513]

Hi can anyone help. I have some brown and green hair like fur on my rock. Can anyone recomend anything to eat it and get rid of it. Iv been told that a sea hare would do the job. Can someone tell me what a sea hare is. Any help is welcomed. Sorry for all the silly questions.

 

[Zer0]

Well, there are some sea hares that will take care of hair algae, but one they have eaten it all, it's hard to keep them alive since their staple food source is gone. They eat nothing else but hair algae.

I think your best bet would be to find out what the main cause of the problem is, and then eliminate it. Could you post your water parameters? Also, for how long do you keep your lights on? If it's not too much trouble, could you post a picture of it? It sounds like hair algae, but we need to be sure of this in order to give you the correct information on how to exterminate it.

 

[melosu58]

FantasyReef Databases-Viewing item "10 Step Plan for Nuisance Algae Control"

 

[craig_will2513]

Thanks for the quick reply. The lights are on for between 10 12 hours a day. All levels in my tank are zero with the nitrate up to 40. I am working reducing that. The ph is 8.

 

[Zer0]

Well, 40ppm of nitrate is pretty high and i imagine that's aiding the growth of the hair algae. Do you have your phosphate readings by any chance?

Also, you should cut back your light cycle to 8-9 hours a day. They do not need to be on any longer than that, and while it may not seem like cutting 2 or 3 more hours of lighting makes much of a difference... it does in the grand scheme of things.

 

[craig_will2513]

I

Sorry mate I dont have a test for phosphate. But is there anything I can put in once nitrate Is low. That will keep the algae down. Also how do I find out whats making the algae grown.

 

[nikki_pip]

Is it like grass? If so we bought a emerald crab which has removed it 

 

[Unicorn]

Well, take a water sample to ur LFS, they could read your water levels for you. An elevated phosphate level can cause algae growth! Just adding something to the water is not gonna help, you need to fix the problem
Are you using tap water to tap off your tank? That may elevate your phosphate!
The lights are definitely gonna help once reduced in time they are on