dont know what to do

[evman333]

i have a lot of hair algae and sometimes some red patches of algae in my tank what do i need to do to get rid of it

is it harmful to my tank

 

[ccCapt]

Hair algea is usually caused by high phosphates. Red algea is probably cyanobacteria and is usually from excessive nutrients in the water and poor circulation.
Can you give us more info on your set up? How long it's been running, what your testing for and what kind of water you are using.

 

[OhTheHumanity]

Well your tank is too small for a yellow tang to take care of the hair algae. Mine sucked all the hair off my rock within 3 days. If the red algae is red slime algae, it should go away. I kept an eye on it and pulled it off when it got bad. After a few weeks it was gone and hasn't been back in a month.

If it's on your rock use a turkey baster to suck it off. It worked great for me.

 

[darb2]

when removing the red slime try not to break it into small peices. if you blast it off the rocks with the turkey baster it will only spread more, so use care when removing it.
as far as the hair algae add a couple more to your clean up crew. This will help, if the hair is too long for snails and hermits to eat it, you may need to trim it, like a tang would do, then the cleaners will get the rest.

 

[ClamKnuckle]

A Blenny (black sail fin or lawn mower) wold do a decent job of taking keeping your algae in check too

 

[OhTheHumanity]

If you use the turkey baster don't blast it off. What I said was suck it into the baster and squirt it into a bucket or sink.

 

[lando]

What is your water source? Generally, city tap water is high in phosphate so this could be adding to the problem if you are using tap. You could try RO/DI water from your LFS or wal-mart to see if that helps. No more phosphate=no more algea. good luck...Lando

 

[evman333]

thanks for the help everyone it is greatly appreciated

can this algae harm my live stock

could i fit a lawnmower blenny in my tank

i just added a green chromis