Hair algae help!!

[Sgc1107]

I have a bloom of hair algae that's getting worse & worse! I've not got a clue why it's blooming so well!

Amm: 0
Nitrates: 5.0
Nitrites: 0
Phos: 0
Feeding every 3 days
Skimmer working good

What is wrong? Corals & fish look amazing! I know it will take time but how of I get rid of it?

 

[Jaketit]

What kind of filtration???? And I would get a lawnmower blenny ASAP.

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Are you using tap water or RODI for your changes and top offs? What are your phosphates testing at?

 

[chenzo9999]

Phos readings can be tricky. Phos can test zero if all of it is being used for algae growth.

To reduce phos added to the system: use RO/DI water for top-offs and salt prep, rinse thawed frozen food twice, stay away from most flake foods.

You can also use a reactor and run PhosBan.

But you need to pull out rock and scrub off hair algae. Doing it in tank may cause it to spread.

 

[Wendy68]

You can syphon out the hair algae when you water change if you are careful. Turn off the power heads and scrap the algae as you suction. +++ on the RODI water too. We had it ten times worse and the water changes made a huge difference. More frequent with RODI and suction as much out as you can. Good luck. PhosBan is good too.

 

[jeffaquarius]

What kind of lighting fixture you use, its power and for how long?

 

[Sgc1107]

Are you using tap water or RODI for your changes and top offs? What are your phosphates testing at?

RODI
Phos: 0

 

[Sgc1107]

What kind of filtration???? And I would get a lawnmower blenny ASAP.

Sump, skimmer, lr, chaeto

I've read it's a hit or miss fining something that will eat it! I've heard turbo snails, and emerald crabs are the favored ones I've seen but each one is different. Didn't know a lawnmower Benny would eat it.

 

[Jaketit]

Sump, skimmer, lr, chaeto

I've read it's a hit or miss fining something that will eat it! I've heard turbo snails, and emerald crabs are the favored ones I've seen but each one is different. Didn't know a lawnmower Benny would eat it.

I've tried emeralds and turbos with no success on algae. I had a fox face rabbit that destroyed it in a week but he eventually started picking at zoos, so I removed him. I then bought a lawnmower and that guy was nonstop ripping algae of rocks, he didn't eat anything but algae. After the hair algae was gone he ended up perishing, probably not enough food for him. Of corse getting a fish or invert to clean up algae is not the way to go but they help knock it down a bit until your cheato chokes it out. Don't overfeed and do your weekly water changes and it should subside quickly.

 

[Godfrey]

How long are your lights on and what do you have for lighting

 

[Sgc1107]

How long are your lights on and what do you have for lighting

T5's on for 12hr been this way for over a year so I'm not sure if this is the problem.

 

[Qube]

I would look into running some sort of GFO reactor like one from BRS, Phosban reactor, etc. I'm thinking you have a phosphate issue if the tank has been up and running for that long. As another poster already said, you are testing 0 on phosphates because the hair algae is taking it all in. Just my opinion though...

 

[cxAcan]

I had a similar problem, I changed my lighting schedule and upgraded a cleaning crew.. Emerald crabs lawn mower Benny, hermits you name it

 

[Sgc1107]

I had a similar problem, I changed my lighting schedule and upgraded a cleaning crew.. Emerald crabs lawn mower Benny, hermits you name it

Is that how you got rid of it? And have you ever have problems again?

 

[Sgc1107]

I would look into running some sort of GFO reactor like one from BRS, Phosban reactor, etc. I'm thinking you have a phosphate issue if the tank has been up and running for that long. As another poster already said, you are testing 0 on phosphates because the hair algae is taking it all in. Just my opinion though...

Yes I didn't think about the phosphates reading 0 because the algae is absorbing it. Makes complete since!

 

[jeffaquarius]

I had a similar problem, I changed my lighting schedule and upgraded a cleaning crew.. Emerald crabs lawn mower Benny, hermits you name it

I did exactly the same thing and it works. No more other algae except coraline. 10 turbo snails and 10 hermit crabs did a good job.

 

[Sgc1107]

I did exactly the same thing and it works. No more other algae except coraline. 10 turbo snails and 10 hermit crabs did a good job.

I have a bunch of hermits but only 1 turbo I've lost a few in the past, think no enough to eat! But I still need to figure out the source!

 

[jeffaquarius]

You might not have enough number of turbos to totally eradicate the hair algae in the first place. Now you have only 1 and that explains why hair algae came back. The source is when you introduce new stuff in your tank.

 

[Sgc1107]

You might not have enough number of turbos to totally eradicate the hair algae in the first place. Now you have only 1 and that explains why hair algae came back. The source is when you introduce new stuff in your tank.

I've never had hair algae before. I use to have 3 turbos all but 1 died, think lack of food. That was 6 months ago. Guess this week ill pick up a couple and see if they can help me control it a bit!

Thanks for the help so far everyone!

 

[Bray84]

Well I had red algae but now that's gone I'm getting hair algae and all test are good but feed my fish once aday and have cut back on light for now but I been told that u should pull it off the rocks b4 u do w/c as most cuc won't touch it if too long but down side to that is can take a lot of time if u got loads on rocks