Hair algae out of control

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selbycups

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 25, 2016
Messages
25
Hello;

I wasn't sure what part of the forum to post this in but since i have a FOWLR I will post it here.

My tank has been in use for about 6 months now and I have noticed over the last month my hair algae problem is getting out of control.

After reading many posts I am guessing its caused by feeding, waste and things such as that nature.

My current setup is 120 Gallons and I have 2 fish, clown trigger and flame angel. Both are getting along great and eating very well. I have nothing but LR in the tank and I also have a canister filter.

Do i need to buy a phosphate reactor? Or a remover? Most of the posts I have read say this is all due to high phosphates.

Sorry for the questions, I am quite new to the hobby and would appreciate some assistance moving forward.

p.s I have a salifert test kit and I dont see any high nitrates/nitrites or my other tests as well.

thanks
 
I'd get yourself pincushion urchin. Beautiful additions and the cookie monster of hair algea.
 
Not that I am aware of. I had a cinnamon/tomato clown that was fairly aggressive and they were fine together.
 
What about putting in a sea slug? I heard they destroy algae...
 
They DO! Very quickly. I had one a while back. He was very cool but once he ate all the algae I had a very hard time keeping him fed. Urchins seem to be more resourceful about finding food in the sand and live longer. Plus they're a lot cheaper!
 
If you are doing water changes with ro/di water, you will want to do large water changes.
Algae comes from both nitrates and/or phosphates. When you have large amounts of algae they will consume the nutrients in the water column making them undetectable.
I am not a fan of adding livestock to control issues in the system, but it is hard to argue how great urchins are.
If there isn't change in the system after large 50% water changes, you might want to look into utilizing something like biopellets, gfo, or something similar.
 
trigger will make short work of a urchin hence there facial features
large water changes with plenty of water flow will help reduce phosphates always better to fix things naturally rather than with additives. try easing up on you feedings , also if your using a canister weekly cleanings are in order . that's whats housing the nitrates/phosphates weekly water changes will help too.
 
What have you got in the canister? It needs to operate as a phosphate and carbon reactor rather than a conventional detritus and nitrate remover. No sponges in it for starters. If you do this, clean it regularly and change 10% water weekly things will be a lot better.
 
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