Bad hair algae!

[MarkW19]

My tank is about 3 months old, and I'm having a BAD hair algae problem!

Lots of the green stuff sticking up on my big piece of rock, and also quite a bit "stuck" in patches on the back of my tank. Also quite a lot of brown algae which is stuck to the rock and back, and when I try and get both of these off the back - the hair algae is very tough to get off, doesn't budge much because it's quite well stuck on, and the brown stuff just flakes away from the back and floats around in the tank. Haven't even attempted to tackle the stuff sticking up on the rock yet.

Anyone any tips/suggestions on how to tackle this stuff? Water parameters are all fine.

 

[jackdp]

What water parameters are fine...post the results. Do you check for nitrates and phosphates...these will fuel hair algae growth.
Its not uncommon for newer tanks to go through algae bloom phases. Often, the algae will bloom, last for a week or two and die off when it uses up all the nutrients. Now, this assumes that the nutrients are not being replenished somewhere along the line. Some tips for controlling algae....

1. Use RO or DI water, it should contain no phosphates, nitrates or anything else that algae may feed off of.
2. Don't overfeed. Only feed as much as your tank will consume in a few minutes. Most fish foods will add nutrients to the water that fuel algae growth.
3. Keep a good, diverse cleanup crew...a varied selection of snails, hermits and if you're bold a "reef safe" crab will help eat up the unsightly algaes.
4. Have enough flow...cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates, diatoms, all these will get a better foot hold in low flow areas, sometimes just redirecting a powerhead to the area will take care of the problem.

That's all I can think of now, I'm sure others will have some suggestions. HTH

 

[darb2]

It sounds like it's time for a tang

 

[MarkW19]

Thanks guys...

Amm 0, Trites 0, Trates 0, pH 8.2, SG 1.023, CH 10dKH, Temp 80°F, TDS of RO water used 4ppm.

I don't have any snails yet - may add some soon. My tank is fairly new, so perhaps that's the reason.

But at the minute, it's getting noticeably worse every day!

I haven't tested for phosphates yet, but I'm careful with feeding, and use RO water.

 

[Atari]

I'd say the snails are long overdue

 

[MYTY1705]

will any thing eat diatom algea??

 

[Atari]

Ceriths, Nerites and Conchs also I believe.

 

[CBRGuy]

I had/Have a bad Algae outbreak. I just bought about 10 Turbos(I need more) and 12 blue Legged Hermits. I also Added ROWAphos and I already see a difference. The Within a day the snails got all of the Algae off of the glass and now the are getting the rocks. But I have a lot of it.