Can someone help me?

[sneakers714]

I'm not sure how to get rid of all this green hair stuff growing on my rocks. Does anyone have any ideas what I can use to get rid of it.

 

[TigerBarbs]

Feed carefully once a day, weekly water changes, clean up crew(hermits), reduce lighting to 5 or 6 hours a day, scrape and siphon off the rocks. What fish do you have? There's no 1 fix for it.

 

[sneakers714]

I have a picasso trigger fish, voltain lionfish, fuzzy dwarf lionfish. I had a bunch of hermit crabs but the trigger fish ate them all. What kind of scraper should i use to scrape that green stuff off with? Can i just take my arch out of the tank and scrape it off then?

 

[TigerBarbs]

How big is the tank? Yes taking the rocks out and scrubbing with a brush will work but it'll grow back if u over feed or have lights on too long.

 

[sneakers714]

i have a 55 gallon corner tank

 

[TigerBarbs]

What are your nitrates and phosphates? I added a brs reactor with gfo and it stopped my hair algae in its tracks

 

[MacDracor]

If you have the room for a sump, consider an algae turf scrubber in addition to TigerBarbs' excellent advice.
With large fish, and two of them being predators, balancing the nutrient levels can be really tricky. An algae turf scrubber could help by encouraging the algae to grow somewhere other than on your rocks.

 

[sneakers714]

i havent checked today yet, but i am going to get some water from the store and i will have my fish guy check the water for me.

 

[sneakers714]

MacDracor - Unfortunately I don't have space for a sump. Any other ideas?

 

[TigerBarbs]

If you have the room for a sump, consider an algae turf scrubber in addition to TigerBarbs' excellent advice.
With large fish, and two of them being predators, balancing the nutrient levels can be really tricky. An algae turf scrubber could help by encouraging the algae to grow somewhere other than on your rocks.

I'm considering an ATS! I think I can make one for about 60$ for my 29 reef. Maybe even cheaper but I don't have a sump. And those nitrates and phosphates are a big algae feeder.

 

[TigerBarbs]

MacDracor - Unfortunately I don't have space for a sump. Any other ideas?

U don't need a sump. Another member on aa showed me this http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/g...ver-replaces-skimmer-refugium-part-1-4-a.html awesome thread.

 

[MacDracor]

Well, I didn't mean that a sump was required, per sey... probably should have been more specific. I really just meant that if there was room below the tank (where a sump would usually go) then an ATS would be great.
But TigerBarbs is right, you don't necessarily need a sump, just enough space to squeeze in an ATS. Could actually be a very small volume of water. Just enough for the pump to sit in. Just be warned, that's where evaporation will show, so you'll need to keep on top of the water level!

 

[sneakers714]

I am kinda new to all this so could you please tell me what an ATS is?

 

[MacDracor]

Al algae turf scrubber (ATS) is a device that spreads water flow over a wide area with good surface traction, under lights, encouraging algae to grow. If you google Algae turf scrubber, you'll see all sorts of designs. TigerBarbs posted a link showing a cool design that fits in a small space, using a PVC pipe with a slit cut down the length. A sheet of stiff plastic mesh (craft store) is roughed up with sandpaper and inserted into this slit. End of the pipe is capped, forcing water to flow across the mesh. With lights shining on the mesh, algae will grow wild on it, sucking all the nutrients out of the water. Periodically, you just clean off about 75% of the mesh and let it grow back. Nice and fast nutrient export.

Another option would be to add some Macro Algae (AKA seaweed) to the tank.

 

[Bonessurf]

Get a sea hare.