Bpham80
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum. I need help with a major hair algae problem, I have been dealing with for a few months. Some background, started tank in August it was bought from a very successful reefer and only came with the sand he used plus a about 25 gallons of water from his reef tank which appeared to have no issues. It is a 110 gallon tank with built in over flow and custom made sump underneath has a oceanic 65 protein skimmer(think that's the name/model). I originally starter with a coralife 4 bulb t-5 @ 65 watts per bulb. Switched to exotic sun 120 watt led fixtures have two of them(tank is 48" wide). I have four damsels, two clowns and a Benny so far for fish, I have a serpent star, about 20 Astraea snails, three turbos, and a mix of about 40 blue and red leg hermits, had 2 emerald crabs but one died, I have two cleaner clams and 1 peppermint shrimp. I added one price of small coral just to see how it would do. I have been dealing with hair algae for a few months now, I have taking rock out and used a toothbrush as I see it on the rock, I do a 25% WC every week and right before I do I scrub all my walls and razor off and algae off the glass plus siphon the hair off the sand as I remove water. All my parameters are where they should be. My tank will stay clear for a few days after I do a WC but the hair keeps coming back, please help any advice is helpful. Thank you.
! You have to find the source of this problem, so I don't recommend using slime removers. Since you are using RO water and not RO/DI water there will be dissolved solids in the water and phosphates which is what hair algae and cyano feeds off of. Hair algae also feeds off of of nitrates. Your nitrates and phosphates probably read as zero, but it's because the algae is using it up. To solve this problem, use RO/DI water because really your water is the main source of the issue. You can also do more frequent water changes, and drain the water of frozen foods b/c some foods contain phosphates/don't overfeed. What is your water change cycle? You can also have a phosban reactor w/ GFO or a bag w/ GFO to get rid of phosphates. The algae won't disappear right away, but these are ways to get rid of it.
Funny thing.. I was thinking I don't have enugh flow. The only flow I really have right now comes from the over flow and return, though the return is a mag 900 so its pretty strong. I was thinking about the sand as well(though as someone mention distrubing it could be even worse). Honestly I bought the tank from a guy who has several tanks setup in his house and they are beautiful and full of awesome corals and life, so for whatever reason I am an idiot and for the first month or so I would listen to his word as though he was the God of Reefing, eventually telling him to piss off cause every idea I had was a bad one, "you don't need a 20 gallon sump it will be too big, you shouldn't use LEDs they will bleach the corals" Etc. My sump works fine, if anything I wish I had a bigger one! I love LEDs, hello no bulb replacements every 6-8 months! Ok rant done. Thant being said he did give me his sand to start, so I keep thinking what might have come in that sand and should I pull it all out and start with fresh sand? As far as more live rock I am getting more, I have been doing my research becuase since I have some live rock in there I am thinking abouyt getting dry rock(thoughts?), which brings me to my next point/question. I have coraline alage growing all over my was and every where in my sump tank, should that be helping win the battle against nuiscance algaes?
