Hair Algae Questions

[Illusion]

I have been having a hard time trying to control my hair algae problems... I have tried just about everything I can think of.. The tank is an 8m old 55g stocked SPS/Lps reef tank.. I have checked Phosphate levels and they read 0 with a salifert kit.. I am using strictly Ro/Di water and have been since the tank was about 1 month old... I have been manually removing as much of this algae as I possibly can but to no end it wont go away.. I got some Lettuce nudis about a month ago and they seemed to have helped a bit but not really.. My tank was algae free until I placed a piece of Fiji in it that had a bit of it on it 7 months ago and it still has not gone away.. my levels are 0 ammonia, nitrite and 0-5ppm nitrate..

Please help I am tired of this $#@%

James

 

[jks1]

James-- a couple of things off the top of my head- What kind of flow do you have in the tank? What are you feeding and how often. Are you soaking all food in RO/DI and drainng the water off before feeding? What type of skimmer are you running? What is your photoperiod?

As you prob know adding grazers may remove the symptoms but we need to figure out the root cause to eliminate it in the long run.

Hopefuly these ?s will help everyone help you out..

 

[Illusion]

My lighting is 2x250w 14k Hamiltons and 2x55w PC actinics on a 55g..

9:30am Actinics on
11am MHlights on
9:00pm Mhlights off
11:30 actinics off

I am running an AquaC ev180 which is setup to skim pretty wet...
I feed about every other day Blender mush which usually consists of Nori, Various fresh seafoods, krill, silversides, Ocean nutrition Flake, Seachem Garlic, small amounts of cyclop-ezze and ESV spray dried phyto..

I usually thaw my food in a cup of tank water and empty the contents back into the tank.. I have 2 tanks.. the 29g tank has no issues but only 55w of PC light..

Thx again,
James

 

[Witfull]

the PO4 may be reading zero, but that may be a false reading as it is being taken up by the algae as soon as it is available. thaw your food in RO water and dispose of the water, then feed the tank. this will help with adding any phosphates.

 

[Illusion]

Since my food is blender mush and most disolves pretty thin in the water any ideas of drainging the water without loosing the food?

My tank has a number of SPs, Clams, Rose BTA, Green BTA, LPS as well as about 120lbs of LR..

 

[NaH2O]

Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!

Soak the food before you make up the blender mush.

Great posts jks and wit! Some other things that come to mind for me....try blasting the area where the hair algae is growing, and free some of the detritus that has collected around the algae. Another thing you can do is to take a sample to check for phosphates from the water in a crevice of your live rock (around where the algae is growing) also, if you have a sand bed take a sample of water from about 1/2" down. This way if you have some phosphates coming from either the live rock or sand bed we will see it. Phyto may be a source of added phosphates fueling your algae. How often and how much are you feeding? I think you are doing the right thing by trying to manually removing as much as you can....but we need to figure out the source of the problem. I thought this was a great thread on the subject of phyto:

Is Phytoplankton a necessary addition?

EDIT: When I said blasting the area where the hair algae is growing, i meant with a turkey baster or a powerhead

 

[Illusion]

The phyto that I added to the Blender mush is very little. I add the amount it says on the container that should be fed to about 40gals.. I believe 2 tsps without looking.. I make up enough food too feed my tank for atleast a month... so there is very little phyto added to the tank when I feed... My bedroom 29g gets fed the same stuff but has no skimmer and only 55w of light and has no issues with algae at all.. There is probably about 1200gph of flow in my 55g that has the algae issue.. I have 2 maxi 1200s running on a Wavemaker and a Mag 9.5 for a return at about 2ft head..

Thanks again,
James

 

[NaH2O]

Hmmm...I just realized that your tank is only 8 months old. Do you think it is still going through new tank syndrome (i.e. hasn't matured yet)? I would try just blasting the area off every couple of days. Sounds like you have a pretty good set-up. Any chance the membrane and resin of RO/DI need replacing? I'm thinking out loud. If the area is small enough you could also use a shell to cover where the hair is and try to block all light going to the spot.

 

[Illusion]

The tank never really went thru a New tank syndrome nor really a cycle for that matter... The LR came in from liverocks.com and cycled the tank in about 3 days.. I have had SPS in it since a month and my bubble coral in it since the tank was 2 weeks old... The algae was never there until after I placed the piece of fiji in the tank that had some on it... Why I didnt scrub it clean who knows.. I am still kicking myself for that one.. I have always tried to buy the best.. I use Arm media in my reactor and well as purigen in my CPR overflow... I was mentioned to use Phosban.. Anyone use it and if so how does it work meaning how is it ran.. bag, canister,ect.. And does it really work to eliminate algae..

TIA,
James

 

[Fragman]

I was having a hair algae outbreak in my new system and made two changes that seemed to help. I siphoned off detritus once a week from the tank bottom and sump and added Kent Phosphate sponge. About a week to ten days later I noticed that the hair algae was disappearing. Sure the fish picked at it a little but the real difference was that there was NO new growth. So the result is that it has been steadily going away for about three weeks now. If I notice that it is coming back I'll replace the Phosphate remover with fresh media.

Paul H.

 

[Illusion]

Well I am going to be getting more Chaeto in the next week or so at my next meeting as well as Ordered phosban.. I am hoping the 2 will eliminate my hair algae problem.. I just tested my po4 and it was .03 or so.. very hard to read with the salifert test and that was from the Fiji LR that I placed into my tank that introduced the po4... Hopefully (crossing fingers) all the hair stuff will disappear quickly.. I hate it... I realize that I am going to have to feed the Regal more but thats quite alright LOL..

Thanks Again,
James

 

[Ed Hahn]

I just wanted to tell someone this...I purchasd 4 lettuce nudies after doing some reading and getting help on here. I have had them in my tank since 9pm last night. I woke this morning and checked out my tank. I am really impressed. I plan on moving these to another member as soon as they have ridden my hair algae. That is all they eat is hair algae. I may not have any hair algae with in a week. These guys are incredible!

 

[Ed Hahn]

CJ,
Can you introduce a filter sock or polyfilter for a short time to pull excess waste out? You might be surprised at what you remove from water?

 

[tomz]

How old are your lights? Old bulbs can definitely contribute to hair algae.

 

[Illusion]

All my bulbs are less than 3 months old.. I found an old post from mojo that talked a bit about Phosphates.. I am soaking my Mush and then running it thru a net to keep the larger stuff for now.. As what He stated that should eliminate alot of the phosphates from the food... Hopefully the phosban and alot more chaeto in the fuge will eliminate the Hair stuff..

Thanks ,
James

 

[DonW]

James
I've had much better results with Rowa than phosban. I run it full time in a fluidized cartrige with no ill effects.

Don

 

[Elmo18]

Phosban is aluminum based and Rowa is iron. I believe phosban will leech aluminum into the tank. I have never tried Phosban, but I have heard this from several other reefers. Rowa would be a better bet.

- Ilham

 

[Stircrazy]

isn't phosban iron based also?

Steve

 

[Illusion]

Thats what I thought as well.. I could have swore there was a post on here where Mojoreef recommend someone using phosban.. I have heard alot of great stuff about it without reading about any negative side effects.

James

 

[Stircrazy]

I just orderd some 2 min ago it is iron based. phosguard is aluminum based so maybe thats what was ment instead of phosban.

Steve