Hair algae strikes again...

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Beckmola24

Beckmola24

Hawkfish
Joined
Mar 17, 2004
Messages
1,112
Location
Columbus, OH
Last year around this time, I was posting a similar post. I went on vacation and came back to a tank full of hair algae, but this time I think I have cyno too..... Each time before I leave, the tank looks PERFECT!! NO problems at all... The tank was fully automated while I was away, I only had someone topping off every other day or so with RODI. I had a feeder set to feed like 5 pellets twice a day... I don't see how this could've happened again... My photo period is as follows: Actinics on 7am, 10k's on at 8am off at 6pm and the actinics are off at 7pm. I have moonlights that are on all the time. I just want to cry because I never really beat it in my previous setup.... Some folks have suggested sea hares and others lettuce nudis... I'm set to do a water change sometime today. Any other suggestions?? The only plus here is that my coralline went nuts while I was away and I still have my 2 fish and my little shrimp. They just feel like they're somewhere in the Amazon right now... :rolleyes:
 
I'm sorry to hear that Becky. I know and feel your pain. I too fought with hair algae and it beat me the first time around. Have you checked your water parameters since you've been back to see if you had an increase in Nitrates from maybe something that died while you were away? Also, have you ever used the automatic feeder before and know that it is working properly and is not spitting out more than your fish can consume? One thing I've never like about automatic feeders is the fact that fish get to know you. No matter what fish I have ever had in my tank at any particular time, when I came to the tank, they knew it was time to eat and they came to the top for food. Do you think that in your absence your fish didn't eat because they were waiting on you? Sounds silly, but it happened to me with my pacu's in my old freshwater set up. Infact, someone else fed them for an entire week for me while I was gone and when I got back, they hadn't eaten a thing! Also, it might just be a coincidence that your tank was just on the brink of heading south before you left from maybe old bulbs needing changing out, increase in nitrates etc. and while you were gone your tank reaped the effects. Just a few ideas I had...Hope it helps and you get things sorted out.
 
check your temperatures too. It's the hot season and with the higher temps come higher growth rates for algaes
 
My temp stays steady around 76 all day long due to the fact that the tank is in one of the coolest rooms in our house (we have central air). Bulbs are brand new, tank is 3 months old (more or less) and I even had a short cycle due to using water and LR from a stable tank. I waited a month and a half or so after the cycle to transfer my clarkii and wrasse to the tank. My params are all where they should be although I haven't checked my ALK since returning. I have an ok cleanup crew, but probaly need a few more snails. I have a really hard time finding Astreas here... Flow in the tank consists of 2 Maxijet 1200's and the return from the CPR Backpack, so flow isn't the issue.... I only used/use an auto feeder when I'm out of town. I love to feed my fish and watch them eat :) I have used this feeder before when on vacation and have had no problems with it. To test it, I left the feeder set up over a paper plate and monitored just how much food was dispensed.... I don't know what to do.... If I can't control the algae in a 20g, I don't know how I'll ever handle a big tank.... Any thoughts on the sea hare???
 
maybe some water changes, cleaning off your rocks,siphoning and testing for phosphates. I had some hair algae at one point and bought a lawnmower blenny who is now one fat fish. and no more hair algae. steve
 
Could very well be nutrients coming in from the previously established tank's LR. Sure that whoever you had doing the topoffs didn't feed your fish at all? Sometimes people are a little curious and, just go "Oh let me see the little fish eat, they look hungry". regardless best of wishes to you.
 
gman0526 said:
Sure that whoever you had doing the topoffs didn't feed your fish at all? Sometimes people are a little curious and, just go "Oh let me see the little fish eat, they look hungry".
Click to expand...

lol :) I actually think of those types of things, so I make sure to hide ALL food before I go....

Hmmm you guys might be onto something with the live rock idea. If that is what's happening, how can I solve it?? I could add some sort of blenny or something... Emrald crabs haven't worked in the past for me nor have lettuce nudis. I'm a bit hesitant to add a sea hare... but if it'll work, then I can give it a shot. My LFS is getting some in tomorrow...
 
I've been considering an urchin for a few weeks now. It's an orange mouth longspine... Will it really help with algae??
 
Try big water changes for a few weeks and see what happens. Pull out all the hair algae you can, and who knows, it might help! It definitely can't hurt, and you aren't adding yet another organism that is yes, eating, but also adding additional to a waste to a tank that's already having problems, no?

Barbie
 
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Get a PO4 test kit, take a sample of water from inside one of the rocks that has visible algae on it and test the sample. If it shows PO4, test the water that is just in the water column. If it tests zero then you know it's the rocks. If it tests higher then zero it could be the rocks or something else. It's time to narrow down your focus before you choose your path of corrective action. Water changes are always good as long as they come close to matching your current parameters. If you don't match the parameters the shock can do more harm than the water change does good.

Keep us up to date on what you find out. Once it is whittled down a bit we should be able to deduce what is going on.
 
Ditto with Barbie and Reedman. I would go the starve that algae route b4 adding any "hair algae cleaning crew", that so many times end up not even touching the stuff. Manual removal and not overfeeding are the way to go.HTH
 
high nitrate or phosphate equal hair algae. Report back on these and we can better recommend a coarse of action. Otherwise you are just guessing.
 
Ok I haven't had time to do anything in the past week, School started again, soooo I haven't purchased a PO4 kit yet... Nitrates are at 0... I noticed something tho when doing a little cleaning yesterday. There were clumps of hair algae growing on the sand bed. What's on the rocks is really only confined to one rock. Could I need more critters to stir up my sand bed? It's about 2-3" deep. I bought about 15 nassarius a few months ago, but they aren't doing enough to keep it stired up.
 
Couple of ???'s. What kind of waterflow do you have in the tank? You need to keep as many of the waste particles in the water column as possible to be removed by mechanical filtration devices. Where did the sand come from? Was it "new" or recycled from another tank?
 
I have 2 MaxiJet 1200's and the return from the CPR skimmer. I have them positioned perfectly for the maximum water movement.The sand was new. I also removed the 2 rocks that had bad algae.
 
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