ac7av
Bring on the FISH!
How do you know when your hair algae is getting out of control?:?:
Hair algae?
- Thread starter ac7av
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NC2WA
Well-known member
When you have to clean/maintain your tank constantly?
Do you have a pic??
Do you have a pic??
ac7av
Bring on the FISH!
Close.
When your clown starts getting cozy and lovey with a rock full of it.
When your clown starts getting cozy and lovey with a rock full of it.
NC2WA
Well-known member
that would be a problem as well
Krish
RF STAFF
Usually the best form of treatment is to find the root of your problem and deal with it from there. Usually products like chemiclean etc are only temporary fixes which means, you'll usually end right back to where you were in the beginning.
With that said, what are your water parameters like? The problem with testing for stuff like nitrates and phosphates in a tank over-crowded with hair algae is you may come up with un-detectable traces of them, but it doesn't mean it is not in your system. All that means is it is bound up in the algae which it is using for it's growth. This is why it is important to manually remove the algae to export these bound up excess nutrients. I would try to remove all you can and see how it goes from there. See if it grows back, and if it does, to what extent.
Just a few thoughts
DonW
R.I.P.
Alot of people have good luck with this stuff but many have a huge failures. The reasoning is people dont really understand the why's and how's. They toss the stuff in and pray. Some systems dont have proper 02 levels or the ability to maintain o2 levels when using these chemicals.
Are they good or even needed. NO. They are mearly a temporary hail mary patch.
Don
DonW
R.I.P.
Exactly if you have hair algae your obviously feeding it. Take away the food source, problem solved.
Don
07FocusST
Well-known member
I use emerald crabs... they aren't for everyone though!
MrGone
:)
When I had my hair algae breakout, I got more clean up crew, a few emerald crbs and a sea hare!
No more hair algae for me!!
No more hair algae for me!!
You have to much hair algae when your rocks have more hair than you your own head. I have found that certain foods mostly pellet forms of food have lots of nutrients that end up feeding the algae. When I have gone on vacation and use an auto feeder is when i have a problem. So now I have a neighbor come by and feed them. The regular feeding. Chaeto full blown in the sump, manual removal, testing and balancing all the parameters, checking lights and photo period and a couple fish that eat hair algae. Probably the thing that i do religiously is weekly water changes and "turkey baster the rocks" I went from having a bad algae problem to none. Now i have to feed the snails sheet algae.
Krish
RF STAFF
Some other things are:
(1)Do not over-stock the tank. Sometimes you have more waste being produced than your system can process.
(2) Using old bulbs which will promote some algae's to grow.
(3) In-sufficient flow which can cause an accumilation of detritus to build up. You can do all the water changes you want, but if you have detritus building up on your rocks and just sitting there and not being removed, then it can fuel algae to grow. This is why it is recommended to have enough flow to cover all dead spots and in some cases, before a water change, some people will use a turkey baster and blow off their rocks.
Just a few more examples.
Cameloter
Well-known member
Hair algae
Also look for hidden areas of detritus collection like the bottom of your overflow that you may also want to blast with turkey baster.
Also look for hidden areas of detritus collection like the bottom of your overflow that you may also want to blast with turkey baster.
Krish
RF STAFF
Definately!! Forgot that one! Also, your sumps can cause problems too!! Take a look at what detritus I siphoned out of my sump one time!! Enough to shoot nitrates etc through the roof
NC2WA
Well-known member
Inline with #1 of overstocking the tank, is having a skimmer that is not adequate enough to pull all the gunk out of the tank..
