nothing but hair...

[jeffnewt]

its really a joke at this point. I have crossed lances with the algea, and been bested. My retarded foxface turned out to do more harm then good, eating nothing but lettuce and shrimp. The urchin was the only viable soldier, really making me proud untill he could no longer even make a dent.

Never in my life have I encounted a problem that was as absurd as this. Water changes and protien skimming, no help at all. Refugium, cheato, all useless. Nitrates=0.

I couldn't even sell or give my livestock away, except for that worthless foxface and a few crabs I suppose. Its all beacuse I thought I was hot stuff witha barebottom. What a fool I turned out to be.

 

[xfisher]

:exclaimon't know how long you have been battlling the algae but since I added the phosphate reactor/charcoal /water changes=0 algae

 

[jeffnewt]

I had considered a phosphate reactor, but I was hoping my tank wasn't big enough to warrent one. That, and the low bioload.

 

[fairlan]

I had hair algae and was getting out of control was caused by to much organics in the system now i run carbon 24/7 and algae is gone corals are also doing better

 

[loohunter]

charcoal, water changes and manualy harvesting works well. you must be dilligent.keeping a reef is not an easy task also how big is the tank? maybe a little equipment info, list of all livestock and of course all water params and we can help get the algae under control. oh also how long has the tank been set up

 

[Reeferdude]

Algae sucks fer sure...

The trick behind avoiding it is not allowing it to start, never introduce another reefers rock or corals if it has any sign of it and keeping the system balanced. The latter is the most important and difficult.

Are you planning on tearing it down and starting over?

 

[SaltyinSeattle]

I had battled hair algae also for month with no success despite trying everything anyone had suggested. Switched to RODI water-no change; built a sump and added cheato- no change; added a foxface -he spends all his time sucking air from the top of the tank and blowing bubbles under water, but wont touch algae; finally Barrier Reef suggested that my light were just not enough so I got rid of the 70w halide and single fluorescent bulb, which were probably waaaaay too old, and completely upgraded my lighting system with 2 250w halides (thanks again Demandrid), a 2 t5's. At the same time I scrubbed every rock by hand AGAIN (which sucks big time) and the algae completely disappeared. It turned out that the little bit of light my previous setup was producing was only enough to grow nuisance algae.
Just figured id share my learning experience.
Aaron

 

[jeffnewt]

I had battled hair algae also for month with no success despite trying everything anyone had suggested. Switched to RODI water-no change; built a sump and added cheato- no change; added a foxface -he spends all his time sucking air from the top of the tank and blowing bubbles under water, but wont touch algae; finally Barrier Reef suggested that my light were just not enough so I got rid of the 70w halide and single fluorescent bulb, which were probably waaaaay too old, and completely upgraded my lighting system with 2 250w halides (thanks again Demandrid), a 2 t5's. At the same time I scrubbed every rock by hand AGAIN (which sucks big time) and the algae completely disappeared. It turned out that the little bit of light my previous setup was producing was only enough to grow nuisance algae.
Just figured id share my learning experience.
Aaron

Yeah! same here, first, well, I always used R/O water, have the cheato, foxface, and scrubed the rocks like crazy.

Its a 60 gallon, and I have it set up barebottom, for 1 year, but thats including moving it twice.

I thoght that carbon was less in that it was out these days. Its going to absorb trace elements right?

and after all this that you did, it just went away, or you kept scrubbing untill it didn't come back?

 

[loohunter]

if you do all the things listed and manually harvest. it will go away much faster. when the algae dies in the tank it will release phos. wich will in turn fuel more algae growth. if you remove the algae you remove the phos.

 

[loohunter]

you also need to consider the amount and type of fish in the tank. my foxface was a pig and i could not imagine keeping it in a 60 gallon. the food that fish required would equate to nitrate and phos. factory. is the eel in your avatar in the tank as well?

 

[SaltyinSeattle]

Yeah! same here, first, well, I always used R/O water, have the cheato, foxface, and scrubed the rocks like crazy.

Its a 60 gallon, and I have it set up barebottom, for 1 year, but thats including moving it twice.

I thoght that carbon was less in that it was out these days. Its going to absorb trace elements right?

and after all this that you did, it just went away, or you kept scrubbing untill it didn't come back?

Yes, after I installed the lights and scrubbed the rocks the first time it never came back. Whatever was left on the LR after it was scrubbed eventually died off on its own.

 

[morgan]

if u have put limestone for like a fresh water tank then that will be a problem foxface dont eat hair algea there is a goby that does but i cant rember what its call u said nitrates were 0 but whats ur phosphate???

 

[morgan]

plus any algea present will have detriuts build up and will be helping the algea grow thats why u have to scrubb your rocks because they will be covered in all sorts of ****
what are ur cacl and kh levels at? mybe the coraline cant out compete it

 

[gary shandling]

You need to get a phosphate test kit to check your level.
Hair algea needs a food sourceand the more it has the faster it grows. Removeing it wont cure it. Things like stock and water source and feeding habits and equipment used play a huge part.
To start with what size tank and its age?
Whats used for water movement in there?
Amount of LR and LS as these remove there wanted nutrients.
Type of stock?
And tanks placement , is it by a air vent or a window?
Is your tank covered?

 

[busdriver]

of course the Nitrates=0. All the hair algae is sucking it up...
try putting hair algae in your refugium...
SaltyinSeattle, might be on to something with the lights...
it is a pain, but removing some will help a bit.
goto scavengers.com, i thiknk they have a couple of things that'll eat hair algae, hopefully you can find some that'll work for your tank. you can always ask your LFS to get you something that you found from a web site...
oh yea, you could cut down on the feeding... (this might not the cure, but it might help if you are feeding too much)

 

[eliterecon14]

Try a Lawnmower blenny

 

[gary shandling]

Lawnmowers eat GSP's if you have any.
If nitrates and phosphates are zero then its growth would be retarded.

 

[luke33]

There's been some great advice in this thread. Phosban in a reactor, carbon, water changes with rodi, scrubbing the rock, feeding less, skimming agressively will help you. Fish, snails, crabs are not the answer. LMB ime have never touched any of my corals, but there not big on ha either. If you test for po4 or po3 there going to show zero as your ha is absorbing it all. HTH

Luke