Overgrown hair algae

[biggyal66]

I have been running my 20 tall since march and everything was running fine and I finally beat the war with red slime, then all of the sudden I have an outbreak with hair algae. I tried scrubbing it off and it worked for a while. But I was feeding pellet/ flake food. That was driving my phospates thru the roof so I stoped with the flake and switched to frozen or live food and only feeding once a day instead of twice. I am also running chemi-pure to kill the excess phosphates. I did a water test last night and all of my test came out positve.
Nitrates--0
Nitrites--0
Amonia--0
phosphates--0
Calcium--500ppm
Ph----8.4
Alkanity--10dKH.
It usually runs between 78-81degrees. What am I doing wrong?

 

[biggyal66]

Here are some pics

 

[alki]

Yikes! Luckily I never had that problem yet.

I would get a lwanmower blenny stat.

Ohh wait I think that one in one of the pics. Sorry.

 

[biggyal66]

I forgot to mention I already did and he is a lazy-good for nothing fish. He will only eat a little on the glass and a little frozen food I feed my clowns. He got so skinny I had to get some vegi-pellets just so he wouldnt die.

 

[tat2z_21]

I have not ever seen a lawnmower blenny eat hair algae. I have heard of people using them for that but I find that my blenny typically sticks to the glass cleaning, and cleaning up after a feeding. I know for a fact that a sea hare will eat hair algae. It will clean your tank within a couple of days. But remember all of the stories that come along with these guys. Alot of people will say not to put one in your tank because of the toxins they could possibly release. But they work wonders on Hair Algae.

 

[mcoomer]

Your numbers look good but obviously something is feeding this algae or it wouldn't continue to grow. Where did you get your rock? I wonder if it isn't leaching phosphates and causing this problem. You would think that your PO4 test would be something other than 0. What test kit and what is the bottom range of the kit? Some kits are really useless below .03mG/L. I would start doing frequent water changes, using RO/DI water, and see if it starts to recede.

Mike

 

[tdgates10]

The reason that your numbers are fine is because the hair algae is consuming the nitrates, hence the reason you have so much of it. Tell us about your equipment and maintenance on the tank. That would be the first start.

 

[Shane and John]

I did not see you mention ro/di water...Thats a manditory for a reef....But..i know your frustration..I actually have a bit of hair algea myself....i thought it was bad..Then i saw your pics..OUCH... Hopefully i can tag along and learn something,maybe answer why i am having trouble myself...hopefully we can both get some answers!!!!

 

[tdgates10]

My 180g tank was full of hair algae darn near as bad as that. It took about one solid month of correction. First i replaced the skimmer with an MSX250, started running carbon, increased water changes, and took every bit of rock out and manually removed it. Never have had a problem since. I have some of the same rock in my 55g now and no algae present and I feed A TON!! My belief is it's all in the skimmer and circulation so ALL water can get to the skimmer and carbon.

 

[Shane and John]

Hmm..i didnt have any problems at all untill i pulled my 6" foxface out...he chowed about 30 heads of duncans and it was time for him to go...I didnt change anything ..then i had this outbreak...Makes me wonder if he kept it in check!

 

[biggyal66]

I only use RO/Di water and I am running a coralife supper skimmer. I also do a 10 gallon water change every other week. I completely drain my sump and clean it out of buildup then pull a little from the tank, then refil. My test kit is only about 6 months old but its one from Petsmart Reef Master Kits? Im not sure what to do? I am already in the planning/buying stages of redoing the whole sump/fuge idea and Im going with a rubbermaid sump to put my skimmer and such all together.

 

[Shane and John]

Maybe someone will chime in here...What do people consider as Frequent water changes?? looks like your waterchanges are ok....I am not familiar with the brand of your skimmer though..I have a reef octipus 150 that has been modded by Mark...mesh and ventury...Seems to work great..I gotta empty the stinky thing every day!!

 

[jill]

What type of tests are you using? I get 0 for nitrates when ever I use API tests but found that the Elos test is much more accurate - Elos will measure 25 when the API registers 0. Also, I would be bi-weekly changes until things get better and weekly changes after that.
RO water is a MUST for SW.

 

[reef18ster]

What do you have in your sump? Any cheato or other planty good stuff?

 

[biggyal66]

Right now in my sump I took out the bio-balls and replaced it with 3 layers of filter material and I took out a piece of LR from the display" it was getting in the way" then added a ball of cheato with some culpera and a spotlight setup with a 50/50 bulb. I guess I need a better test kit? I need to do something. Its passed getting crazy........

 

[biggyal66]

I clean/replace the filters everytime I do the water change

 

[reef18ster]

How long ago did you do this? It's weird because the Cheato and culerpa should be sucking the nutrients needed by the hair algae. Is there enough of it in your sump?

How long do you leave you lights on for?

 

[biggyal66]

about a month ago. I run my tank lights from 4pm to 12am. then I run the cheato light 1 hour before and after the display lights. I need a bigger light on the cheato, It doenst seem to be growing very fast.

 

[reef18ster]

Hmmmm..... Your time for the light looks good. Does the tank get direct sunlight? I was thinking that you might slow down the process with less light, it wont eliminate it though. Nitrates are coming from some where. What's your bioload? How much do you feed that one time a day?

 

[ashton]

what about phosphates? have you tested for those? I would also start doing water changes once a week to help fight the algae and take out the rocks if possible or manually remove as much algae as possible.