bigdaddyadam
New member
I had a major hair algea outbreak about 8 months ago. scrubbing the rock with a toothbrush had mixed results. it does help get it off, but it will come back because you are actually helping it spread that way, I tried to overcome this as much as possible by doing the scrubbing in a seperate bucket of saltwater, just do a water change, keep the old water in abucket or two and scrub in that and make sure you shake the rock when you are done to get as much off and make sure it's clean before putting it back in the tank. this will help alot and then the cleaners can try to keep it in check.
in my experience as well a lawnmower blenny didn't touch it, I think some do, but it's just luck of the draw. urchins will put a hurt on it, especially if it's kept short by scrubbing. but keep in mind urchins can also eat coralline algea so no purple rock, they also like to knock over corals and some of them have poison spines that leave a painful sting, but if the outbreak is bad you may want to bite the bullet and use the urchin for now. hermits, emerald crabs, and snails will sometimes take a little hair algea, but they really aren't very effective against it and the snail poop can really just make the problem worse.
longterm solutions that helped me get rid of mine:
-decrease nutrients by using ro (or ro/di water if possible) for water changes/top-off, and make sure that the membrane is in good working order, you can get this water at meijers and other places very cheap in fill your own jugs, or even distilled water will work, but it costs a lot more. this will reduce or eliminate most phosphate and silca the main things HA feeds on
-decrease nutrients by reducing feeding, using low ash foods, and rinsing off frozen foods with fresh water when ever possible to reduce phosphate and other nutrients
-use activated carbon, aggressive skimming, and consider phosphate and/or silica absorbing material, I used Kent's and had good success with it
-siphon out as much as possible each day and also blow on rock gently with a turkey baster to get all deterious material in the water column and into the skimmer
-reduce light cycle by at least 2 hours for a while, do this gradually so corals get used to it, or depending on your system, reduce wattage output for a while, that will also make a big difference
-do large water changes as often as possible with high quality ro or ro/di water
-increase flow especially at area's with a lot of algea, this stuff loves low flow/dead areas the most
-employ a refugium (or if appropriate in tank) of macro algea, most effective and the only one that CANNOT contaminate your system itself is cheatomorpha. if you need some that is uncontaminated by caulerpa or other less desirable algea I can personally provide you with some starter algea, just PM me and we can set something up, no charge just pick it up
-finally, use that urchin, you might as well, heck, get another one, or see if you can borrow one from someone. if you have to you can put them in a seperate bucket of rock and let them clean in there then return the rock to the tank
generally this stuff comes from a build up of nutrients, high light, low flow etc. stop that and you will stop the algea, be patient, it will take some time and it will be frustrating, but you will succeed, it took me almost 2 months to get rid of it but I am now HA free going on 7 months (other than a very small one inch patch in a very low flow area)
I hope this helps, and good luck
in my experience as well a lawnmower blenny didn't touch it, I think some do, but it's just luck of the draw. urchins will put a hurt on it, especially if it's kept short by scrubbing. but keep in mind urchins can also eat coralline algea so no purple rock, they also like to knock over corals and some of them have poison spines that leave a painful sting, but if the outbreak is bad you may want to bite the bullet and use the urchin for now. hermits, emerald crabs, and snails will sometimes take a little hair algea, but they really aren't very effective against it and the snail poop can really just make the problem worse.
longterm solutions that helped me get rid of mine:
-decrease nutrients by using ro (or ro/di water if possible) for water changes/top-off, and make sure that the membrane is in good working order, you can get this water at meijers and other places very cheap in fill your own jugs, or even distilled water will work, but it costs a lot more. this will reduce or eliminate most phosphate and silca the main things HA feeds on
-decrease nutrients by reducing feeding, using low ash foods, and rinsing off frozen foods with fresh water when ever possible to reduce phosphate and other nutrients
-use activated carbon, aggressive skimming, and consider phosphate and/or silica absorbing material, I used Kent's and had good success with it
-siphon out as much as possible each day and also blow on rock gently with a turkey baster to get all deterious material in the water column and into the skimmer
-reduce light cycle by at least 2 hours for a while, do this gradually so corals get used to it, or depending on your system, reduce wattage output for a while, that will also make a big difference
-do large water changes as often as possible with high quality ro or ro/di water
-increase flow especially at area's with a lot of algea, this stuff loves low flow/dead areas the most
-employ a refugium (or if appropriate in tank) of macro algea, most effective and the only one that CANNOT contaminate your system itself is cheatomorpha. if you need some that is uncontaminated by caulerpa or other less desirable algea I can personally provide you with some starter algea, just PM me and we can set something up, no charge just pick it up
-finally, use that urchin, you might as well, heck, get another one, or see if you can borrow one from someone. if you have to you can put them in a seperate bucket of rock and let them clean in there then return the rock to the tank
generally this stuff comes from a build up of nutrients, high light, low flow etc. stop that and you will stop the algea, be patient, it will take some time and it will be frustrating, but you will succeed, it took me almost 2 months to get rid of it but I am now HA free going on 7 months (other than a very small one inch patch in a very low flow area)
I hope this helps, and good luck
