Dreaded hair Algae?

[TimL]

Can somone tell me if this is the bad hair algae? The picture isnt the best. My few soft corals are thriving and I have no fish.

The tank is new set up in 6/07

Water params:

0 Nitrate
0 Phosphate
14 Kh
440 Ca
8.2 Ph
81 temp

The odd thing is I only have this on 1 rock. I have had it since early July and it is not spreading off this rock. It's a huge breeding ground for amphipods!!

The picture is in my gallery...thanks!!!!

 

[JetCat USA]

Yes. and as dark as the color is it's well nourished. I'd suspect your test kits are in error or you've got enough of the algae in the system it's sucking up the excessive nutrients as fast as they are introduced to the system. nuisance algae is part of the maturing process, hard to avoid with a new system but you need to get it in check and keep it in check now.

 

[sunfishh]

Since your tank is so new you may be able to just wait it out. Once your tank really stabilizes the hair algae will be gone.

 

[graveyardworm]

As was pointed out there must be some nitrate and phosphate for the algae to survive. If it remains confined then it is a great place for pods to breed, but remaining confined is rarely the case. If you can start a refugium with cheato or another type of macroalgae to compete with the hair algae for nurients, and a little manual removal will help as well. Make sure to use a siphon hose when removing it so filaments dont get spred around.

 

[TimL]

Thanks for all the good info everyone.

I will just wait another month or two before adding any fish.

My clean up crew is doing great. I now have about 10 stomatella's now. They seem to be reproducing already. As are my mushrooms.

Thanks again.......