Eliminating Hair Algae?

[stevespai]

Hi,

I tired to use the search function, but it is congested.

Lately I have been getting massive amounts of hair Algae. I have not encountered this problem before. Water changes are always RODI every two weeks. Feeding is moderate, very little is uneaten.

Can anyone enlighten me on the cause and solution to the hair algae?

Also, on while on the topic, there is also moderate amounts of these types in my tank:
-Green slime-like algae
-Dark black-type (comes off in large chunks with white powder underneath)
Any solutions?

 

[supraeli]

RODI filter might need changing? Test the RODI for TDI if possible.

I assume top off water is RODI as well?

What percentage of water is changed every 2 weeks?

How established is the tank?

The two algae species you described last seem to be cyano - thrive in lower flow, and higher nutrient situations, but remember, they can thrive by growing off of itself - recycling dying cells for nutrients, and thus becoming self sustaining. Can be treated by erythromyocin because of it's bacterial nature, but I dont know if that is good for reef tanks.

Siphon as much of it out as possible, and increase flow.

What are your tank water parameters?

 

[Ti]

check PO4

 

[yumz]

had the same pproblem when going through the cycling phase...
If your tank is new... chances are, you'll come across them especially when your nitrate and phosphate is high. other than that i would check the Ro/Di unit.

try adding a black blenny... they do a great job at eating hair algae. 1 is all it took to eat all my hair algae within a couple of weeks. perhaps you might want to adjust your skimmer into skimming wet, it helps to lower nutrient levels.. i have found this to work well. Gluck

 

[650-IS350]

FOXFACE and a SEAHARE are a great Hair Algae eliminating combo.

 

[Vincerama2]

What are your lights like and how long are they on for? Try reducing the photoperiod. How old are the bulbs? Apparently older bulbs tend to drift in spectrum to some spectrum that algae likes. Or so I've heard.

For cyano, more flow helps. If you are desperate (and if it IS cyano) then you can use chemi-clean. I've used it with no ill effects.

Maybe a picture of the offending algae might help?

V

 

[Litespeeds]

The best thing that I found is to get a Phosphate media like Rowaphos and put it into a phosban reactor and you will notice a big improvement.

 

[yamaha racer]

get a scopa tang i always see them eating hair alge. i had 1 and my hair alge problem was gone

 

[JHipkin]

Check your RODI output for TDS. Your local pool store will do it for free. Your filter might need replacing.

 

[TikiDan]

i have used erythromyocin on cyano when I first started out and it worked Great. It worked so well in fact, that my skimmer was runnig 100 times better than I have ever seen it work. Just make sure if you use erythromyocin, that you dose some essential element back into your tank.

 

[Ti]

Try an Urchin