Ok i have a 29 gallon hair algea factory/ seahorse tank. I have tried everything.... RO DI, UV, New skimmer, macros, U name it ive tried it. So i am going to somewhat drastic measures. I noticed that my hair algea contains hundreds if not thousands of large amphipods. I decided to see what happened if I stopped feeding mysis for a week. So I stopped feeding my seahorses. One week later (today) I am looking at them, and they dont seem the least bit skinny.... I believe that they have been eating pods. If I continue not to feed them mysis, I will no longer be adding nutrients to the tank, and thus the hair algea will have nothing to feed on.... The Seahorses will only be using the existing nutrients....Does any one see any problems with this? I think im going to try it out... I might also turn off the lights of the aquarium for a few months.... (take all the corals out of course) Could this impact the well being of my two erectus seahroses? I have heard that Pods are very nutritius... But before I go further i would like to make sure that it is safe...
Experimental way to get rid of Hair Algea in SH tank
- Thread starter whatnot45
- Start date
pledosophy
Active member
Those pods are all over the algae because there feeding on it.
Hair algae can survive at very low phosphate levels. I do not think it is a good idea not to feed your seahorses and let them eat the pods, I think they will starve and die. Your system is not capable of growing enough food for the seahorses to eat. If you do not feed them soon there will be nothing left to feed.
Hair algae is associated often times with dead spots between the rocks. Could you reaquascape or add a spraybar inside your rock formation to eliminate the dead spots.
Also if your tank is getting any natural sunlight I would hang a curtain. Lessining your photperiod will be helpful to slow the growth.
Nuissance algaes often appear with high nitrates and low PH's IME. I would check both. Adding a DIY nitrate filter is a piece of cake, and is ver effective at removing the nitrates.
You could also take the LR ot of the system and scrub it with a course brush and a toothbrush for those hard to reach places. The manual removal of all of the hair algae will greatly slow it's reproduction rates IME.
Water changes syphoning out as much of the hair algae as possible are also going to be your best friend.
There are also biological solutions such as various snails especially turbo's, nudibranches, sea hares, and lettuce sea slugs that will eat the hair algae. If it wasn't a horse tank a tang would work well, but it is not a good idea with seahorses.
Any of the forementioned methods will help you. Not feeding the seahorses is a very bad solution to this problem IMO.
Hair algae can survive at very low phosphate levels. I do not think it is a good idea not to feed your seahorses and let them eat the pods, I think they will starve and die. Your system is not capable of growing enough food for the seahorses to eat. If you do not feed them soon there will be nothing left to feed.
Hair algae is associated often times with dead spots between the rocks. Could you reaquascape or add a spraybar inside your rock formation to eliminate the dead spots.
Also if your tank is getting any natural sunlight I would hang a curtain. Lessining your photperiod will be helpful to slow the growth.
Nuissance algaes often appear with high nitrates and low PH's IME. I would check both. Adding a DIY nitrate filter is a piece of cake, and is ver effective at removing the nitrates.
You could also take the LR ot of the system and scrub it with a course brush and a toothbrush for those hard to reach places. The manual removal of all of the hair algae will greatly slow it's reproduction rates IME.
Water changes syphoning out as much of the hair algae as possible are also going to be your best friend.
There are also biological solutions such as various snails especially turbo's, nudibranches, sea hares, and lettuce sea slugs that will eat the hair algae. If it wasn't a horse tank a tang would work well, but it is not a good idea with seahorses.
Any of the forementioned methods will help you. Not feeding the seahorses is a very bad solution to this problem IMO.
XeniaMania
Active member
DIY nitrate reducer like you saw in mine today? kekekek...
I thought most SH keepers run a big refugium?
I thought most SH keepers run a big refugium?Ok well just so you know, everything you guys have mention has been done over and over the water changes, the scrubbing... everything lol. And i have a big refugium w/ tons of macros in it and it does didlly squat. I am not going to go through with my starvation thing though. I have decided im going to sort of recycle my tank. Im going to take out all my rocks, burn them, re cure them in a seperate tank. Ill add a sponge filter for extra bio filtration while the rocks are gone in my SH tank. Im going to set up a small little 5 gallon tank w/ a sponge filter, power head, and light for all of my corals. W/ only sand, and fake corals left in my main tank, ill turn out the lights for a month or so... untill the rock has recured....Then ill start new...
Just so you can see what im up against here is a picture of my tank one week after scrubbing it spotless, and doing a 40% water change w/ RO DI water: <img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v411/whatnot45/ickyaquarium.jpg"> Note: the bubble coral at the bottem of the tank was only temperary, and has been moved to my reef tank
pledosophy
Active member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7127937#post7127937 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by XeniaMania
DIY nitrate reducer like you saw in mine today? kekekek...
Like I built this afternoon. That's right. Your house to Window to the Sea, to the Cheveron to get a bottle of water.
XeniaMania
Active member
Nice! Sweet! Just be sure to rinse! The only issue known with this mod is if you don't rinse the media first.
Well i have had a ginourmouse die off in my main tank of all my hair algea. HURRAY i think. Two days ago, i started to do my routine weekly waterchange of 15%. When i started to stir up all the detritus in the sand bed, i found that the water began to smell like roten eggs. Deffinatly not a good sign. I had to leave in two hours to go to my cousin's botmitzvah where we would be staying over night, so i decided to do a 40% water change, and just pray for the best. I also added 4 mexican turbo snails after the water change. I was sure that when I got home today i would find either my one remaining seahorse, or my pearly jaw fish dead, but i found neither. I found my turbo snail grazing on the little remaining algea, and my jaw fish acting compleatly normal. My female seahorse was showing the brightest colors i have ever seen. Any ways yea just following up on my progress
