green hair algae help
- Thread starter Mollydog
- Start date
Hey Mollydog - can you tell me a little bit more about your tank - size, how long it has been set up, your water parameters - especially nitrate and phosphate test readings, other filtration like GFO, size of skimmer, etc? I need a little thumbnail of your tank to try to help.
it is a 90 gal tank with a 40 gallon sump I have two sponges in the sump to catch the debris I have a Aqua Maxx cone 250 skimmer and run a filter sock when I do a water change All my test come in at 0 the water is nice and clear I use the api test kit only to small fish and a few snails and crabs I have two jabo rw 8 powerheads My sump may not be set up right to filter thing right first chamber is the sock and skimmer second is the refugium third is the return pump no chato or rocks or sand in the refugium I could use some help with the sump thanks for the help and support my tank is 1 year old on 2/15/16
Thanks Mollydog - what kind of live rock do you have in the display tank? Not sure how you are employing the "sponges" but I would likely remove those, unless you clean them every couple days. It is strange that your test come in 0 - is this nitrate and phosphate? But, would could be happening is that you have enough algae that it is consuming the nutrients efficiently, reducing them in the water. You definitely have excess nutrients if you are growing lots of hair algae. Skimmer looks good, powerheads are good - are you using RODI water?
PatW
New member
I have a new tank. I am getting it over a hair algae bloom. Most of it is gone now. I used dry rock and it had phosphates. I would have been better off curing the rock, but that is hindsight. I have a Hanna phosphate checker. I had phosphates before the outbreak. But after the algae got going, I had undetectable phosphates. I think they were locked in the algal biomass. My nitrates were always below 1 ppm. Right now the nitrates are .1 ppm.
I have been lowering nutrients by vodka dosing, GFO, macro algae in the refugium and water changes. With that, I have been making steady progress. I figure using a multi pronged approach can't hurt.
I have been lowering nutrients by vodka dosing, GFO, macro algae in the refugium and water changes. With that, I have been making steady progress. I figure using a multi pronged approach can't hurt.
Hey Mollydog - you have extra nutrients coming from somewhere, or they are accumulated in your rock. Some suggestions to try, in this order.
1) re-position the powerheads and turn them up for a few days - try to see if there are pockets of detritus collecting somewhere. Lift up your rocks if you can - detritus tend to collect around the bases.
2) Clean your skimmer and make sure it is running effectively. Tune your skimmer to skim slightly more wet for a week or two, but make sure to watch top-off and salinity.
3) If you have only two small fish and a few cleanup crew, it is not your bioload, but - be aware of how much you are feeding.
4) check your RODI filters - i.e. look at your TDS values leaving unit, and test your output water for nitrate and phosphate.
5) Clean your sponges, or better yet remove them. Clean your filter sock (every 2 days for the next couple weeks) Suck out any detritus in your sump
6) Do another round of manual algae removal - but, this time turn up pumps and add a filter sock to your sump input to catch and remove all the stray bits of algae. What can happen is these stray bits of algea settle, die, decay and put back into the water all the nitrate and phosphate that were once in their structures - this just starts the cycle again, making more algae grow. Then do another water change.
7) If you have no corals, reduce your photoperiod
8) Add a GFO reactor
9) Check your lights - if you are not running LED's, other types of bulbs you have may be old, their spectrum shifted, and contributing to the algae.
Probably not a good idea to start carbon dosing (vodka), until you solve your nutrient issue. Carbon dosing is much more effective at keeping already low nutrient levels there, rather than bringing down very high levels, and there are risks with dosing into a high nutrient tank. And, we still need to find out where your nutrients are coming from. Lets try the above measures, and see what happens. Hair algae is completely maddening, but - you WILL conquer it. It will take some time, just stick with it.
1) re-position the powerheads and turn them up for a few days - try to see if there are pockets of detritus collecting somewhere. Lift up your rocks if you can - detritus tend to collect around the bases.
2) Clean your skimmer and make sure it is running effectively. Tune your skimmer to skim slightly more wet for a week or two, but make sure to watch top-off and salinity.
3) If you have only two small fish and a few cleanup crew, it is not your bioload, but - be aware of how much you are feeding.
4) check your RODI filters - i.e. look at your TDS values leaving unit, and test your output water for nitrate and phosphate.
5) Clean your sponges, or better yet remove them. Clean your filter sock (every 2 days for the next couple weeks) Suck out any detritus in your sump
6) Do another round of manual algae removal - but, this time turn up pumps and add a filter sock to your sump input to catch and remove all the stray bits of algae. What can happen is these stray bits of algea settle, die, decay and put back into the water all the nitrate and phosphate that were once in their structures - this just starts the cycle again, making more algae grow. Then do another water change.
7) If you have no corals, reduce your photoperiod
8) Add a GFO reactor
9) Check your lights - if you are not running LED's, other types of bulbs you have may be old, their spectrum shifted, and contributing to the algae.
Probably not a good idea to start carbon dosing (vodka), until you solve your nutrient issue. Carbon dosing is much more effective at keeping already low nutrient levels there, rather than bringing down very high levels, and there are risks with dosing into a high nutrient tank. And, we still need to find out where your nutrients are coming from. Lets try the above measures, and see what happens. Hair algae is completely maddening, but - you WILL conquer it. It will take some time, just stick with it.
