green hair algae out of control

[joesmoe517]

hey i have a nano cube and its been established for a couple weeks now and i have insane amounts of long silky green hair algae all over EVERYTHING including my snails, i realize this is part of a new tank but why is it that it hasnt died off in the week and a half that it has been on all my rock and glass and sand? if anyone can give me some ideas or maybe im just stupid and it takes longer than i expected to die off let me know. Thanks

 

[Andrew]

[welcome]

wronge forum...

How much of a water change are you doing?
What are your water levels?
How old are your bulbs and what type of lighting do you have?
Whats your tunrover rate?
Are you using ro.di water?

 

[Habib]

[moved]

 

[PatMayo]

I think you have some serious issues. Long hair algae is not necessarily part of the new tank experience. I would do some serious reading of the following threads. They will help you a lot. Good luck.

http://www.melevsreef.com/gha.html

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=147010

This thead has lots of good info in it as well.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=166836

Regards,

Pat

 

[Bluemorningwind]

You need to yank it out by hand, make 30% partials and get a diverse CUC.

 

[joesmoe517]

water

water

I do 10% weekley water changes using fresh ro.di water and tropic marin salt. The tank is only a month and a half old so its running the stock 50/50 power compacts (48w total). My water tests from a few days ago read no nitrates and no ammonia.

 

[joesmoe517]

oh and i forgot to add, my ph is a little low (like 7.9 or so) but the buffer from seachem i have has been bringing up the alkalinity over 20 so i discontinued use until i can afford some kalkwasser

 

[Litespeeds]

Try to bring your ph up to 8.3 range. The phosphates are what is causing your green hair algae so you might need to run some phosphate removing meda or a Polyfilter can also help. Make sure you are using RO/DI water for mixing your salts and topping off.

This is a vicious cycle that alot of new tanks go through. Just have to be patient and continue the water changes.

 

[Bluemorningwind]

Your hair alga consumes the NO3 and, in fact, the alga's growth is probably limited by the amount of NO3 available. Therefore, you get a figure of zero when measuring NO3.

Doing 30% partials will diminish the alga's food source (NO3, PO4, etc).

A better range of cleaners will consume the alga far more efficiently.

A two prong attack like this is simple, cheap and effective.

 

[joesmoe517]

ok thanks guys. after i picked as much as i could off and did another water change, i put a couple huge hermit crabs in from my friends tank and moved my coral to where they couldnt get it and the tank is already 70% better.

 

[icarus999]

wait... you have a coral and your tank is new?