Green hair algae why do people hate it and whats the harm of having it

[agreeive?fish]

Green hair algae why do people hate it and whats the harm of having it?

my 45g tall clownfish tank has it, my clowns "host" it and my wife and i like the looks of it at this point so is there any harm in having it in the tank other than YOU dont like the looks of it???


2 clown fish are the only residents of this tank

 

[shifty51008]

Nothing i guess wrong with it but it can get out of control fast. The biggest thing i think people dont like about it is that its algae, most try to keep it out of the display tank as haveing algae is basically a sign that you have excess ammount of nitrates and or phosphates.

 

[mogurnda]

As always, "it depends." For my sea slug tanks, I encourage the growth of hair algae as food. On the other hand, heavy growth of nuisance algae can smother and kill corals in a proper reef tank. I almost quit the hobby due to a persistent plague of Derbesia, but it eventually subsided.

 

[agreeive?fish]

its a fowlr set up

 

[shifty51008]

If you like it and you dont mind it then keep it, the algae will host the clowns just fine

 

[agreeive?fish]

iam just curious if there is any harm in having it in the tank

 

[shifty51008]

No harm actually, it is a good neutrient exporter, most just dont like the looks of it. If i have it in the dt i remove it but if it is in the fuge i leave it alone and remove 75% of it every so often but leave some down there

 

[heathlindner25]

No, it's actually beneficial and is cleaning your water.

 

[owen386]

What else do you have in the tank? If HA is all you want in your tank then let it continue to grow. If you are trying to keep other life in the tank as far as corals, clams etc. Then eradicate immediately. You have an excess amount of phosphate coming from some where. For me it was my rodi filters. I tore down an entire tank due to my lack of maintenance and letting my HA get outta control. Lost alot of coral back then. Good luck in whatever you decide to do, and happy reefing.

 

[agreeive?fish]

thats good to know...although it might interfere with my "plans" for the tank..i have this wild idea of this tank being an algae tank for some reason i want to grow different algae including food algae to harvest for my future tang in my 210 fowlr

 

[agreeive?fish]

What else do you have in the tank? If HA is all you want in your tank then let it continue to grow. If you are trying to keep other life in the tank as far as corals, clams etc. Then eradicate immediately. You have an excess amount of phosphate coming from some where. For me it was my rodi filters. I tore down an entire tank due to my lack of maintenance and letting my HA get outta control. Lost alot of coral back then. Good luck in whatever you decide to do, and happy reefing.

no corals and wont be any in this tank(90g for corals which is sitting in the house waiting on winter hours at work so i have time to mess with it and my 210g is a fowlr)..i know my water supply is high in phosphates and iam 100% positive i over feed

 

[MRJ]

I wouldn't keep it the stuff stinks really bad. Run some pellets or macro in the sump it's not exactly good for you fish if you water is polluted with waste hair algae isn't going to control the chemistry. It's going to make your fish more disease prone and new comers will not adapt very easily. Also your glass is going to be fogged way more than needed and if your rock is to close to the glass on the back or the sides your going to get sick of moving things clean the algae. It's a lot cheaper to run plants that constantly changing water.

 

[Keoki18]

thats good to know...although it might interfere with my "plans" for the tank..i have this wild idea of this tank being an algae tank for some reason i want to grow different algae including food algae to harvest for my future tang in my 210 fowlr

Keep in mind that beautiful macro algae tanks are very much treated like coral reef tanks. GHA will out compete your other species for resources every time. Other than that, it wont do you any harm. I would still monitor your levels though.

 

[CStrickland]

If I was going to have algae in my tank, I'd want pretty algae. It's doesn't need to be in a fuge to compete with your gha for nutrients it's just easier to keep the tank looking nice that way. Also, some of the slower growers don't need as much trimming. I think this is my fav sw planted tank, but there's lots of nice ones around. http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6/macroalgae-and-display-refugiums-221331.html

 

[MondoBongo]

there's no inherent harm in having it in your tank, as long as it is not growing so prolifically that it is overgrowing corals or something.

a large number of people run what is known as an Algae Turf Scrubber, or ATS. in fact, the entire point of this device is to grow algae, often hair algae, in a specific place for the purposes of nutrient export.

so there's nothing wrong with it, per se, as long as you're happy with how it looks. most people dislike it when it reaches plague proportions and overtakes areas or corals that they would rather have algae free. in fact, there is almost always at least a few small patches of hair algae somewhere in my tanks.

 

[MRJ]

The problem with having it in the tank is often it becomes a meal for some common types of fish. It can be done but you might need to avoid certain types of fish and it will also require different lighting. Usually people like actinic and 10k+ daylight macro really thrives in the 3 to 6k range which isn't the most pretty tank light color.

 

[stingeragent]

In my personal experience, I say get rid of it. I had a patch that came in on a coral frag. It didn't look bad so I left it. Few months later it was covering every surface of the tank. Glass, powerheads, rocks, my tank looked like a forest.

Edit: Hah. I just remembered. I also thought the red cyano was pretty at first and left it. Whoops. Tank went 50 shades of grey on me with the red room of pain it turned into.

 

[AZRippster]

GHA (bryopsis) can get out of control and smother coral. It's actually very good, in a controlled environment, like an Algae Turf Scrubber (ATS). I battled bryopsis for several months until I implemented an ATS about 2 months ago. Once the algae gets roots on the ATS' mesh, it becomes very effective in eliminating it from the DT. GFO helps quite a bit, but here are some pros/cons of GFO vs ATS taken from another thread on RC:

GFO:

Absorbs phosphate.
Absorbs silicates.
Does not absorb ammonia/ammonium.
Does not absorb nitrate.
Does not absorb nitrite.
Does not absorb CO2.
Does not produce oxygen.
Does not produce pods.
Does not produce amino acids, vitamin C, or carbs.
Is a non-living chemical (iron).
Is expensive, and must continue to be replaced.
Needs some place to go (bag, reactor, etc).
Is dark brown.
If spilled into water is very hard to remove.
Animals cannot eat it.
Can lower phosphate too low, resulting in coral bleaching.
Have been reports of GFO causing HLLE disase in fish.
Capacity is reduce from first day, and continues dropping.
Does not provide any useful end product.
Heavy iron particles can clog your drain.
The iron can fuel nuisance algae growth.
Does not need light/electricity.

Algae Scrubbers:

Absorbs phosphate.
Does not absorbs silicates.
Absorbs ammonia/ammonium.
Absorbs nitrate.
Absorbs nitrite.
Absorbs CO2.
Produces oxygen.
Produces pods.
Produces amino acids, vitamin C, and carbs.
Is living, and growing.
Is free, and replaces itself.
Needs some place to go.
Is green or brown.
If spilled into water is easy to remove.
Animals eat it.
Cannot lower phosphate too low.
No reports of causing HLLE disase in fish.
Capacity increases from first day, as growth develops.
Provides useful end product (algae).
Very light particles go down drain easily, and dissolve.
Consumes iron.
Needs light/electricity (pennies per month).

 

[CStrickland]

its a fowlr set up

I mean, I guess if you like how it looks, go for it. You can always add a lawnmower blenny or some other herbivore if it gets out of hand. It's not like you're gonna lose that much if it wrecks your rocks (cause they soak up a bunch of phos and will take forever to clear it out of you change your mind). You can just get new ones and start over.

 

[Keoki18]

GHA (bryopsis) can get out of control and smother coral. It's actually very good, in a controlled environment, like an Algae Turf Scrubber (ATS). I battled bryopsis for several months until I implemented an ATS about 2 months ago. Once the algae gets roots on the ATS' mesh, it becomes very effective in eliminating it from the DT. GFO helps quite a bit, but here are some pros/cons of GFO vs ATS taken from another thread on RC:QUOTE]

This actually brings up a point on what species of algae you are dealing with. I was not assuming that you GHA was Bryopsis sp. which IME is an awful algae if not controlled. You would really want to ID your species before you can judge what it will do in the future, or how well is will work with other algae.

Just a side thought.