green hair algae

[iluv2laff2]

I am having lots of trouble with green hair algae. I have mostly a fish tank for my kids but i do have about five softies in it. I have 2-250 watt MH. I just did a thirty gallon water change.
ph-8.5
phosphates-0.5
nitrates-5
nitrites-.1
ammonia-undetectable
HELP!!! What do i do??

 

[Frogmanx82]

Here are my suggestions.

1. Clean up crew - several turbo snails, two dozen red leg hermits, and a lawnmower blenny
2. Reduce the time the light is on to just a few hours in the evening, increase until algae growth is balanced by what the clean up crew can handle.
3. Use RO for make up water. Most lfs will sell real cheap, just bring some 5 gallon buckets to the store. Makes more sense if you have one close by, otherwise its an investment to make your own.
4. Add some phosphate remover to the system

 

[108reefer]

do another water change, make sure you use RO/DI water to start with. Algae wont grow if it has nothing to feed on - nutrients in your water. how old are the lights? this can also lead to growth - wrong spectrum, as the bulbs age. clean up crew is always a step in the right direction, but you will never over come the algae with just them - you have to limit the food source. bags of phosphate remover - try some chemi-pure - that has always helped!

 

[herozero]

i scraped off as much as i could and added carbon and gfo. i've since removed the carbon and gfo cause it never comes back.

 

[jthomps123]

When i stopped feeding my tank my home-made frozen food (which apparently contained alot of phosphate) my hair algae disappeared. GFO didnt make much of a dent in it before hand.