Green Hair Algae

algae = excess nutrient

Most common source of excess nutrient is the food dumped into the tank

Cures:
more managed feeding practices (less import)
Additional nutrient export (macro algae, aggressive skimming)
Tweezers and a lot of time (more export)
Snails/fish/inverts that dine on algae (more export)
Larger and more frequent water changes (more export)

I like to limit the import by controlled feeding (no pumps running, removing excess food when done).
When you just dump food in the tank for the fish, much can get lost in the cracks of the rock or other places where it simply degrades into algae food.

My biggest algae outbreaks occur when my better half feeds the fish... There really is no quick fast way I have seen to get rid of the stuff, patience and husbandry work however.
 
reduce nitrate/nitrite and phosphates. do water changes every other week. and do one thorough clean, meaning take out all rocks and corals and gently brush off the green algae with a soft bristle toothbrush. after i did that my tank was crystal clear. hope this works.
 
Wow take out every rock and clean it with a toothbrush. yikkkessss.
Find the root cause as Randall stated. Much easier solution and a long term solution. As well less havoc on the critters. JMO.

Regards,

Pat
 
Those hermits and snails are getting an all you can eat buffet.

The hermits, Scarlet, I am guessing, will eat all of those algae quite fast, along with the blue ones. I dont see why your tank is so plagued, unless your fish are crapping as they eat. Thats some nasty punch.

Id just give it time, if anything pop a bag of carbon crystals to ease the growth of the algae, and cut back on white light. Actinics are ok.
 
woah I'm glad I found this thread! I'm having the same problem with my tank. The green algae grows at a rediculous rate in my tank. I think it might have something to do with my lighting. My previous lighting setup was a single T8 white bulb (40 watts i think) and i had little to no algae growth in my tank, i then switched to running two 110 watt URI VHO Super Actinics and the algae just wont stop! its like a plague. Is it possible that having no white light would cause this?
 
You think this thread is good try a couple of these on for size.

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

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

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

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=803688

Now if you do a lot of reading as indicated above you will gain some valuable insight that will help you down the road to Reefdom.

Light can be a significant contributor, though most likley the largest contirbutor will be excess nutrients.

Regards,

Pat
 
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