Hair Alage on new tank

[fltekdiver]

Bought some LR for my Red Sea Reefer 250 of Criagslist , from a estiblished 2 year old reef tank. She told me she had some hair Alage on the pcs, not allot

My tank is running now 2 weeks, with fish and LPS coral, Plate coral, and I'd hate to run a GFO all ready and strip the nutrients out of the water which the coral need

Any suggestions?

I have 3 pcs with a patch of 2" wide about a inch tall out of the 40lbs of rock

 

[thegrun]

There is no reason why you can't use GFO and keep coral at the same time. You may need to feed the corals a little more often (or start feeding them is you are not doing so), but I always run GFO in my mixed reef tank.

 

[fltekdiver]

Thanks. Do you think it's such a good idea to start out a new tank running GFO?

I remember it also being costly on my 180 reef tank years ago

Maybe on a reefer 205 that's only 55G I wouldn't be so bad

I was only planning on water changes to feed the coral since I'm only having LPS in the tank, but lots of it

 

[A.Astore]

I run GFO on my mixed reef which is a 150 gallon tank. It has been running from the very beginning with no issues at all. I don't know that I would consider taking it offline because it has done well to this point. I would suggest manually removing some of the algae though so that the GFO has a chance to actually achieve what you are looking for in your case.

I put 2 cups of GFO in the reactor about every 6 weeks to give you an idea of how much I personally use.

 

[MikeyAl]

I put in a diy ATS and run gfo simultaneously. My hair algae growth now seems to be halted.
I have been cleaning it with a toothbrush , out in my ATS(going on week 3) and running gfo. It looks like it is working.

 

[Sk8r]

GFO strips phosphate, which corals DON"T like. It won't hurt your coral when properly cleaned. DO wash it before use, because the microdust can be detrimental to some corals.

 

[nuttyd]

take the rock out and treat the area with peroxide

 

[fltekdiver]

Thanks I appreciate it everyone. I'm going to look into a Phosban Reactor

Do you rinse the peroxide off with RO water after?

Also if I use Phosban will I still need to feed the LPS if just doing water changes?

 

[nuttyd]

Would rinse in old saltwater from tank.
Always need to feed the corals. Phosban just takes out the phosphorus that the algae use to grow.

 

[fltekdiver]

Ok got it, thanks, I'll try scrubbing the pcs and then hitting the spots with Peroxide

Here's a few pics of what I'm talking about

 

[MikeyAl]

So I thought I had mine under control and last 48 hrs has grow back. I am leaving town for 5 days. I am thinking of shutting down my T5 and keeping my LEDs only for that time- but don't want to negatively impact my corals. I will keep the GFO running. Thoughts?
I have zoas, palys, shrooms, bubble corals, acans.

 

[Sully72]

I agree with Nuttyd, take the rock out and dip it in some tank water that you added some peroxide to. About 50/50 of RO and peroxide. There will be some die off but will bounce back quick.

 

[Askthefishdude]

Hair algae can be a royal pain in the a,,,,
A good clean up crew will prevent it from coming back. Scarlet hermits, blue leg hermits and some turbo snails : also there are fish that graze on it. Kole tangs do a great job.
Brining your magnesium up to 1800 ppm will help as well.
Great flow is also very helpful
Good luck my friend.

 

[fltekdiver]

Thanks I appreciate everyone's help

I'm debating on now, since it's a new tank with only a few fish and coral of pulling the rock

It came from an established 2 year old tank , with lots of coral in
So I hate to get rid of it

Do I just dip the whole side in peroxide ? And after dipping in RO water it's safe to add right back into the tank?

 

[fltekdiver]

Well, I was trying to let the BB establish before moving everything around, being its a new tank with coral and fish all ready.

Problem is now the hair algae is on the other rocks, glass, and growing out of the sand

I think I'll have to run a chemical now, but I have loads of LPS in the tank. I have one frogspawn with 9 heads on it, I paid $125 for alone

Suggestions?