hair algae help

Jackwkahn

Jackwkahn

New member
My tank is over a year old. I went through the hair algae cyano diatom etc phase and its been stable and clean for a while. Nitrates never above 3. barebottom 40 breeder with 7 fish reef octo 125 gal recirculating. run gfo in BRS reactor. water change every week syphon ditritus from DT. remove ditritus from sump every month or so. feed 1 mysis cube everyday. been doing this for over a year with no issues. went to boston for 3 weeks over the summer and came back to upset corals and hair algae everywhere. I got all new RODI filters and added a chloramine chamber and water reads 0 TDS. ive tried for months and I just can't get rid of the stuff. I haven't changed anything so I don't know what else to do. It covers frag plugs ****ing off corals and is extremely unsightly. Maybe someone has something else I can try. thanks.
 
mpjones said:
Sea hares aren't they toxic?
Click to expand...

definitely not... tried a sea hare as soon as i got home from boston to deal with the algae and it was promptly blended by my mp10.. i was running out the door so i didn't even change the water the skimmer just went nuts taking out the guts. the next day water was clear corals were out and fish were happy no ill effects on the tank accept no algae was eaten :headwally:
 
I know exactly how you feel. I fought that damn GHA monster for about 9 months. What made the difference for me and a lot of other reefers is running a reactor with GFO. This will absorb the phosphates in the water that the algae uses to thrive. I tried sea hares, bio pellets, chaeto, tangs, blennies, Turbos and none of this had anywhere near the affect that the GFO did. Do some homework on running this stuff and you'll be glad you did. Good luck.
 
I did a com o of magnesium, astrea snails, and an emerald crab to get rid of my issue... Granted it was bryopsis... But I still reccommend it..
 
First of all do you have pics? It depends what kind of hair algae your talking about. Some people refer to bryopsis as hair algae and that algae is alot more difficult to get rid of.

If its the standard furry green hair then yes in my experience a sea hare or large mexican turbo snails do the best job.

I just put one of my mexicans in my wife biocube that shes been neglecting for a couple months which was filled with hair algae. she picked up a pair of black clowns from macna and now wants the tank to look nice again. well its been just about 2 weeks and the tank is almost spotless. Ill try to put up a pic tonight so you can see just how much work its been doing.
 
I've tried bio pellets by two little fishes, dr Tim's pearls, n gfo. I just never had much luck with any of it. What makes it more difficult is that it's a 270 DT, with a 135 sump. I'm also thinking that I need a much larger skimmer as mine is not close to the size in which I need. For lighting I have 3 radions gen 2. It is definitely green hair monster! Everything (multiple sps (dominate spa tank), lps, n softiesis) doing great, except for my tracks!
 
How long since you got back from Boston? In my experience, it can take weeks to months to correct his the natural way....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

L
Hair Algae - Help
Replies
8
Views
499
griss
griss
mrpet
Major Algae problems help !!
Replies
7
Views
239
Timfish
Timfish
NancyT3
Display tank - algae bloom - (19 wk old 140 gal)
Replies
12
Views
574
CharleyDavis
C
griss
Don’t Neglect Your Tank Kids
Replies
9
Views
397
griss
griss
S
Nutrient Export
Replies
0
Views
137
SantaMonica
S
Back
Top