Hair Algae Help

[klondike4001]

I have some type of hair algae growing in my new frag tank, weird because there's nothing in the water to be feeding it, but that's besides the point, I need something I can put in there to keep it under control (make it go away), I would prefer not to use a sea hare, I'd rather use a small invert/fish that will not die once the algae is gone.

Currently in tank system:
120 Cortez red leg hermits
25 Scarlet hermits
120 Nassarius Snails
80 Nerite Snails
80 Cerith Snails
Black Longspine Urchin
Randall's Goby
Horse Shoe Crab
3 Pepermint Shrimp

I am using RO/DI, no idea on the TDS tbh, and no direct sunlight. The entire system the frag tank is plumbed into is about 150 gallons, those crabs and snails are spread through the entire thing.

I have a ~30 gallon fuge full of chaeto, caulerpa and mangroves, oh, I also have the phosban reactor...

Lighting over frag tank is a brand new current Nova Extreme T-5 Fixture, 36 in. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...2&pcatid=12772

 

[Packersfan21]

I believe you have too many inverts for a 150 gallon. imo horseshoe crabs should not be kept in aquariums and don't have great survival rates. If the tank is new then hair algae normally occurs, but it could also be the new lights.

 

[meschaefer]

Re: Hair Algae Help

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12724438#post12724438 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by klondike4001
weird because there's nothing in the water to be feeding it

Think about that for a minute.......


If there was nothing there to "feed" it, then it wouldn't be growing.

If you have hair algae in your frag tank, you have a nutrient problem.

 

[klondike4001]

I've had the horse shoe for abour 1.5 years, he's a fun little guy, grown quite a bit, but still seems very healthy. What about the lights? The burn in period perhaps? I didn't think the lights would still be getting burned in after 2 months...


I figured that, but where are the nutriends coming from? I've been told the rock, but there's not much I can do about that.

 

[klondike4001]

And if it was the rocks, wouldn't I have hair algae in the main tank and fuge too?

 

[stingythingy45]

Huh.....no mention of a skimmer?

 

[klondike4001]

Oct-150-NW....

 

[klondike4001]

Sorry, thought I mentioned that.

 

[stingythingy45]

Ok,
I must say you have a very impressive CUC.
Is it possible that this frag tank the way it's plumbed into your system could be getting excess nutrients from your DT?
Do you have any CUC in the frag tank itself?
Is it possible to go lights out for a while in the tank?
Just running a few question by you,see if we can drum something up that might be the reason.

 

[klondike4001]

If the frag tank was getting excess nutrients, would the sump be getting excess too? There's no algae to speak of in the DT or sump, just in the frag, I'm at a loss.

In the frag tank itself there's about 25 hermits, 20 nassarius, 15 nerites and 15 ceriths

I can try a 24-48 hour period w/o lights to see it it'll help.

 

[bubbly]

I do remember a guy posting about phosphate and rocks -- he said that rocks passed from one reefer to another can accumulate phosphate and leach it back out.

The guy had a gha problem and then "cooked" all his live rocks (the term sucks, he just put them in covered buckets with a powerhead and let bacteria grow and push out all the phosphate, and changed the water regularly -- he did this for a few months) .

He said that after he did this his gha problem disappeared and has been gone for 4 years, without doing anything else differently.

 

[Slakker]

"cooking" sounds an awful lot like "curing"

 

[seapug]

Give the PhosBan reactor time to do it's job. 6-8 weeks was the knockdown time in my tank.

 

[klondike4001]

The rock was fresh purchased at a LFS, and the phosban reactor's been running since before the rock was introduced.

 

[oldsaint]

Sounds like you may not have enough flow in your frag tank. Also lets hear some readings. What's your PO4, NO3, TDS of your topoff water. I'd take them in the display and then in the frag and compare.

Also, you said a "type of hair algae" a pic might help in determining the best solution to get rid of it.

 

[klondike4001]

Flow in the Frag Tank comes from the DT and a koralia #2

Just Tested Water, Identical readings
DT:
NO3 - 10ppm
NO2 - 0ppm
KH - 250ppm
pH - 8.0

FT:
DT:
NO3 - 10ppm
NO2 - 0ppm
KH - 250ppm
pH - 8.0


I'll head out today and get a phosphate test, as for the TDS, I'll try to find someone locally who I can borrow one from.

 

[klondike4001]

Here are a few pics:

 

[klondike4001]

Oh, and it doesn't seem to be bothering the corals at all, just kind of unsightly.

 

[meschaefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12725227#post12725227 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Slakker
"cooking" sounds an awful lot like "curing"

Not to get off topic, but cooking is different than curing. Cooking takes six to eight weeks in a totally dark environment. The point is to stop the growth of algae, allowing bacteria to fill the void, so that it uses up phosphates that have been deposited in the rock. There are a few threads on RC about it. I also think that "cooking" is a really bad name for it.

If it was your rocks, the algae would grow on the rocks and not in another tank tied to the same system. I had that problem, and I only had a algae problem on the rock itself. I cooked the rock and no longer have that problem.

 

[meschaefer]

Just be aware that most phosphate tests are junk.