Hair algae in my mantis tank....grrr....

[odoprelude]

Okay, Boris' (my peacock mantis) tank is getting overrun by hair algae... it's been so dag-gone long since I have been through this.....how the heck do I get rid of it? I've been running just actinics over the weekends.. Boris will tolerate snails for a bit, but gets bored/hungry..besides.. I have yet to see a snail do anything for hair algae.. I have decreased my photoperiod, I use the water from the culligan machine at Wal-Mart (surprisingly low TDS according to my TDS probe) The water is probably overskimmed..as I run a Prizm Pro (supposed to be good for over 100 gallons) on a 20 high.... And it is still pulling a lot of good gunk out... What to do? Prolly can't add any animals, though he doesn't seem to bother the cuke I have in there now.. I guess I can take the rock out piece by piece and toothbrush it.. I do have a bunch of cup caulerpa in there as well... HELP????

 

[dragonforce]

Step 1. Pull out as much as you can by scrubbing rocks and pulling it off by hand

Step 2. Do a large water change

Step 3. Turn off lights for 1 week

Step 4. Do a large water change and turn on lights

This should get rid of all your hair algae, leave the lights off longer if possible.

 

[odoprelude]

I will try that! Thanks!

 

[Opcn]

A mantis doesn't need any lights at all.

 

[DanInSD]

Other things -- check nitrates and phosphates. If either is high, use appropriate absorbers (e.g. PhosGuard -- I use with no probs with my peacock) and/or a refugium.

I'm currently battling a cyanoalgae problem myself... grr...

 

[dragonforce]

Lights out works wonders for cyano as well. Good luck

 

[DanInSD]

I have photosynthetic softies (e.g. xenia) in the tank; I would be worried about killing it as well as the cyano. I am going to try water changes, physical removal, and chemical filtration first.

 

[odoprelude]

that's my problem too, I have mushrooms, zoas, green and pink star polyps, and a ricordia in my tank...

 

[justinl]

if you're worried about the corals, then just leave the lights off for 3 days. the coral will be just fine. if the 3 days doesn't do it, then repeat the lights out for another 3 days a week later.

that schedule is actually quite conservative... corals will not be adversely affected by less light in the short term.

 

[Thurge]

I feal for you. I am fighting the same battle. I just pull as much out as I can when I do me weekly water changes. You just HAVE to keep an eye on the mantis and harvest from the opposite side from where its at. Also when they hide for molting is a great time to really work on the algae.

 

[saltwater4life1]

When i had hair algae i turned my lights off and on later pretty much worked