Hair Algae Problems
- Thread starter Vinny73
- Start date
I too had a serious algea problem for some time. I almost gave up. I turned the lights to half the photo period
fed much less
hand picked the long algea Whenever I could
scrape detritus to cloud the water then immediate water change
run carbon
(hint;When doing a water change, use an elastic to hold a new toothbrush to the end of your siphon tube. Use that tooth brush to scrub areas of major concerne and you will catch most of the algea in the tube rather than letting it fly free in your water column.)
the last thing I did was I set up a cooler with a pump for circulation and I removed certain rocks(the worst) a few at a time and let them sit in the dark until the algea was gone.(shouldve done this first).
You said you were near a window. I would seriously consider blocking the xtra light since it could be increasing your photo period and/or giving you the wrong spectrum depending on the angle ect. which either one will be benificial to nasty algea.
everyone has thier way...try them all if you need to, dont give up...good luck
fed much less
hand picked the long algea Whenever I could
scrape detritus to cloud the water then immediate water change
run carbon
(hint;When doing a water change, use an elastic to hold a new toothbrush to the end of your siphon tube. Use that tooth brush to scrub areas of major concerne and you will catch most of the algea in the tube rather than letting it fly free in your water column.)
the last thing I did was I set up a cooler with a pump for circulation and I removed certain rocks(the worst) a few at a time and let them sit in the dark until the algea was gone.(shouldve done this first).
You said you were near a window. I would seriously consider blocking the xtra light since it could be increasing your photo period and/or giving you the wrong spectrum depending on the angle ect. which either one will be benificial to nasty algea.
everyone has thier way...try them all if you need to, dont give up...good luck
Greg manton
New member
i would check bulbs, storm rocks with power head, check tds on r/o unit ,and mabey shut off the sterilizer it only kills things in your water column not h/a you may find that what u kill may feed the hair algie, and you will also be killing things like pods that compete for the nutrients the h/a lives on. Try to be patient every time i try too many things at once i ruin what balance i do have in my tank HTH 
Could someone tell me how ozone works? Shoman89 said he got one off of ebay and I looked up that particular one and they sell it but I am confused on all the other equipment it says it needs. It is an ozone generator and an air dryer. Do I need anything else?Is that it? Plug and Play or what? Do I need a tank of ozone or what? This is totally foreign to me! By the way, Everybody's response's are great! I am picking and choosing from ideas little by little and documenting what is working. My tank is 100g, so I have been scrubbing rocks, and so has my wife, then next morning first thing, 20-25 gal water change as well as filter sock replacement. I have been trying to change a sock at least every 3 to 4 days. I will be cutting my light down, but I am afraid my hydnophora, and acropora will suffer! Thanks again! And I did shut the blinds and hung thick drapes over the adjacent windows to cut down all light coming into the room during the day!
Shoman89, what is the model number on yours? Or anybody for that matter. I am very ebay knowledgeable and have an account. If someone sees one that will work for me let me know please. I have a euroreef cs6-2 skimmer and do I just put the ozone that is generated straight into the air input for the pump? Do I cut in a 1/4 " barb tee and induce it as well as the air? I don't know if the generator can generate such a demand or not? Please help. If someone has pictures that would be sweet also! Thanks again!
Sorry for the delay. My local LFS carries it, and they also use it in their tanks has well has their customer maintenance tanks. Made by the Aquatic BioControl -the TLC Group in Westlake, OH. It 100percent live bacteria. A gallon runs about 70.00 dollars. The directions say use one ounce for every 10gallons of water once a week. When I purchased the S.A.T. my LFS told me to double that. My hair algae was gone in about less than four weeks. Does not harm live rock or corals. I had my hair algae problem about 2 years ago, once a month I use it as a maintenance and I havent had any type of algae problems since. If you do use it and use a UV sterlizer turn it off.
Filter Socks
Filter Socks
The best thing I ever did for my system, and my marriage was remove my filter socks....My personal feeling is they trap more harm than filter good. (My wfe hated those things soaking in the Laundry tub, or FOuling up her washer!) I think the best way to get rid of Hair ALgae is Skim, SKim, Skim, Run Carbon, and Phosban in the sump, And cut down on feeding.....A good SKimmer and tons of Live Rock is all the filtration needed IMHO
Filter Socks
The best thing I ever did for my system, and my marriage was remove my filter socks....My personal feeling is they trap more harm than filter good. (My wfe hated those things soaking in the Laundry tub, or FOuling up her washer!) I think the best way to get rid of Hair ALgae is Skim, SKim, Skim, Run Carbon, and Phosban in the sump, And cut down on feeding.....A good SKimmer and tons of Live Rock is all the filtration needed IMHO
Ozone
Ozone
The all in one Red Sea units are really simple, Hook an airpump to the dryer that comes with the unit, hook the dryer to the intake side of the Ozonater, hook the "Out side" to the Air intake on your skimmer, Dial it in to hold a 350 to 400 Orp, and let it run, takes about ten minutes to set up
Ozone
The all in one Red Sea units are really simple, Hook an airpump to the dryer that comes with the unit, hook the dryer to the intake side of the Ozonater, hook the "Out side" to the Air intake on your skimmer, Dial it in to hold a 350 to 400 Orp, and let it run, takes about ten minutes to set up
I had the same problem on my tank for some time and the weird thing is that my tank had been set up for 3 years and never had this kind of problem even when it was set up.My tank has a preety long list of toys with the exeption of an ozoniser.I got my hand on a product from korallin called Po4 minus and it work by puting 5ml per 25gls of tank water and adjusting your skimmer to run preety wet.Then the po4 in your tank comes out via the skimmer.This worked out for me.Before doing this i was running a reverse phos reactor and toppig off with kalk but this allone didnt do the trick.I allso have a friend ussing the zeovit method and claims that a specific product from this brand is responcible for the nuisence algae to not be present in this type of method.I think the product is called Zeo start and it works simillar to the po4 minus.Good luck.
crypto
New member
Urchins
My tank had quite a bit of hair algae, possibly due to the >100ppm nitrates.
I tried 5%/week water changes which seemed to help.
I also put in 2 sea urchins. I really think they guys helped a lot. Most of the rocks are spotless and as long as you make water changes, the coralline will grow back.
My tank had quite a bit of hair algae, possibly due to the >100ppm nitrates.
I tried 5%/week water changes which seemed to help.
I also put in 2 sea urchins. I really think they guys helped a lot. Most of the rocks are spotless and as long as you make water changes, the coralline will grow back.
coralights
Premium Member
Acclimate a few small Mono Argentus(4-6) to salt water (use a slow drip over 3 hours supplemented by a cup of salt water every 15 minutes or so..... continue to reduce the water and accellerate this process over the 3 hours until you match the salinity of the tank ... put them in .. and no more hair algae plus you have a great school of cool fish!!
I went and bought two pin cushion urchins today. I had a long spine urchin before for a long time and it kind of seems like as soon as I got rid of him, the algae problem started. He just got to be too big for my tank. He started knocking over corals. I read that urchins like polyps. I hope they do not eat my zoos. I didn't have any zoos when I had my last urchin. I may try the red sea unit also. It looks pretty affordable. I will have to get an orp monitor in order to dial it in, won't I?
albefisshin
New member
my 2gal naon had aproblem went from spring water to distilled, then finealy tried emerald crab. Well beeing new to salt, I watched every day(2 gal rember)and he ate what he liked first then he ate what was left(red hair, brown hair, green bubble) never touched the red bubble or the brown dition BUT!! the the brown dition did almost dissapeare. Well I moved him to a10 gal beacause, he shead his shell 4 times, the rock was bear and my clown wasalooking'good. Now I have a small emerald and well...... it needs more time(he's not big enough, or hungery enough) Rember!! no!.. skimmmer ,no RO/DI Yes cut my light back to 8 hours(sunlight is aproblem "diffrent spectrum") and watched my feeding.
coralights
Premium Member
Mono's work. Period.
IMO, the only way to combat hair algea is thru nutrient export. It has to have something to grow on. Skim very wet and watch tank salinity, regular water changes, set up a refugium with lots of chaeto. IME urchins, snails, and algea eaters mask the problem and when the hair algea gets long they don't seem to eat it. JMO.
I am sure Mono's work, but then I am faced with the dilema of what to do with them once the job is done. I don't find them to be a good looking fish. Maybe the picture I saw on doctor fosters website doesn't do them justice but what I did see...Na. Converting a fish to saltwater and then abandoning him doesn't sound like something I wanna do right now. If I have a friend who gets the hair algae then I will definately give it a shot. Thanks for the idea though. My last urchin worked great. Now I have two.Period.
