hair algae tips

[FavaBean]

I noticed a clump on it on my rocks yesterday....i want to try to fight it before it becomes a problem... I do weekly water changes of a gallon.. I have my lights on for a total of eight hours a day...54 watts of pcs... the temp is a constant 80... the only thing I can think of is the sun hits the tank for about 30 mins each day...anyone else agree with that idea... thanks

 

[faze07hd]

couple things, if your bulbs are older than 8 or9 months... Change them... The spectrum changes after a period of time and it aides the growth of algae.

Check your phosphates. This may be the actual cause of the hair algae.

Manually pull out all the hair algae that you see and use a turkey baster to blow off all of your rocks.

Those are some tips just to get you started. I wouldnt worry about the sund hitting it that much. Not for only 30 minutes a day. I would also, for the time being, take your photo period to 6 or 7 hours. Till the algae is completely gone.

You better start to attack it soon before it completely takes over your tank!!!!!

 

[reefworm]

check out Melev's article. I agree with the Yankee fan that bulbs and phosphates are the usual suspects. food is also a phosphate source, so a lot of us rinse it in RO water before feeding.
http://www.melevsreef.com/gha.html

 

[FavaBean]

thanks... my tank has been up since jan. so really not worried about the lights... but I might reduce the time they are on.... I will change those in june... I do feed two times a day so might need to reduce that down to once and rinse in rodi water...