hair algae

P

parrot1012

Member
i have a major problem w/hair algae i am at the end of the rope with it everything i try it just comes back w/ a fury. water is not the issue all tests are in range phospate included i use ro water weekly water changes just replaced membrane and other cartridges have tryed to manually remove it that seems to work for short time but back it comes, running gfo have tried chemi pure no good put in 3 sea hares didnt even touch the stuff tryed hair algae remover that you shoot on w/a needle, its not bulbs replaced the 2/250hqi 5 months ago atinic 4 months ago just tryed algaefix swear it seems to have made it grow more dont know what else to do i have run out of ideas any help would be appreciated
 
I ended up setting up a new tank with some new dead rock, removed half od my old rock from the old tank re cooked it for 3 months in a trashcan in the basement, re set it up and have been algea free form7 months.

Imtried everything before this. I was even taking my rocks out every other week and scrubbing them off and it would come back. That sucked as I had about 200 lbs or rocks. I ended up using abou 1/3 of my old rock so far, more is still cooking. The stuff had it on it when I started my tank as I did nit know any better and purchased it from a store and they said it was fine, yea not so much as it turned into a problem. It's been a few years since that experience but so far with the new set up it's all good.
 
I know how you feel man I had it bad in my 55 last year . I broke down the tank. sorry not much help , :uzi: GHA
 
It might be worth turning your lights off completely for a day or two. I'm fighting a similar problem and have done some research. Algae need 2 things to grow, light and nutrients. Some people have significantly cut down their light source but sounds like you may need go completely dark. It won't hurt the corals as long as you keep circulation going. At the bare minimum, it's a cheaper way to troubleshoot the problem you're having.

Good luck!
 
I tried the Kent Mag treatment and it seems to be working.
the problem comes from the rock its self. you need to cook it. i dont want to take my tank apart so im trying the mag thing and it seems to work. just keep an eye on your alk and cal.
and it only works with kent stuff . for the most part.
 
Just got done today cleaning out the last of my HA. Best thing to do. Water Changes 2 Times A week. at least 15% Yes, a lot of salt and water, but will knock it dead. Also, you have to get in there and pick it as much as you can. New tanks will get blooms the first year. Very frustrating but happens to everyone. Instead of spending money on Chemicals which don't work, UV lights which don't work, Or anything else. Try the 15% water changes every other day or at least 2 times a week. My tank is about 10 months old and was very well established. Just something that happens. The Older your tank it, The more stable it will be. Anything over 2-3 years old, You should stop having the issues.. Until then.. Just keep your water quality pristine. Remember, most people leave this hobby because they are inpatient.. This hobby takes years to establish a healthy tank.
 
Iguana79 said:
Just got done today cleaning out the last of my HA. Best thing to do. Water Changes 2 Times A week. at least 15% Yes, a lot of salt and water, but will knock it dead. Also, you have to get in there and pick it as much as you can. New tanks will get blooms the first year. Very frustrating but happens to everyone. Instead of spending money on Chemicals which don't work, UV lights which don't work, Or anything else. Try the 15% water changes every other day or at least 2 times a week. My tank is about 10 months old and was very well established. Just something that happens. The Older your tank it, The more stable it will be. Anything over 2-3 years old, You should stop having the issues.. Until then.. Just keep your water quality pristine. Remember, most people leave this hobby because they are inpatient.. This hobby takes years to establish a healthy tank.
Click to expand...

+1. My tank is just over a year old and I battled hair algae for a good while. I'm finally near to having it all gone. Manual removal, frequent water changes, good protien skimming were more effective for me then all the other gimics. A few algae eating fish wont hurt either.
 
pretty sure its hair algae not any form of cyano to course and is hair like no uv substrate ins crushed coral sort of tank has been up for 7-8 years
 
crushed coral = bad news

crushed coral = bad news

i just took care of a severe gha problem that i battled for over a year, like most of you with this problem, i tried everything,vodka/vinegar dosing/ gfo/ phos sponges in reactors/ algae fix marine/ tripled water changes/ tech m mag treatment, which works well for bryopsis but not so much for gha/ changed all filters & membranes on ro di/ replaced mh & actinic bulbs/ bought hanna phosphate checker, which i love/reduced lighting time, what am i forgetting? well you get the point, i read & got great advice but none of this put a dent in the problem for me, the culprit turned out to be my crushed coral substrate, when i finally broke the tank down to upgrade & use sand instead, there was so much gunk, detritus, mud, gross mixture of whatever stuck in and under the substrate, it literally stunk so bad, it had me gagging for a minute. i used to vacuum tube it as best as i could but obviously that did not work, long story short, after scrubbing rocks clean of gha & replacing substrate, problem fixed, i did get higher phos readings for a couple of weeks after that but i was able to use gfo effectively then & still gha free for 8 weeks now. i'll post pics before & after.
 

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Do you only have a ro unit? Not a ro/di? That could be a problem. How long do you run your lights all together? I pulled all my rocks and scrubbed them with an unused toliet brush. I was also doing 50% water changes( ihave a big tank so all this sucked). Then I picked up a sea hair. It seemed like it didn't like the big clumps but onced the clumps were out the sea hair kept it in check till the water params were in check. The miracle in the bottle just masks the problem. I also had no luck with raising the mag. It just makes your params out of wack. Good luck.
 
I'm not sure lack of DI is a problem. I only have RO and I've never had any issues with hair algae or cyano.

Is the algae soft or tough an fibrous?
 
When upgrading from my 20 gallon salt tank to a craigslist buy of a 65 gallon complete tank setup, I ran into the hair algae problem. In the end I won by using parts of the suggestions of Iguana79 and Ben_n_Em.

Frequent water changes and manual removal. I had a bucket of tank water, took each affected rock out of the tank, tore off all the hair algae I could manually, used a new tooth brush on the stuff I could not tear off, rinsed the rock in the buckets of tank water, and put the rock back in the tank. I did this for every affected rock.

For the next several weeks did small water changes every week, went after any hair algae that survived the initial scrubbing with the toothbrush, this time in the tank, and had a small siphon tube going to suck out the algae as it was scrubbed off.

It has been ~2 years since I have seen any hair algae in this tank, although our newer tank (another craigslister) is going to get this treatment starting this weekend.

Remember, persistence and patience, that seems to be what this hobby is about. There does not seem to be any quick fixes.
 
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