Hair Algae!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KayleeAnn24]

I have a horrible hair algae problem. I already had to remove one rock from my tank because of it and it attacked my other live rock that has a frogspawn and some kind of mushroom coral on it. they are encased. I have tried pulling it off the rock and trimming it. I also got an emerald crab that eats some of it, but can't keep up with the growth. Soooo I went back to the LFS and they suggested red legged hermits so I got three. I don't know if they are doing it at night or not but I don't see any improvement and it has been at least two weeks since I put them in the tank. What should I do?

 

[Billybatz9]

Use the api algae fix that's linked in this article. That's what I used and it got rid of it within 1 week
http://www.nanoreefforum.com/how-to-get-rid-of-green-hair-algae/

 

[ksicard]

I just went through the same process as you. I made a post saying I have bad hair algae to the point where every rock was 50-100% covered in hair algae. Some people mentioned certain inverts/fish that eat it, another said run GFO (which I already was), and another recommended manual removal which I rolled my eyes to because I simply didnt want to do it.

Well I made a educated decision as to what to do which was a combination of all 3 recommendations. I was already running GFO but after testing it and being at a level of 0.08ppm via hanna checker I quickly switched to a more aggressive GFO (I changed from normal BRS GFO to BRS high capacity GFO), then I ordered a large CUC from www.reefcleaners.org that consisted of 100 blue legs and 3 sea urchins, and lastly I picked up a coarse bristled brush and proceeded to take every rock out and scrub really well. These 3 things have almost completely rid my tank of hair algae, there are only a few patches left which my new CUC will take care of. Reefcleaners.org is awesome and I highly recommend them after how I impressed I was with the order I received. They didn't send me any empty shells in place of live crabs and not a single one was dead or has died, they are an awesome company. The most important part of my plan was manual removal by taking every rock out of the tank and scrubbing it.

Best of luck, I recommend the same steps that I took to rid my tank of hair algae. It's a lot of work but it will solve your problem 100% if you take the 3 steps that I did. I tried everything else including adding fish and others to eat it and nothing took care of it like what I mentioned above. It took me about 2 1/2 hours to scrub all the rocks thoroughly.

 

[KayleeAnn24]

Thanks guys! I got the API stuff as I am scared to hurt the coral by manually removing it.

 

[seamonster124]

Get a sea hare from a store that takes them back. He'll mow it down while you lower your phosphates.

 

[RG Rude]

I've had really good luck with red banded trochus snails. I also stepped up my water changes.and did some manual removal. I also have a much smaller tank than yours.

 

[25turner]

Try a Mexican turbo snail

 

[BrettDS]

Hair Algae!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ultimately the solution is to figure out why it's growing (likely high phosphates), then solve that problem. If you haven't checked your phosphate level, get a good test kit and do so. Then, figure out where the phosphates are coming from (are you using tap water? Is it leaching from your rock?) and do what you can to fix that problem. Chemicals and manual removal will all be temporary solutions. If you don't figure out why it's growing, then it will just grow back.

 

[nmotz]

^This

 

[Bent]

Mr hanky, my sea hare, would be as happy as a pig in crap in there.

I can see his Beady eyes widen just looking at the pic.

 

[Pife]

Lanthum chloride to lower your po4s. Read up on it.

 

[South City]

Black Mollies will eat hair algae 24/7. You can find them in most LFS for a buck or two and they can be acclimated to saltwater without much trouble. They come in a variety of colors as well. I added one to my 3 month old tank when I had a bad outbreak and he cleaned up my rocks nicely while I worked on eliminating the root causes.

After the hair algae was eliminated in a couple of weeks, he just started eating whatever I was feeding the other fish. He's been in the tank for 6 months now and has been a model citizen.

 

[digitaljepoy]

Get a mexican turbo, it will clean those rocks till those rocks turn white. And get Seachem PhosGuard, works really well.

 

[Wazzel]

Find the source and eliminate it. The algae is a symptom, not the problem. Get a few grazers and they will make short work of the algae once the source is eliminated.

What is your filtration like? What do you use for top off water and water change water? How often and how big are your water changes? How are your levels? How old is your tank?

 

[Tweaked]

For me the source was not the water or sand as I am BB. It was from the dry rock I used. Only choice I had was to stay on top of my GFO replacement in a reactor, and keep my CUC diverse and strong. GL, it can take up to 6 moths even when you are giving it your all. The reward is worth it however.

 

[Wazzel]

For me the source was not the water or sand as I am BB. It was from the dry rock I used. Only choice I had was to stay on top of my GFO replacement in a reactor, and keep my CUC diverse and strong. GL, it can take up to 6 moths even when you are giving it your all. The reward is worth it however.

I had the same problem and it took around that time to run its course.