Hair Algae

[JoshLov]

I was just wondering what is the best way to get rid of hair algae?

 

[MeuserReef]

Time


and Snails... lots and lots of turbo snails.....

 

[danch]

If you just set it up, mostly time. I've got a few astreas, hermits, and an emerald crab. The snails mostly plow through it, I think, but as it outgrows its nutrients (and don't underestimate the ability of pods to eat algae), the loosen it up.

At this point, I've got a few tufts of it left, but I figure the emerald (Louie the crab) has to eat something!

At the height of my bloom, I also went after it with a long aquarium forceps - pluck a little, swish the business end of the tool in some RO/DI, repeat.

 

[DetectiveTofu]

a water change wouldn't hurt

 

[drummereef]

JoshLov,


[welcome]

 

[drummereef]

How old is your tank? If it's new, hair algae is a normal part of the cycling process. Just let the tank do its thing and it will go away in time. If your tank is established, there is a nutrient problem. I'd look into your water source, nitrates, and phosphates as possible areas of concern. Until you find the source there won't be a permanent solution.

 

[rfdoc]

When is a tank considered established? My tank is 4 months old and I'm just starting to see the first signs of hair algae now.

 

[Trigeek]

It sounds about right for an algae bloom time-wise. If I remember correctly(I think I remember reading a post about this from Eric Borneman at one time), the theory behind that is that initially you grow an abundance of denitrifying bacteria during the beginning cycling stages. The population is pretty high as there is lots of food available. However, things even out after a while and some of the bacteria die off when the nitrogen compounds drop off. This fuels the algae growth. You could grow some macroalage to help export some of the nutrients. Also, remove the algae as it grows and be sure your chemistry is good (pH, calcium, alk). I think tanks "establish" themselves over and over. If you read Paul B.'s tank thread (he has a 30 something year old system) you'll find that even the most established tanks go through some bumps in the road with algea.

 

[NeveSSL]

Imagine that... somehow we don't quite have this micro-ecosystem down perfectly... :lol:

My tank is now getting hair algae, so I think I'm just going to put some chaeto in the sump and see what that does. My tank is 2 weeks old, BUT the rock cooked for about 2 months before I put it in my tank.

Brandon

 

[iflipsidei]

Here is what I did. Water change once a week. Kept the phosphates down to 0 with a phosban reactor from two little fishes. Then I bought a army of margarita snails, also a few of the sand snails. Those did awesome and now I have a lawnmower blenny and a kole tang that maintains the algae.

 

[seapug]

It may take a combination of many techniques, but here's a summary of what seems to be the conventional wisdom regarding hair algae (in no particular order):

1: Use high quality water for topoffs and mixing salt for water changes
2. Limit fish stocking
3. Feed less and rinse/decant frozen food
4. Increase water change frequency
5. Increase clean up crew populations (snails, crabs)
6. Reduce lighting (the "3 Days off" thread)
7. Improve protien skimming
8. Increase flow within tank
9. Manual Removal/cropping
10. Time

anything else to add?