Hair Algae

[bkoz]

I know this ? has been asked a milliion time but I cant seem to get the search feature to work??

I have hair algae or at least I think thats what it is, it looks just like grass and its only growing on my Marco Rock. I used half Marco and half live rock to start my tank a month and a half ago and the hair algae just started coming in a week or so ago but only on the Marco rocks. My params are good and I have an RO unit. Its a 29gal with t5 lighting and excellent flow (1600gph) and until a couple of days ago all I had was for fish was a sixspot goby witch I have hardly had to feed so overfeeding isnt an issue.

I have 10 snail (3 large turbo, 7 naus) and 8 red leg hermits. Is there anything else I can get to help with this?? Is it because my tanks new? And why is it only growing on my Marco and not the live rock?? Could it be my lighting? My corals are doing great and ive lost none of the snails/crabs or shrimp ive put in the tank. Thanks for any help

 

[balmiesgirl]

Have you tested yor phosphates?
The rocks could have phosphates....but I'd be suprised because the Marco rocks are great. The live rocks you added could even be releasing phosphate into your system. Maybe it's just showing up on the Marcos because they dont have corraline algae growing on them yet.

 

[Craig Lambert]

Here's your search results:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/searc...=8883355&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending

 

[bkoz]

Thanks for posting the links but as allways when I try a search it says to try back in a few minutes the servers too buisy. Any other info or advice is greatly appritiated, thanks.

 

[bkoz]

My Ph is at 8.4-8.6 is this too high?? I have an AquaClear 70 I could use to run some carbon, would this possibly help??

 

[LockeOak]

First of all, it's a young tank and hair algae is very common in new tanks, it usually subsides without much special effort. Heck, I moved my 10G tank, removed the sand, put the same exact rocks back in and nothing else with no fish for nutrient import with a fuge and I still got hair algae. Not a lot, but some. If the cause is from the rocks it will fade away over the next month or two. pH of 8.4-8.6 is higher than natural seawater but it should be just fine. Many successful aquarists run on the high end of normal pH, a little high is much better than a little low. I don't think the carbon would help much, but it couldn't hurt. As for why it's only the Marco rocks, if the live rock is covered in coralline algae that may be preventing the hair algae from becoming established while the marco rocks are a blank slate (pure speculation here). I've never used Marco rocks (though I probably will in my tank upgrade), but I've heard that they require curing for a month or two before they stop releasing nutrients. If I were you I would just keep an eye on it and wait for it to subside. The turbo snails should knock it back in the short term, and it will probably go away in the next month or two. The aquaclear 70 could also be modded into a refugium with some chaetomorpha macroalgae which might help.

 

[mildew]

Since it's a small tank, how about a Rainford Goby? Also, how about a Sailfin Molly? They eat algae and tho a brackish water fish apparently do well in SW. I'm asking more than recommending.

 

[bkoz]

Thanks for the input guys!!

I have a 20L sump/fuge and was running calurpa(SP?) but switched to chaeto a couple of days ago to see if it would help.

I also have a sixspot goby thats keeps my sand spotless but was thinking about also adding a lawnmower blenny and some more snails. Oh and yeah the live rock is covered in coralline so you may be right about that being the reason it has no hair algae.