Hairy algae in the refugium

[KURTIS T]

I had a massive hairy algae problem this past fall. I thought it was all gone. It's totally gone fromt he display tank but It seems to be coming back in the refugium on my refugium plants. Any tips on getting rid of the hairy algae? Also, some times I get bubbles on the plants in the refugium....could that be a bad thing for the plants or is that not really a problem?


thanks for any help

 

[bertoni]

The bubbles don't matter. The hair alga might be consumed by some sort of snail. Can you post a picture?

 

[KURTIS T]

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g14/kurtoan/CIMG3229.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

It's hard to see the hairy algae but you can kind of see it top right in the pic...and a little in the center of the pic.

See the bubbles? Do I need more circulation in there? small power head maybe?

I've got a few different plants in there....

The plant in the bottom left of the pic- I think I've read that you shouldn't have that in your refugium...I've been pulling it out but it grows quicker than the other stuff.

thanks for helping out.

-Kurtis

 

[bertoni]

The bottom left looks like a banned Caulerpa species (you're in CA), feather Caulerpa. It can be invasive. I don't see any hair alga in particular. Looks okay to me. More water flow might help, might not matter. Hard to say. The bubbles aren't a problem.