Help with hair algae

guppie

Member
I am starting to get a little hair algae, from over feeding, from trying to get my bicolor to eat. Looking to see if there is some kind of critter that I can put in my 60 cube that likes hair algae. Thanks
 
Hermits, turbo snails, and lawnmower blenny may or may not eat it. I didn't have any luck with mine when I went through GHA outbreak. You're better off removing the phosphates with something such as a GFO reactor. Sometimes rock can leach phosphates and cause GHA issues. How old is your tank? I battled it for a year before my rocks stopped leaching it.
 
From what I've read, Platys are good algae grazers.
I'm battling GHA myself right now after my RO system broke down undetected.
Right now I'm using hermits and snails to keep them in check, but those don't really attack the GHA patches themselves.
The next thing I'm gonna try are Emerald crabs. I have 8 in a QT with a good amount of GHA and so far it looks good.
If they fail as well I might give the Platys a shot.

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Or just stop overfeeding and get your nutrients under control.. The GHA will go away on its own.. Hopefully you have adjusted your feeding already.

I find that turbo snails and urchins do good with GHA but once it gets too long there is little what goes after it..
 
In my experience, turbos go after GHA really well. I've tried Emerald crabs, but I think that you would need way too many to be effective.
 
The over feeding has stopped awhile ago, thanks everyone, I heard Urchinwork, anyone have any input
 
If I've learned anything in my short time on this forum its that everyone has an LED preference and there are two types of ways for handling green hair algae; live solutions or good old fashioned determination.

I chose determination, a combination of manual scrubbing, water changes, and a gfo reactor. Do a little research here and you'll find plenty of options to choose from.

Good luck
 
Algae Turf Scrubber (ATS). Best thing you could ever do for your tank. Mine took every spec of algae out of my tank and it didn't come back. Once you go ATS you won't screw with any other method.
 
Aside from nutrient reduction, what worked for me was spot treating the rocks outside the tank with hydrogen peroxide, and for the rocks I could not remove I used a 10% Caustic soda(Lye) solution that GlennF recommeded.
Good luck.
 
There must be a better way than chemical warfare. In my experience that often doesn't end well in a running tank.
I have my nutrients at undetectable and the stupid algae still flourish. The urchins, hermits and snails maintain the clear areas, but don't do much about the existing patches. : headwally:

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There must be a better way than chemical warfare. In my experience that often doesn't end well in a running tank.
I have my nutrients at undetectable and the stupid algae still flourish. The urchins, hermits and snails maintain the clear areas, but don't do much about the existing patches. : headwally:

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ATS ATS ATS ATS ATS :deadhorse::deadhorse::deadhorse:
 
ATS ATS ATS ATS ATS :deadhorse::deadhorse::deadhorse:
No space for an ATS.
Also I have concerns about the turf algae to optimize the water chemistry in favor of its own kind which may harm corals.

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Also I have concerns about the turf algae to optimize the water chemistry in favor of its own kind which may harm corals.

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What does that even mean? Are you referring to algae consuming iodine and other trace minerals like iron? That's not optimizing water chemistry for itself, that's using nutrients that other algae might use. Maybe your iodine could get a little low if you don't do water changes but there are other concerns that would come for that but if it did even become a concern then dosing a little iodine is easier and cheaper than battling GHA.

Algae does nothing to kill corals except take away nutrients, grow over corals and shade corals, except for going sexual but with turf algae there is almost no chance of that happening. I've only heard of caulerpa going sexual but supposedly any algae has that possibility in nature. Point is that algae grows off of fish and coral waste making it beneficial to the system as long as it does not over take everything, that why we keep it contained in the turf scrubber.

People saying an ATS is bad for your system are typically just stubborn and don't want to admit that their way they have been doing it for years is not the most efficient. It certainly can be done without but an ATS is so much easier, cheaper and safer than many other methods.
 
Or just stop overfeeding and get your nutrients under control.. The GHA will go away on its own.. Hopefully you have adjusted your feeding already.

I find that turbo snails and urchins do good with GHA but once it gets too long there is little what goes after it..

Careful with this advice, low nutrients will kill your corals. I grow really tired of the advice that low nutrients is key to a healthy tank because it's 100% false.
 
No space for an ATS.
Also I have concerns about the turf algae to optimize the water chemistry in favor of its own kind which may harm corals.

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Not according to your sig line! :eek1: Excuses aren't going to get algae under control. Make it happen! :love1:
 
What does that even mean? Are you referring to algae consuming iodine and other trace minerals like iron? That's not optimizing water chemistry for itself, that's using nutrients that other algae might use. Maybe your iodine could get a little low if you don't do water changes but there are other concerns that would come for that but if it did even become a concern then dosing a little iodine is easier and cheaper than battling GHA.

Algae does nothing to kill corals except take away nutrients, grow over corals and shade corals, except for going sexual but with turf algae there is almost no chance of that happening. I've only heard of caulerpa going sexual but supposedly any algae has that possibility in nature. Point is that algae grows off of fish and coral waste making it beneficial to the system as long as it does not over take everything, that why we keep it contained in the turf scrubber.

People saying an ATS is bad for your system are typically just stubborn and don't want to admit that their way they have been doing it for years is not the most efficient. It certainly can be done without but an ATS is so much easier, cheaper and safer than many other methods.

It seems you still have to learn a lot. Algae and coral engage in a quite sophisticated chemical warfare. Each tries to create an environment in which the other struggles to exist.

Competitive interactions between corals and turf algae depend on coral colony form

Chemical warfare on the reef

Chemical Warfare on Coral Reefs: Suppressing a Competitor Enhances Susceptibility to a Predator

Competition Among Sessile Organisms on Coral Reefs
 
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