Huge tuft of hair algae problem...need potential fish to eat it

[El Langostino]

I have this very large bit of hair algae growing on one of the upper loc-lines in my tank. It doesn't really necessarily bother me and sometimes my pink skunks confuse it for an anemone and are hosted in it which is kind of neat. However I do notice that it does sort of spew a cloudly greenish brown dischrage at times and is definitely making my water less clear than it could be.

My questions is, what fish would be a good candidate for eradicating it? I really do want to add a Yellow Tang at some point so I was hopeful that it could do the job for me. Please suggest any other fish you think would help. I have a 90 gallon which is 18 inches high and the algae is near the top so it would need to be a fish swimming around and not a substrate dweller I'd imagine.

I don't understand how it has grown so large other than the obvious fact that it's so close to the light. My Nitrates are low, I did have an excess nutrient problem and some aiptasia grew but over the past two weeks just by better regulating my feeding, most of the aiptasia have died off.

Here is a pic taken about 3 or more weeks ago. You'll notice the large amount of diatom on the overflow and PVC. The Diatom has long since departed, but that green hair algae has actually grown larger up there!

 

[Blown 346]

I would trun off your pump and remove the algae by hand, if you remove it when the pump is on the flow can take some of it and you will have Hair algae grow in other places.
You could still have a nutrient problem but the hair algae is using all the nutrients, so you will see that the nutrients are gone but arent.

 

[Highlander]

Unscrew the loc-line and scrub the algae off it.
Then soak the loc-line in vinegar for an hour to kill off any remaining algae.

Agree though that the algae is feeding on something, so you need to work on reducing that too.

 

[El Langostino]

Yeah, I was thinking about just reaching in there and with a bit of haste, manually removing it.

However, if there are any fish who will use this as a food source, I'd rather just leave it up as it's not reaaaaally bothering me and it does look cool as well.

So how about that Yellow Tang? Heh. Do you think one would graze on it?

 

[Highlander]

a) The tang might not eat the hair algae.

b)If it did, what would the tang eat after the algae was gone?

c) At least you know where the nutrients are going .
Maybe you should leave it and work on nutrient reduction till it dies ??

 

[Loralie]

I have a scopas tang that does a great job, and a one spot foxface that is super.

 

[Blown 346]

I agree, the tang might and might not eat it. Once the tank eats it, you will still have a nutrient excess problem and you will constantly have H. A growing.

 

[El Langostino]

I'm not worried about what the tang would eat once it's gone. If it grew back, he'd likely eat it again and on the contrary if it did not,...big shock...he wouldn't! I'd just have to feed it some other way, I'm sure I can manage to do that =P I'm not trying to sound like a incalcitrant wretch...I just believe that's rather trivial. Moving along...

My Nitrates are at about 5, so if the algae is growing off that, I don't know. I was just thinking again, it's probably the 5 plus gallons I used to top off my sump with tap water before I had my RO/DI. That being said, I think it's probably the phosphates and high amount of light feeding it. I'm going to do my first series of water changes this week, so we'll see if that helps.

 

[ncsaltwater]

Hair Algae......... I feel like and expert on the subject....... Expert at having it.

I was told when I first seen it to find the source of it ASAP. Well I started looking and trying things. First started with cleaning sump, doing massive water changes 15G/per week and 5G a day for 3 weeks, reduced my photo period, cut feeding in half along with manual removal and after 3 weeks it was starting to spread even though I did all this. Next I aided a bunch of Blue hermits, Turbo snails, 2 Green Lettuce Nudibranchs and they couldn't keep up. Next I started to run RowaPhos (3tsp) in a phosban reactor with 2" of carbon.and increased this by 3tsp per week till I got to 13tsp and 1" of carbon. I stopped doing the daily WC and just did 20G/wk and keep up with the manual removal. Then someone said something about the source may be my sand bed. Well I figured what the heck I'll vacuum it and see what happens. The first week I did this the water coming out was nasty. The next week it was not as bad and it continued to get better over the next 2 weeks. And the Hair Algea stopped spreading and even start to go away.

Now the Hair Algea is 100% gone......

So the morale of the story is..... If you see HAIR ALAGE in your tank FIND THE SOURCE before you have to go through H*** getting rid of it.

Good luck and happy hunting

 

[PatMayo]

ncsaltwater,

How deep is your sandbed?

Regards,

Pat

 

[Entropy]

IME nothing will eat hair algae that long. Even tangs will not touch it. They will eat it when it is short (less than 1/2 and inch) but as soon as it gets longer they lose interest.

 

[LaDonaDorada]

lawnmower blennies are good for eating algae

 

[lawmary]

That looks like my hair algae. I agree with Highlander. Do NOT leave it in the tank. If you can, take whatever it's growing on out of the tank and get it off and scrub it as it has very strong root attachments. Trust me, nothing eats it and I have tried the following: yellow tang, algae blenny, tuxedo urchin, hippo tang, hermit crabs, snails. I am now going to try some mithrax crabs. I run a PhosBan, skimmer and I still have to manually remove the stuff every 2 to 3 weeks. It's on my LR and the rock is so big and heavy that I can't take it out of the tank wihout collasping my whole display. People say that it will eventually go away and I hope that's the case, but I wouldn't keep it in there if I were you. Good luck!

 

[mdisalvo55]

I'm battling with it right now...I know its because I havent been using RO water. Anyway, I got a lawnmower blenny and he does eat soem of it, but once it grows logner he does lose interest. In my opinion, a lot of flow seems to help most.

 

[aquawolf]

As others have stated and from my own experience, once it is that long nothing but manual removal will get rid of it. Once it is out of the tank then you are still going to have to track down the nutrient issue that is feeding it so well.

I must admit though that it is pretty cool that you don't seem to be too bothered by the fact that it is there in the first place. Many people would be going to any lenghts necessary to remove it as quickly as possible, so your view is refreshing.

 

[El Langostino]

My fish were constantly ripping shreds of it off trying to find food within it and things were starting to get a bit hostile between them up there so I just removed it myself several days ago. I t came right out no problems, haven't seen any elsewhere in the tank.

 

[lawmary]

I use R/O water and it grows right where my outflow hits the top LR, and anywhere else it catches on or can get a foothold. The first time you pull it out it seems to some out easily, but in about 1 week it will start to grow back and its roots will be much more ruggedly attached. My nutrient issue is probably the debris I've allowed to accumulate in the tank, so now I'm stirring it up with a powerhead several times a week. I'm having a hard time getting at the debris under the LR (I have a BB tank).

 

[JBrowning]

I have a HORRIBLE hair algae problem. I topped off my tank with tap water a few times - big mistake, so now I am using RO water and doing weekly water changes. I added a tuxedo to see if he would help, but he is not doing much, and neither is the purple tang. I added a phos ban reactor three days ago, to see if that will help. I can get it off the sides of the tank. But how can I get it off the live rock? If I take out the live rock and scrub it, will it kill other organisms living in the live rock?

Anyone else conquered this problem - please share!!!

 

[davocean]

I had such a HA problem that I actually pulled out every rock (120lbs) and scrubbed them with brushes and an electric tooth brush.
I had a series of dunking buckets (prepd saltwater) and buckets to hold my anemones and corals that were anchored to rocks.
That was a long, bad day.
To my surprise, I did pretty much get all off, but without finding the source it started to come back.
I've always seen someone posting a comment on astreas and cerith snails.
I don't recall who, but he was right. Astreas mow through that
stuff like cattle, and the ceriths help as well.
I now have a new skimmer, RO water, a little less light and food (I actually shut my lights off for 2 days and slowly acclimated up)
Everything seems OK right now, and I don't think scrubbing the rocks hurt anything.
Main thing, find the source. In the meantime ASTREAS AND CERITHS. They work.
Good luck to you