I need something to mow down hair algae.

t11t5

I love Bass
Premium Member
My 12g nano is done cycling. I have hair algae on everything. What will mow thi down for me?
 
Cernith Snails can work on hair algae as can some sea hares but for a 12 gallon I'd just get like 4 cernith snails.

HTH
 
I would try this new product it is called Chem-Marin Stop Hair Algae. I heard somwhere that it works really good and it is completely reef safe.
 
Its a new tank, don’t worry about it ...part of the process as your tank ages and is normal.

That said... just two words will fix you up...Turbo Snails.

They will DESTROY any hair algae in just a few days...but they get quite large and are like little bulldozers, knocking over corals and stuff. Once it gets the job done, give it back to your LFS. Cheap and effective....worked for me in when my tank was new, no algae since.

Mark

p.s. IMHO...cerith snails (and they are a must have) will help alot in keeping the alage from returning but mine didnt touch it if it was really long and thick....thats turbo work
 
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I will take a turbo snail out of my 150 and see what he can do. Then I will get a few cerith nails. I will post a pic of before and after. Thanks everyone.
 
I took two turbo snails out and they are not doing a very good job. The hair algae was 1" long in some places. It does look better but I thought it disappear faster.
 
black foot trocus snails are exellent algae eaters. the easy way to indentify them in stores, is that they have more of a pyramid shaped snail, with black stripping.
 
Trim it short where you can, not much seems to eat it when it is really long...for some unknown reason.

Patience.....grasshopper.

Mark
 
I hate hair algae...I can't find anything to get rid of it. I'm setting up a new tank soon so I hope I dont have to deal with it much longer.
 
There are some hard to get snails called Zebra turbo snails that are especially good at mowing down hair algae.

If things get really bad, get a small sea hare, put him in for a few weeks, then sell him back to LFS. You will lose money, but they are destroyers of hair algae.
 
I am trying a sea hare now. It has spent the majority of it's time on the sand bed eating the algae there.

Once in a while he wonders up into the vast hair algae forest, but I think it gets frightened and heads back to the dunes.

Of course, I don't know what's worse. The hair algae or the mounds of sea hare poop. That thing is a poop machine.
 
hey t11t5, im jus curious and have a couple of questions. how long did you cycle the tank for? and did you leave any lights on during cycling period? im currently cycling my AP12.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9345468#post9345468 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by m1enbo1
hey t11t5, im jus curious and have a couple of questions. how long did you cycle the tank for? and did you leave any lights on during cycling period? im currently cycling my AP12.

The 12g nano has 15lbs live rock and 12 lbs live sand. The live rock came from my 150g reef tank, this might of helped the cycle. The tank took about 3 weeks to cycle. I did run the lights on a normal cycle. They were on for 10 hours a day. I put 2 turbo snails in the nano to take care of the hair algae. So far they have done a pretty good job. Any other ?'s just ask.
 
I dont hear of this much or read about it, but, when I set up my first tank. I had hair algae everywhere, me Certih would help, but what did most of it was my Emerald Crab... I dont know how common it is for them to eat it, but mine loved it. She would grab clumps of it and tear it up. Just my 2 cents.
 
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