I have a 30 gallon tank that's been set up for 1 year now. I've had a terrible problem with hair algae for about 8 months now. I've used Phosguard and Algone. I added a sailfin blennie. I've used an additive called STOP hair algae, as well as an additive by Weiss, I think. Also I've added some of the hair algae reef janitors and grunge from the garf site. I've even harvested it by hand, which seemed to make it thicker and longer. Nothing really seems to help and it always comes back. Water tests come out fine and I do regular water changes. I recently changed the lights and frankly, I don't know what else to do. Please help!!
Please help with hair algae.
- Thread starter CLOUD3
- Start date
are you using tap water?
how is the Water flow? Overfeeding? Long photocycle?
This is what i did.... I switched To R/O water.....
shorten light cycle
make sure the fish eat all you the stuff you feed
"Be patient when feeding"
do you have a mechanical filter? If so clean it more often.
And also Scrape"brush the algae" off the rocks with something then use a fish net and dump it...... It worked for me
:edit you can also try a Big mexican turbo snail"those guys are very good @ eating algae
how is the Water flow? Overfeeding? Long photocycle?
This is what i did.... I switched To R/O water.....
shorten light cycle
make sure the fish eat all you the stuff you feed
"Be patient when feeding"
do you have a mechanical filter? If so clean it more often.
And also Scrape"brush the algae" off the rocks with something then use a fish net and dump it...... It worked for me
:edit you can also try a Big mexican turbo snail"those guys are very good @ eating algae
I used RO water for a while which didn't seem to help, so now I've switched back to filtered tap water (it's cheaper). I don't feed more than can be eaten in 3 minutes. Usually I feed twice a day, flake food in the morning, and either 1 cube of mysid shrimp or frozen cycloeeze at night. Is this too much? What exactly is photoPERIOD?
photoperiod = the time that the lights are on each day.
It is suggested that you defrost and rinse mysid shirmp before adding then to you tank. This gets rid of the nutrients in the juice that the fish will not be able to eat, but the algea will enjoy.
If you have a reasonable amount of live rock in your tank, then its better not to run a wet/dry filter. The live rock will provide the biological filtration that the wet/dry filter provides, and the live rock is less likely to trap detritus that the wet/dry filter collects.
If your protein skimmer isn't skimming anything out anymore, then it needs to be adjusted again.
For me right now, it seems that the most effective tool against algea has been the turkey baster. Any detritus that collects needs to be blown back into the water column so that it can be taken out by the protien skimmer, or eaten by fish or corals.
Good luck,
Greg
It is suggested that you defrost and rinse mysid shirmp before adding then to you tank. This gets rid of the nutrients in the juice that the fish will not be able to eat, but the algea will enjoy.
If you have a reasonable amount of live rock in your tank, then its better not to run a wet/dry filter. The live rock will provide the biological filtration that the wet/dry filter provides, and the live rock is less likely to trap detritus that the wet/dry filter collects.
If your protein skimmer isn't skimming anything out anymore, then it needs to be adjusted again.
For me right now, it seems that the most effective tool against algea has been the turkey baster. Any detritus that collects needs to be blown back into the water column so that it can be taken out by the protien skimmer, or eaten by fish or corals.
Good luck,
Greg
Buster4900
New member
Try feding once every other day. I have been feeding this way for a long time with no problems.
What is your nitrate level? phosphate?
You have to use ro water... if you want to get rid of the algae stop with the tapwater and never use that again.
The red bubbly stuff is called cyanobacteria... means you either do not have enough water flow in your tank or you have an excess of nutrients OR both. I had this in my tank once and tried medications but it kept comming back until I added some extra power heads in the problem areas.
You have to use ro water... if you want to get rid of the algae stop with the tapwater and never use that again.
The red bubbly stuff is called cyanobacteria... means you either do not have enough water flow in your tank or you have an excess of nutrients OR both. I had this in my tank once and tried medications but it kept comming back until I added some extra power heads in the problem areas.
