The Users' Guide to Green Hair Algae
[a companion to the cyano thread]
Green Hair is actually tougher to get rid of than cyano---because it pretty well WILL run its course in a tank.
But it's a pretty straightforward algae. It loves phosphate. It grows like mad in a new tank.
A lot of new people, hearing the bit about phosphate, run out and get a phosphate test. This is pretty useless for the green hair algae period of a tank. Of course you have phosphate---it's in that green wavy stuff. The ordinary tests you get can't read the level accurately while it's bound up in the algae, but it's in there. A lot of it.
How does phosphate get into my tank? ("But I used ro/di!!!!") If you DIDN'T use ro/di, you have a WHOLE lot of it. Conditioned tapwater is usually a real prime source. But---if you did use ro/di, it's from an unavoidable source: your sand and rock. It starts leaching out of both as both are exposed to salt water, and it will go on leaching out into your water as long as the phosphate lasts in the sand and rock. So as you get rid of some, the water helpfully dissolves more of it, and round and round you go. It's a new tank. This is life.
How do you get rid of it? A) export it. IE, get a toothbrush, wind, and yank and toss. Watch your outflow: if those teeth clog, your pump goes on working, and your tank can overflow. B) export it via a FUGE. Dedicate part of your sump to setting up a separate sandbed with live rock and a ball of cheatomorpha algae under strong light. (I use a 6500 k CFL) The cheato loves phosphate. At the start, it'll take it up from its own rock and sand. As it doubles in size, cut off half and give it to your friends. You're giving them phosphate, but they'll be grateful... C) get a GFO reactor, aka Phosban reactor, a simple little device that sits in your sump, with a small pump, and cycles water through GFO (granulated ferrous oxide, aka iron pellets). This stuff binds phosphate. There are also phosphate sponges, for little tanks. Like the fuge (and you can set up both) it takes several months to do the job. It is faster than a fuge, however. D) Feed in moderation where it comes to green stuff. Feeding fish green tablets or feeding corals phyto is adding a little bit to the problem. It's necessary, however. Just be aware it is a source, and a gfo reactor may be a recurring feature in your sump. [You can overdo phosphate removal: it is a useful element, and copepods and blennies need the green----in moderation.] E) do your weekly water changes. Every load of used water you throw out is sending some phosphate down the drain, and every load of new ro/di based water you put in dilutes the phosphate load in your tank. [of course more phosphate will leach out of your rock to 'fill' this nice water---but keep at it---you'll win.]
You'll notice that in the list I did NOT include "getting something to eat it." A) hermits and snails are good---but they just poo it back into the water. And they can't eat the 'long' stuff, just the tasty short algae. So you'll be winding and yanking to get down to that. OTOH, they'll be useful as your tank matures and has waste to get rid of. B) other things you get to eat it will either starve once it runs out or you'll end up feeding a lot of green food to keep them alive. This is fine if you LIKE this species-whatever-it-is. But mithrax crabs grow and take nips out of fish, urchins grow big and knock down your rockwork, and as I say, be sure you really love the critter, because it will NOT eat enough algae to clean one rock, let alone all of them. I should also add: C: do NOT use a chemical algae killer. Remember that tricky tank chemistry you lovingly nurtured all through your cycle? Don't mess it up. Chemical fixes may work for a stock pond. Your tank---no. You will find chemical fixes offered for various tank problems you run into. You will notice that my fix for this one is a slower, natural way, which experienced hobbyists use even though we are perfectly aware of those "miracle instant fixes." There is a reason we do it the slower, natural way and avoid things that may suddenly dump a huge dead bioload into a tank (not to mention the 'killer' aspect of the fix)---the result is pretty much that of having a juicy dead begonia chopped up and dropped into your tank: and remember that phosphate? It just keeps leaching out. Or, in the case of other chemical fixes, it's a lot like having a dead mackerel added to your tank. Overnight dead bioloads from a 'miracle fix' (be the problem vegetable or animal) are not good even for a mature tank. For a new and delicate one---they're even worse. Avoid chemical fixes until you are an expert---and by the time you are an expert, you will understand in far greater chemical detail why they're not good.
Once you have gotten the phosphate out of your tank, the hair algae, and the film algae, will slow and stop. You want a little film algae for copepods, blennies, and snails. But if you have a fuge, you'll have plenty of copepods.
RIght now, in my tank, which is mature---I could take a rock with 6 inch long hair algae all over it, drop it in my tank, and a week later, it'd be on its way to bare rock. A mature tank just doesn't grow this stuff.
That's the good news. The bad news is---once you get done with the hair algae, the next plague is vallonia, aka 'bubble algae,' but its actually a pretty texture, and visitors often describe it as "What's that pretty stuff? Is that a coral?"
When I have time, I'll talk about bubble.
[a companion to the cyano thread]
Green Hair is actually tougher to get rid of than cyano---because it pretty well WILL run its course in a tank.
But it's a pretty straightforward algae. It loves phosphate. It grows like mad in a new tank.
A lot of new people, hearing the bit about phosphate, run out and get a phosphate test. This is pretty useless for the green hair algae period of a tank. Of course you have phosphate---it's in that green wavy stuff. The ordinary tests you get can't read the level accurately while it's bound up in the algae, but it's in there. A lot of it.
How does phosphate get into my tank? ("But I used ro/di!!!!") If you DIDN'T use ro/di, you have a WHOLE lot of it. Conditioned tapwater is usually a real prime source. But---if you did use ro/di, it's from an unavoidable source: your sand and rock. It starts leaching out of both as both are exposed to salt water, and it will go on leaching out into your water as long as the phosphate lasts in the sand and rock. So as you get rid of some, the water helpfully dissolves more of it, and round and round you go. It's a new tank. This is life.
How do you get rid of it? A) export it. IE, get a toothbrush, wind, and yank and toss. Watch your outflow: if those teeth clog, your pump goes on working, and your tank can overflow. B) export it via a FUGE. Dedicate part of your sump to setting up a separate sandbed with live rock and a ball of cheatomorpha algae under strong light. (I use a 6500 k CFL) The cheato loves phosphate. At the start, it'll take it up from its own rock and sand. As it doubles in size, cut off half and give it to your friends. You're giving them phosphate, but they'll be grateful... C) get a GFO reactor, aka Phosban reactor, a simple little device that sits in your sump, with a small pump, and cycles water through GFO (granulated ferrous oxide, aka iron pellets). This stuff binds phosphate. There are also phosphate sponges, for little tanks. Like the fuge (and you can set up both) it takes several months to do the job. It is faster than a fuge, however. D) Feed in moderation where it comes to green stuff. Feeding fish green tablets or feeding corals phyto is adding a little bit to the problem. It's necessary, however. Just be aware it is a source, and a gfo reactor may be a recurring feature in your sump. [You can overdo phosphate removal: it is a useful element, and copepods and blennies need the green----in moderation.] E) do your weekly water changes. Every load of used water you throw out is sending some phosphate down the drain, and every load of new ro/di based water you put in dilutes the phosphate load in your tank. [of course more phosphate will leach out of your rock to 'fill' this nice water---but keep at it---you'll win.]
You'll notice that in the list I did NOT include "getting something to eat it." A) hermits and snails are good---but they just poo it back into the water. And they can't eat the 'long' stuff, just the tasty short algae. So you'll be winding and yanking to get down to that. OTOH, they'll be useful as your tank matures and has waste to get rid of. B) other things you get to eat it will either starve once it runs out or you'll end up feeding a lot of green food to keep them alive. This is fine if you LIKE this species-whatever-it-is. But mithrax crabs grow and take nips out of fish, urchins grow big and knock down your rockwork, and as I say, be sure you really love the critter, because it will NOT eat enough algae to clean one rock, let alone all of them. I should also add: C: do NOT use a chemical algae killer. Remember that tricky tank chemistry you lovingly nurtured all through your cycle? Don't mess it up. Chemical fixes may work for a stock pond. Your tank---no. You will find chemical fixes offered for various tank problems you run into. You will notice that my fix for this one is a slower, natural way, which experienced hobbyists use even though we are perfectly aware of those "miracle instant fixes." There is a reason we do it the slower, natural way and avoid things that may suddenly dump a huge dead bioload into a tank (not to mention the 'killer' aspect of the fix)---the result is pretty much that of having a juicy dead begonia chopped up and dropped into your tank: and remember that phosphate? It just keeps leaching out. Or, in the case of other chemical fixes, it's a lot like having a dead mackerel added to your tank. Overnight dead bioloads from a 'miracle fix' (be the problem vegetable or animal) are not good even for a mature tank. For a new and delicate one---they're even worse. Avoid chemical fixes until you are an expert---and by the time you are an expert, you will understand in far greater chemical detail why they're not good.
Once you have gotten the phosphate out of your tank, the hair algae, and the film algae, will slow and stop. You want a little film algae for copepods, blennies, and snails. But if you have a fuge, you'll have plenty of copepods.
RIght now, in my tank, which is mature---I could take a rock with 6 inch long hair algae all over it, drop it in my tank, and a week later, it'd be on its way to bare rock. A mature tank just doesn't grow this stuff.
That's the good news. The bad news is---once you get done with the hair algae, the next plague is vallonia, aka 'bubble algae,' but its actually a pretty texture, and visitors often describe it as "What's that pretty stuff? Is that a coral?"
When I have time, I'll talk about bubble.
