Problems With Green Hair Algae

[z28pwr]

The green hair algae is growing out of control. In one week it will fill up the floor of my tank even though I have a Bicolor Blenny and 100 Blue Leg Hermit Crabs it still grows like wildfire. I increased my metal halides from 4 hours a day to 5 hours a day and my skimmer is on 24 X 7 even though I really don't feed the tank anything except a piece of Seaweed every other day for the blenny and the cleaner shrimp to munch on.


The water is RO/DI water.

What do you guys think is the problem. Calcium is at around 380 PPM.

[z28pwr]

It's about 3 months old.

Water was 0 PPM .


When tested 2 months ago.

[TexasState]

What kind of fishes do you have in your tank?
To get rid of your hair algaes, you can do the following:
1) Buy my caulerpa sump ( http://www.swt.edu/~xp42012/trading.htm )
2) If your tank is big enough, get yourself some fishes that would eat hair algae( Red Sea Sohol Tang, small poisonous foxface.)

I setup a new 72 BF, it was immediately covered in an afro of Hair Alage. It only take two days for the Sohol to scrub it down. Your luck may vary from mine of course. I only paid $30 for my Sohol. But they usually cost about $80 to $100 each.

[Tim Marvin]

Give Troy a call, and load your tank up with snails and hermits. Do some water changes to remove some of the phosphates from the system and check that your bulbs are less than a year old. 65k bulbs tend to grow hair very well.

[Buster]

Z28pwr,

We all know how annoying hair algae can be. It is a battle what here are a few suggestions to maybe get you going good again.

First, I would start of with the basics. What is your Ammonia, Nitrates,Phoshates, Calcium and alkalinity? Calcium at 380 is alright, but could be a lot better. I would also look at how long has it been since you do your water changes? How often do you do your water changes? Make sure you are not running products that use glueactantes (I guess that is how you spell it?) in them because as time goes by it builds up and tends to help hair algae start to grow.

Second, I would look towards your lights... How old are the bulbs? Or how many hours a day do you run them, I would try to cut back on the lighting a few hours to help slow the hair algae down.

Third, do you run a protein skimmer? Are you running a lot of leather corals in a tank? What size tank do you have?

All these factors can and normally aid in hair algae growing. Let me know what you find? Good luck.

Nick

[Jimnorris]

Z28pwr,
Nick is right with the questions More often than not old lights, HIGH phoshates and low ph with make hair algae go wild, Do you use kalkwasser? I ask this because this is an excellent way to control/rid hair algae.
Jim

[MikeP]

Although most of his products are snake oil - Marc Weiss's 'Phosphate and Silicate Magnet' really works well in my experience for sucking up undetectable phosphates and silicates. Maybe try that and start a refugium would be my best suggestion. Youc can load up on snails and hermits temporarily but some will starve once the hair algae goes.


For a single animal try either a lettuce nudibrach or a sea hare for algae control.

[z28pwr]

The bulbs are fairly new (Not even 2 months old) .

I checked the Phosphates as Ken had suggested a while back and it was below .03. I checked the nitrate's and they were 0. PH is normally around 8.15 at night and 8.30 during the day. Salinity is ~ 1.022.

I'm starting to do 5 gallon water changes once a week and trying to increase my calcium since it dipped down to 300ppm while I was out on vacation (had nobody to dose).

[Buster]

Z28pwr,

Do you run a lot of leather corals by chance and if so how big is your tank? How long are you running your lights for? How long has the tank been set up? I know some of these might seem like silly questions, but trust me this is how you get to the root of the problem.

Thank you,
Nick

[Tim Marvin]

I have some hair in one of my tanks also. 120 gallon DAS, 2 actinic and 3 actinic white VHO. Bulbs replaced 2 months ago. 30% water changes per month, Skimmer runs 24-7 lights run 12 hour cycle, refugium runs 12 hour lunar cycle, PH 8.1-8.4, Alk 10 DKH, nitrate 0, Phosphate less than I can detect. One green finger leather 12 inch tall, one long polyped sarco that measures 16 inches across the top. Corals too numerous to to type in.

[Buster]

You might find this interesting if you pull the leathers, and do some water changes you might find the hair algae disappears. Leathers tend to slim a lot, which in turn leaves a lot of junk in the water, which we all know hair algae loves.

Z28pwr just a question, but what kind of products are you using to add your calcium, and also what kind of other things do you use? If you can, can you list all the products you use.

Nick