Need some major help with GREEN HAIR ALGAE!!!

[Derek B]

OK, This stuff has slowly started to take over my tank. I switched to RO/DI water recently, which is confusing me to death as to why this is happening. The only thing I can think of is that I added a 400 watt 10K XM bulb to my setup. I phased it in really slowly, but still got the green hair.

All that is besides the point .... can anyone give me some suggestions as to how I can get rid of it. I really can't syphon it out as it is attached to the rock to well.

[ratboy]

I dont know how old your tank is but if you are having algae problems first thing to do is cut your light cycle waaay back. If you dont have corals I would run your tank without lights or actinics only until it gets under control. Do a big water change and save the water in 2-3 buckets. Take out all of your rock and scrub it with a toothbrush in bucket 1. transfer to bucket 2 rinse, bucket 3 rinse then back into the tank. Add a bunch of clean up critters and if your lighting isnt blasting they should be able to keep up with the algae growth until your phospates drop (prob the cause).

[reefer]

you could get a sea hare (dolabella auricularia), they will clean your tank nicely! i believe aquadome in austin may have one.
8)

[JimD]

Drip kalk, it precipitates PO4, and, incorperate a refugium to export eccess nutrients. If the tank is young, say less than a year or so, algae cycles are normal and to be expected.

[Andrew]

poly-filter (has worked well for my tank), or some other phosphate/nitrate removing media would most likely help. Light intensity may be the culprit, or, could be contributing to heavy stocked tank, heavy feeding, etc.

Hair algae seems to be a common occurance in new setups, and when making halide upgrades. Along with cutting back on feeding and light, a rabbitfish or lettuce nudibranch may help with the hair. Are you using a skimmer? Refugium?

Andrew

[GaryP]

Cutting your lights back may slow the growth, but not root cause of your problem. The root cause is excess nutrients, primarily phosphate.

I fought hair algae for years until I discovered 2 things. The importance of using RO water, not tap, and keeping a clean up crew in my tanks. Back in those days GARF's "reef janitors" was the way to go. Now just about every vendor has a clean up crew that will do the job. I have seen the reef janitors clean up a major hair algae problem in a week or two. Of course starting off by cleaning a lot of it off your LR as was mentioned earlier will help too. The clean up crew will not only graze on the algae, but the dwarf hermit crabs will also eat any excess food in the tank, thus helping to reduce phosphates resulting from uneaten food.

One thing I found out about turning your lights off, or cutting them back, when you have a large hair algae crop is that your oxygen concentration and pH can drop sharply when the lights are off. All that hair algae
produces CO2 when the lights are off. That may slow down growth, but it can also be very detrrimental to your critters.

Ultimately, controlling hair algae comes down to two things, putting in less nutrients and removing more (import/export). Smaller, more frequent feeding is the only way to control nutrient import. There are several ways to increase export as have been mentioned such as grazers, a refugium, Kalk, and "phosphate pads". A combination of several may be effective.
Running carbon, aggressive skimming, and frequent water changes are also helpful. However, I feel that carbon is only useful for short periods of time. The organic phosphates trapped by the carbon are broken down by bacterial action and inorganic phosphate is released back to the water. I still feel that it can be effective if you change your carbon frequently, but this can be expensive. It still can be another tool available to you.

Gary

[Derek B]

Part of my problem is that I need more critters to clean up the mess. All I reall have in my tank (65g) is a dozen Astrea snails and some other snails. I am going today to buy about 6 turbo snails and will see how they do.

I have a skimmer that is rated for a tank 5 times the size of mine (Lifereef), so skimming is not an issue. However, I do not run any carbon or Phospahe remover, so I will probably bite the bullet and get a HOT magnum hang-on filter and start running the chemical filtration.

I think I have aplan of attack, so thanks all for the comments ans suggestions.

Derek

[GaryP]

IMO Turbo's don't do a very good job on hair algae. They'll just stick to cleaning the glass. Cerith and Nerite snails work much better and are a lot cheaper.

Gary

[Tim Marvin]

The small mexican turbo's with the black shells work great also and they like the rocks as much as the glass.. I don't even sell the bulldozers anymore.

[Derek B]

I agree wit Tim, The Mexican Turbos are the best. I think that's what I got yesterday (they looked like Mexicans to me), so I will see how they do. They seemed to be feasting on the algae when I checked on them last night.

[brewercm]

If they are the Mexican Turbos they'll mow through it in no time. I've had excellent luck with them in the past. They really help with the rocks staying clean along with the glass like Tim said.

[BA]

i don't know about u guys bout my cowrie snail have done a GREAT job on hair algae, ate it ALL up, anytime i see some hair algae by the next day it is gone.

[cvonseggern]

I've heard that Mexican turbos are actually cold-water animals and tend not to live very long in a tropical aquarium. Is there any truth to that?

[brewercm]

I bought a dozen about 10 months ago and although I lost about half once they devourd the algae. I've heard the same thing about colder water, but my water averages around 82 and they do fine.
Not sure how they got the name Mexican Turbos, but the gulf waters and beaches around Mexico can get fairly warm.
On second thought maybe it's all the tequilla that makes the water feel warm. :-D

[dan]

once you have the algae under control you could add some yellow tangs. they will keep algae at bay. i have five in mine and and man they do the job.

[GaryP]

I think you may be thinking about the red footed turbos. They are the cold water turbo species. I didn't find out about that until after I bought three of them. They didn't last a week in my tank.

As far as hermits go, I have always had some of the red legged dwarf hermits from GARF. They don't get big enough to be a pest and they will chow down on hair algae.

My favorite combination for hair algae is nerite and cerith snails and mexican dwarf hermits.

Gary