Help!! Hair algae out of control!

[elm0]

I've had a huge explosion of hair algae in my tank...its determined to take over the entire tank...i'm doing regular water changes and keeping my levels in check but it just keeps growing....i wish my corals would spread and grow like this stuff...lol
I need some suggestions on what to do to get rid of it....maybe something that will eat it or something...i have no fish, just corals and inverts...and nothing seems to be stopping it at all.

Thanks for the Help

Kenneth

[GaryP]

OK, first step, calm down and don't panic.

You algal bloom is probably due to a high phosphate levels. Take a look at anything you have changed recently, a change in additives, food, water source, a death, etc. that may have caused this increase. Small water changes aren't usually sufficient to reduce a nutrient spike like phosphate alone. Instead, I normally recommend looking at ways to increase export of nutrients such as Harvesting the algae, physical filtration, chemical filtration (carbon & phosphate absorber), & increased skimming.

As for algae grazers I prefer small hermits such as blue legs. I normally recommend a minimum of 1 hermit per gal. of tank size. Check with one of our sponsors that specializes in cleaner packages. Cerith and Nerite snails are also pretty good algae grazers. I usually try to stay away from astrea and turbos snails, they seem to prefer grazing on glass then rock and substrate where the hair algae is most common.

If you want to read up on hair algae control, I recommend www.garf.com as a good source of info.

[::pete::]

Where is your water coming from? If its an RO/DI has it been checked lately?

[NaCl_H2O]

Everything Gary said, and buy a Yellow or Hippo Tang ... not a cure, but every good algae bloom deserves a hungry Tang :)

[elm0]

thanks for the info....i have some blue hermits and a good selection of diff snails, prob need to increase the numbers, but they dont seem to be affecting it at all

I am using RO\DI water....and still reads 0 ppm
I'm curious to know of any fish or other inverts that could help out

[NaCl_H2O]

The snails Gary listed are the best for Hair algae. A Tang will really graze away at this stuff, but then you have a fish you may not want, and need to feed when the algae is gone.

Please note what others said above: You have hair algae because you have excess nutrients in your water ... where are they coming from? That's what needs to be solved.

I still say it is a good excuse for a pretty Tang :D

[::pete::]

Lettuce nudi

[caz]

Yep... Between my Yellow Tang, Blue Legs and Cerith Snails I have no problems.
My Turbos stay on glass/rock 50/50 and my Astreas stay on glass/rock about 40/60.

[elm0]

i had a yellow tang in there for a while and had this stuff gowing in a few select places and he wouldnt touch it...i even cut way down on his feedings to try and get him to eat the algae and it didnt work....should i try the tang again?

[::pete::]

Most tangs will hit it, but its still a hit and miss. What you need to do is find out why and attack from there.

[NaCl_H2O]

Are you sure it is Hair Algae? Can you post a picture?

How green is it, how long are the strands of "Hair"? Is it "Fuzzy" or "Branching", or just long individual strands?

[akm]

Tangs, rabbitfish and some blennies will eat hair algae. I think those are the three main fish that eat it. I had a whole lot of hair algae untill I got a better skimmer. I went away for two weeks right after I got it and when I got back it was all gone.

[CD]

Kenneth - it is definitely going to be a prudent idea to find the source of your excess nutrients, but something else that might help is a refugium with macro. Macroalgae truly DOES compete for the nutrients that are fueling your display bloom. Worth a try :)

W.

[JesterGrin_1]

CD I have really been thinking of using my refugium and putting Carbon in there as was talked about earlier.

Ideas ? Thoughts ? Pondering lol ?

[TroyPham]

check your lighting also... old bulbs with low par will sometimes cause an out break

[CD]

CD I have really been thinking of using my refugium and putting Carbon in there as was talked about earlier.

Ideas ? Thoughts ? Pondering lol ?

Well hmmm. OK, this is just my opinion, but I sincerely believe that a reefer can go "overkill" on filtration - bear in mind I'm speaking about a tank with corals - not a FOWLR. Carbon will remove organics that the skimmer can't, and is a good media for bacterial growth, but I think some of these organics "may" be good for coral growth in limited amounts. Especially SPS and LPS. IOW, I believe running a slightly "dirty" tank may be beneficial.

We keep a couple of bags of Carbon in the sump of which I'll rotate changing one of the bags out every couple of weeks. Also, I like to use a mixture of LS and refugium "mineral mud" in our 'fuge (aprox. 1/5th of the volume of the sand) which does contain some free Carbon - plus of course the macroalgae (prefer Chaeto). This has worked really well for us, and we've never had a problem with nuisence algae in our display. If I am lax in keeping our macro pruned (IOW, so stuffed that the macro has no more room to grow and pull XS nutrients out of the water) I will notice a sprinkling of diatoms and cyano on the sand bed. After pruning, this "sprinkling" will be gone within no more than two days.

A good example would be Tim Marvin's set up - I don't think he uses Carbon much - if ever - and he has incredible coral growth in his tanks as we all know. So for me? Clean enough to be healthy, but dirty enough to be happy. ;)

W. :)

[Thunderkat]

Hair algae is your friend, unfortunately my algae blenny ate all mine :(

[GaryP]

With friends like that, who needs enemies.

[elm0]

So...should i first start by tearing the tank apart and pulling the algae from the rocks by hand one at a time?

I was running a prizm hangon skimmer but it started acting up, i think maybe the motor went out, what would be a better skimmer i could get that i could use as a hang on, as I have no fuge?

The agae i have is a couple of diff kinds i think, i have some that is long stringy brown but most of it is long fuzzy threads of dark green.

[GaryP]

No, tearing down your tank is not a good idea. I think your skimmer may be the problem. The performance of an HOB skimmer is usually marginal at best. If its not performing at top levels its going to leave enough nutrients in your tank to cause a bloom.

If you tear it down you are going to have to go through cycling stages again and that just means another series of algal blooms. Deal with maximizing the export of nutrients first, then look at increasing your algal grazers.

[TexasTodd]

Elmo, how much are you feeding and how often? You might look in to a different skimmer.

You feeding flake or frozen? Try to quantify for us. If it's frozen, how much would you fill a shot glass up in one day's feedings?

Todd

[elm0]

Since i have no fish in the tank, i've been feeding the frozen formula 2 very sparingly, i'm not home for days at a time, so i feed the tank, maybe once a week, my softies seem ok, but i have had several of my sps frags become bleached, not sure why, not very expierenced with sps.

[thedude]

I'm going to agree with Gary on this way in that your skimmer is underpowered. Prizm's are rated for a tank up to 300 gals but it's obviously not true.

[TexasTodd]

How long has your tank been set up?

When did you last put some live rock in?

How much are you feeding-----quatify, if it's Formula 2, are you using the cubed type? How much of a cube or cubes per feeding? WHAT are you feeding if there are NO FISH in your tank?

Your TDS meter could also be off.

Todd

[J_G]

thanks for the info....i have some blue hermits and a good selection of diff snails, prob need to increase the numbers, but they dont seem to be affecting it at all

I am using RO\DI water....and still reads 0 ppm
I'm curious to know of any fish or other inverts that could help out

If your TDS meter always reads 0 ppm I would tend to believe the meter isnt working properly. You should at least see fluctuations between 0 and 3 or so. Over time the TDS meter should start increasing in the TDS value as your RO/DI filter media ages.

[MikeyBoy]

Clean enough to be healthy, but dirty enough to be happy.



Shoot, this is my motto in life and my fish tank...........imagine that!!!!

[elm0]

Ok..so i manually pulled out as much algea as i could, tested the water, everything looks good, I picked up a good size lawnmower blenny, I was assured that he would tear through the hair algea, he's been in there since sunday but doesnt seem to be interested in the hair algea, he looks very healthy and active though.....Help!!! What do I do now?

[TexasTodd]

Again, what are you feeding that lives in the tank?

What brand and type of food?

How much....quatify.

Todd

[elm0]

well, the blenny is the only fish, only have crabs and snails and corals, i've been feeding frozen formula 2, disolve one cube in 8oz of water and feed about 2-3 oz every couple of days

[TexasTodd]

AH, you don't need to be feeding anything.

Might want to buy one fish though and feed it super lightly.

I'd stop feeding the tank. Those animals should be eating the algae and will if you stop feeding them.

Todd

[elm0]

but why isnt the blenny eating the algea?
Is there some other fish i could get that would have more of an affect?
and dont i have to feed something to the tank for my corals and clam?

[TexasTodd]

Give the blenny some time.

When you quit feeding the tank those other animals will start eating more algae.

Depending on the corals. Many corals eat fish poop. The clam doesn't eat the food you've been putting in. Depending on the type and size of clam, you usually don't need to worry about feeding them as they are pulling other nutrients from the water...not the food you are adding.

For now your blenny should provide enough fish poop.

Keep us updated.

Todd

[gjuarez]

What about a lawnmower blenny, I have heard that those attack it pretty good.

[elm0]

The lawnmower blenny is still seeming to have no affect on the hair algea....what other options do i have

[CD]

1. Better skimmer.
2. Refugium with macroalgae to compete for the nutrients in your water.
3. Increase number of hermits and other grazers in your tank (snails).
4. Decrease nutrient input into your tank water.

Amazingly enough - we have never had a problem with algae in the display, and I contribute a lot of that to a good skimmer and the 'fuge full of macro. I tend to teter on the edge of overfeeding, yet we have NO nuisance algae. As a matter of fact, we got a coral awhile back that had algae growing on the rock...NONE of the hermits or tangs would touch this stuff, yet it disappeared in 3 days ... IMO, due to a great skimmer and the 'fuge with macro. ;)

W. :)

[schoeplein]

3xMexican turbo's consumed an entire back-glass of my old 75g covered in a thick muck of hair algae in 2-3 days. My turbo's typically do rock/glass at 80/20 and my astrea are rock/glass at 10/90. I had UV and carbon with no skimmer at the time. Currently I have a 110g, fuge, UV, skimmer, no carbon (planning on changing this) and hair algae has a rough time staying in the tank (for some reason, everything I pick up from Horizon is covered in several types of algae including hair, bubble and others). That all goes away eventually. Oh and not to mention I changed my lighting from 80w of NO to 745w total of VHO, MH and PC.

If you pick up a turbo or two, be careful, they're reckless and mine are getting quite large. Make sure none of your rock-work is capable of being dislodged or shifted - they can and will cause it to fall/move.

As far as the person with SPS' being bleached, you've got 400w of MH pounding on them -- trying lowering them in the tank or reducing your light cycle. They probably dont need as much as they're being given. :)

[GaryP]

It all comes down to Nutrient Import - Nutrient Export.

If import is greater then export you have an excess that results in an algal bloom. If import = export you have no problem and everything is fine. Take a look at what you are importing (feeding) and what you are exporting (being eaten, skimmed, carbon, filtered, etc.)

[elm0]

Ok i stopped feeding the tank entirely, I still dont see any evidence of the blenny eating any algea.....I'm gonna be out of town all week, so I guess we'll see what it looks like when i get back.

Thanks for all the info.

[TexasTodd]

Also, formula for sps tanks...........1 Astrea snail per 2 gallons, 1 Cerith snail per gallon.

TT

[runamukus]

I have the same problem. I got some more hermits, a lawnmower Blenny which is very entertaining to watch eat the algae, some green crabs (emeralds) and changed my filters. I also changed the way my lighting works, so I don't have them on full blast all day - first set comes on in the morning, second set comes on around noon, then the second set goes off around 5. If you give the algae too much light it'll go crazy. I notice a BIG difference once I timed my lighting. Everything else is slowly grazing it all away and I am currently watching my hair algae disappear. OH and snails are very important! Get some turbos. When you clean the glass, be sure your skimmer and your filters are working at their best. I also cut back my feeding to the fish, too much nutrients will create havoc too.
So that’s my 10cents worth. Good luck! Because I know that hair algae will make you CRAZY :wacko

[GaryP]

IMO the control of an algae problem has to start with water chemistry. Herbivores are important but you have to have a whole lot to do any good. Chances are the blenny will only eat it at about the same rate that it grows. Grazing actually encourages growth of most plants.

[bakerk]

Lawnmower Blennies are super cute- unfortunately they seem to prefer to eat the algae you have to buy in dried sheets rather than anything that grows... :)
Last year when I had a horrendous algae disaster I got a book by Julian Sprung on algae so this year when hair algae started creeping up on me I was prepared... ;)
The book suggests:
maintain alkalinity above 8dKH, use phosphate export via protein skinning, algae filters or phosphate absorbing media. Herbivores. Remove by hand.
So I cleaned the skimmer(pump/air valve) and replaced my actinic bulb (didn't know how bad it was until I put in the new one! :roll ).
Most importantly though I checked my alkalinity and it was way low. :( So now it's back to kalkwasser...
The thing about alkalinity is this: corraline algae is going to love it. The hair algae is going to starve off because higher alkalinity levels cause phorphates to precipitate rather than stay available as nutrient source in the water.
I also got Turbo snails and at least they give it a try but I wouldn't depend on herbivores for complete algae control. Good Luck :).