hiar algae

[leslie]

My sister has a 26 bow front. She is having a problem with hair algae. here is some history on her tank. set up since may of 2005
fish= 2 percs, 1 lmb, 1 purple fire fish, and 1 1in. hippo (to be transfered to my 100 when time comes). 1 cleaner shrimp, 5 snails, 1 blue leg, 5 red leg crabs, 1 sandsifting star.
corals = 1 frogsapawn, green button, candy cane, clove pollups, shrooms, and a few zoos.
water parameters are as follows
ammonia = 0
nitrite = 0
nitrates = 0
cal = 450
ph = 8.0
alk = doesnt even register on color chart
phos. = 0.4
she does a 3 gal water change every other week (ro/di only) rom the windmill station. Any sugestions on how to bring up alk and get rid of this hair algae would be greatly appreciated.

[gjuarez]

You have to have alk because then the ph would be out of wack. Its still a little low but it shouldnt be too much of a problem. I would suggest trying another test kit before you dose anything to bring alk up. Phosphates are better if undetected with a standard test kit. i am sure that is the reason for the hair algae. I can think of 3 options to help bring it down: 1. A refugium with macro algae 2. A phosphate binder ex. phosban 3. a couple of large water changes. Does your sister feed heavily? A lot of the phosphates come from the food.

[MattK]

Listen to the Episode 1 http://www.reefcast.com/

[GaryP]

Leslie,

I'm guessing she probably doesn't have a protein skimmer. Phosphates are the problem. As Jerry said, any positive indication is a problem. You can have a phosphate problem even if it reads zero. The best test for a high phosphate problem, is green stuff growing in your tank. Nuisance algae problems are always a problem of more nutrients (especially phosphate) being imported then are being exported by the filtration equipment and water changes. Water changes alone are not a very efficient means to control nutrients.

Solutions:

1. Add a skimmer if possible.
2. Use carbon and a phosphate binder if possible.
3. Continue with water changes.
4. Add physical filtration, if possible. Clean filters at least weekly.
5. Add a small fuge with macro algae, if possible.
6. Add more herbivores such as the hermits. At least 1/gal. is a good place to start for stocking. Snails such as Astrea may help if its the shorter fuzzy type of hair algae (Derbesia). Snails are not effective on the long stranded, more hair-like algae (Entermorpha).
7. Get your alkalinity up above 8.0 DKH.

Hope that helps.

[leslie]

Thanks for the help. She has a skimmer, we added aprox. 2o pounds of live rock yesterday. What should we do to raise the alk?

[Richard]

alk = doesnt even register on color chart


What kind of test kit are you using. The good test kits use titration where you add drops until the solution changes color and the calculate the alk off of how many drops you added. I wouldn't trust a alk kit that uses a color chart. There's no way you have zero alk.

[GaryP]

A couple of the multi-test kits don't give you an numerical result. They just say low, medium, & high, or some such thing. The question is low compared to what?

Get a real kit such as a salifert.

[leslie]

We used a red sea test kit. She took a water sample to her lfs, but they said they do not test customers water. What test kit do you recommend she gets?

[JimD]

Like Gary said, Salifert. Theyre probably the most accurate test kits out there. Check with Richard at CB pets, he may be able to hook you up.

[cbianco]

phos. = 0.4... she does a 3 gal water change every other week (ro/di only) from the windmill station.

Try going to a different location for water. Many times maintenence is neglected on these machines and they are not working up to par like they should be.

I also use water machines. I prefer "Glacier" brand (HEB Stores) or the water machine inside of Wal-Mart (not sure of the brand).

Good Luck! :)

Christopher

[GaryP]

Alkalinity is raised by adding buffer. There are several good brands you can use. I perfer using the solid buffers that you mix in your own water. This may not be as good for you since you are buying water.

The trick to adding buffer is to add it very slowly. You can drip it in slowly by siphoning it into a high flow area using some air tubing and a little plastic air valve to regulate the drip rate. The key is to test before and after adding the a certain amount of the supplement. This allows you to figure out how much of the supplement raises the levels in the tank by whatever the difference between the first and second test readings. This information can be used to tell you what a certain amount of supplement will increase your levels.

I would also suggest you do a lot of testing in the beginning to see how fast your levels decrease in a day or a week. This will allow you to determine how much additive to add per day or week to maintian the levels where they need to be. Alkalinity does drop fairly quickly and you may need to add buffer a couple of times a week.

[leslie]

thank you everyone. My sister was using a buffer once a week and stopped doing it (lazy :) ). She is going to start using it again, and I suggested that she go to her lfs this week and get some phosban. Thank you again for all your help

[GaryP]

Your welcome, that's why we are here.

[gjuarez]

Good call Joshua, but starving it to death could be a difficult task with this tank. The reason being that there is corals and the light has to be on, so that will make it a bit more difficult. Leslie, have your sister try one of Gary's suggestions and then ask her to get some turbo snails. That should take care of it.

[GaryP]

Controlling hair algae requires a multi-faceted approach.

Increasing export, decreasing import, and increasing grazing. It usually takes more then one action to get control of it.

[Thunderkat]

I have been doing all kinds of things in my tank to combat hair algae and slowly but surely I am winning and in my opinion I think cerith snails are by far the best things you can use to combat hair algae. I wonder what would happen if I loaded up on ceriths...only have about 9 in a 55 gallon.

[GaryP]

I would at least triple that number. I usually recommend one per gallon. They do work well. Unlike turbos they don't mind getting of the glass and working over the rocks. Nerite snails are good for that too.