Hair algae control ?

[Kristy]

We have a little bit of hair algae in our small tank- 20g. We manually pick it off when we do our weekly water changes, but it does not seem to be improving, so we are thinking about our options for some sort of natural control.

In addition to upping our water changes from twice monthly to weekly, we have also recently reduced our lighting schedule by an hour, so it is now under 150w mh for 8 hours a day instead of 9... could probably reduce it by another hour to see if that helps and / or try replacing the bulb (it's pretty old). We have added a couple of big turbo snails, but they are not interested in helping out with the issue and have just ignored it. It always grows right around a nice frag of green zoos, so we have to use tweezers to prune it, which is getting old.

Also tried a sea hare, who never touched the hair algae for some reason. He did eat other algae for about a week before retiring/expiring hidden in the rocks.

Anyone have experience w/ either emerald crabs or lettuce nudis? Do the crabs eat hair algae? Any other pros and cons with them? Any other suggestions?

It is not a huge problem, just annoying so we thought we would look for other options before it gets any worse. Thoughts? What has worked best for you guys?

-Mike & Kristy

[Kyle46N]

I tried everything also, and had no luck. It was growing well in my tank, but fortunately only on a few rocks. So I manually scrubbed it several times. It always grew back, but at some point a few months ago it ran out of whatever it was using to grow. I have no hair algae now. The only animal that I purchased that I actually witnessed eating the hair algae were chestnut turbos. Bluezoo sells them. They didn't mow it down, but over time would work on it. There was too much for them to get rid of, but they may be keeping it down now. Hard to tell. In any case I understand you being annoyed with the stuff.

[dipan]

Man, I put one [Mexican?] turbo snail in my 20 and he cleaned it out in less than a few days. Almost any nook and cranny. Got it from Gabe. Maybe a different turbo is worth a shot?

[MKCindy]

I have also noticed when I raise the Vit. C and calcium, the green algae disappears.

[sammyinafrica]

I have emerald crabs and they do not eay hair algea, or at least I have never seen them. I have good luck with a lawnmower blenny, and snails...My snails tear it up!

[dmweise]

Lawnmower blenny! They are the best. Not only do they have character but they will mow down hair algae over night.

[JimD]

Five keys to hair algae removal and prevention...
#1, Persistant manual removal.
#2, Regular water changes and zero Nitrates.
#3, "Mexican" turbo snals, the BIG ones.
#4, Dripping Kalkwasser to precipitate Po4.
#5, Patience.

[recoiljpr]

I purchased 2 emerald crabs from Aquarium Designs a little while ago. I had 1 rock completely covered and 2 more starting with hair algae. As of today, I have 0 hair algae for about 2 days. The crabs ate the long stuff, then my snails finished off the rest. They cleaned for me about a medium sized rock (5 lbs) per night. Took them 3 days to blast my hair algae gone.

[corkyGramma]

I have also noticed when I raise the Vit. C and calcium, the green algae disappears.
vit c (acidic) & cal lowers ph, could cause undesirable consequences!

[corkyGramma]

try a fighting or queen conch! They mow everything down when the lights go out-jumping on your LV and leaving a path of algae destruction in the sand! I've also heard good things about the cerith snail (dwarf and reg), apparently doesn't just stay on the glass like their cousins the turbo and astrea snails.

[ballardjr2000]

i use hermits/and snails speaking of snails i have eggs all in my tank now waiting for it then MORE snails lol

[swiatrek]

My foxface loves the stuff. I have purchased live rock totally covered in the stuff, and was warned to scrub it off, but within 2 days it was all gone. I have heard the lawnmower is also a good choice.

[smalls]

+1 on the turbos. for about the first month of my tank NC12DX I had crazy hair algae ( my own fault thought wasnt running any filtration) after I was sure cycle was done i added a couple hermits a mexican turbo and some astrea snails. I also got the filtration in line I run a bag of carbon, seagel (more carbon w/ phosphate remover) and purigen. took the cuc about 2 weeks to take care of it but has not came back for 3-4 months now.

[Kristy]

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone. Looks like we will have to keep at it with persistence, as many of these suggestions for livestock are just too big for the little 20g tank. Will also try to add another big turbo or two to see if that helps us out.

Sounds like no one's tried the lettuce nudis?

[Robb_in_Austin]

I have a GHA farm. I believe mine was caused by old RODI filters, feeding nothing but flake/pellets, and poor maintenance. I tried all the animal treatments; turbos, sea hair, pencil urchin, lawnmower with no real luck. I changed my filters, reduced the flake/pellet feeding, and started manually removing a ton. Then I added a phosphate reactor(actually a Bulk Reef Supply two canister GFO/GAC unit) and this has helped the most. You might look into getting a Two Little Fishies reactor and see what that does for you.

I was ready to use the Algae FX marine as people on RC seem to be having a lot of work with it. But my reactor started limiting it's growth and I'm happy that I don't have to use chemical warfare.

[firecoral3msd]

Maybe I missed it, but I haven't seen anyone mention rinsing frozen food in RODI water. Hair algae feeds on the phosphates in the frozen food. We changed the bulbs, did 30% water changes and manually remove the algae. We have finally beat our hair algae problem in our 24 gal. You just have to keep at it.

[Bill S]

The things (that I remember) I did to try and beat bryopsis - which is the most tenacious hair algae there is:

Rinse all food in RO/DI
2 Phosban reactors
Ozone
UV
No light for 3 days
Increase Mg to 1800 (tried this TWICE - with no result)
600 - yes, 600 turbo snails
20 lettuce nudis
Direct application of kalk paste
Rabbitfish (I had lots of different tangs)
Lawnmower blenny - right...

What worked? Well, I tore down the tank (215 gallons) and managed to kill off all of my sps. Including some real trophy colonies... Bleached the rock for a month, then sat it in fresh water on the deck for 2 more. When I tore it down, I hooked my lone remaining Hiatt filter. I KNOW that I didn't get every piece of bryopsis - there's no way. But none has come back. I don't know if it will work or not - but it is a nutrient removing beast.

[justahobby]

How clean is your sand bed? Old bulbs don't help, but they aren't the food source. Pruning it back is a good defense.If it gets out of hand it gets worse fast. Outgrowing and die off will spur on further growth.

I have seen my emerald crab once. While I was moving the tank and it shocked the heck out of me since he is 2 years old. I never find molted skin either. Who knows what he does for a living.

[Bill S]

Oh, yeah, tried these also:

12 emerald crabs
new MH bulbs
7500k bulb