20 gallon long hair algae

[ducati996]

im getting a slight hair algae problem in tank wats the best way to get rid of this stuff whats in the tank now is a 14 head krypotnite trumpet 2 three head trumpet frags a few palys some zoas a large open brain a carpet anemone a flame scallop keyna tree a frag of monti and about 10 ponds of live rock also 2 maroons a diamond watchmen goby and a strawberry pseudo and a few other corals i dont remember the names of lol

[rrasco]

There are a few things at play here. If you are getting excess algae in the tank, it is feeding on something. Namely Nitrates and Phosphates. You can get those from a few places: water source, feeding, and lack of nutrient export. In order to combat them, the best method is to reduce their introduction into the system (clean water source, less feeding) and you can also work on increasing their export (water changes, refugium, skimmer, algae turf scrubber, GFO). Introducing livestock to consume the algae may be effective as a work around, but it doesn't address the real problem here: excess nutrients. It also has the possibility of meaning your newly added livestock that consume the algae could go hungry once the algae is gone.

So my questions to you would be:

1. What is your water source?
2. What filtration are you running? (skimmer, fuge, etc)
3. How often do you perform water changes? How much?
4. What are your current parameters?
5. How long is your light cycle?

[ducati996]

1. RO water
2. just a hang on back emperor 400 filter udrilled tank "i know"
3. 25% water changes evey week although i did slack a little this month
4. all parameters are good
5. this is probably my most unstable portion is my light cycle everything grows well in the tank but when im gone out of town my wife leaves the light on for 12hr or someties she just forgets to turn it off any suggestion on what the light cycle should be im currently running t5 coralife fixture soon to be swapping over to LEDS

[rrasco]

What 'parameters are good'? Do you have a nitrate and phosphate test kit?

An emp 400 will work, that's what I ran on my first reef. But I eventually added a sump and upgraded setups. You don't 'need' one, it just makes it easier to run different types of filtration.

Long light durations can cause excessive algae growth. I have since learned, but completely eliminated an algae problem on a FW tank by changing the light cycle. I would recommend getting a timer, without one, you will forget. I know from experience. I would aim for around 8 hours. My LEDs are on for about 12 hours, but that included a sunrise/sunset where they don't get full light, and the whites are only run for 6 hours at peak power, so it's more like an 8 hour cycle with fade up/down.

[ducati996]

my nitrates are good ph, kh , amonia, all good

[BBQHILLBILLY]

make sure the t5 bulbs are new. Based on my experience, t5s and vhos Will grow red cyano and bubble algae. From what I have seen, LEDs appear to be a cleaner light, hence the bad algae. for me, is allmost gone. I run LEDs close to 15 hrs a day and their Not growing red cyano or bubble algae, like tubes or bulbs.

[Big_Pun]

come on Shane they are not magic LEDs, I've seen plenty of tanks with LEDs and cyano problems. I have 2 service customers who had problems with cyano and have LEDs. cyano is not grown by type of light but many other factors and more of a bacteria than a algae. it's cycles through as bio load changes or changing salts or dosing thing like amino acids. your elimination may be from your tank maturing.

just hang in there keep up with water changes using good quality water, make sure bulbs are fresh, cut light time back a little, get a timer I have some if you want one. you said ro water do you mean RO/DI water ,do you get it from a LFS or make it yourself. what your filtration for that tank. also coralife doesn't make a t5 ho it's just a t5 light I believe with low wattage.

[BBQHILLBILLY]

lol. Just sharing my experience. Like you mentioned, Im sure there are other reasons. :bigsmile:
I do disagree with the cyano. Both MH and t5 bulbs will grow cyano. I have not seen LED do that.

[Europhyllia]

I disagree on the reduced feeding. ;)
(unless of course you are doing coral only -then by all means reduce feeding)

rinse your frozen food well. don't feed preservative stuff.

get good grazers. Mexican Red Legs are my favorite. Most other critters have disappointed me in regards to hair algae but I love these and they are cheap.

No idea about cyano (I got LEDs LOL :p)

[rrasco]

T5 has a tendency to encourage cyano when the bulbs age and they begin to shift spectrum into the red wavelengths. I don't have any experience with MH. I do find it telling I have cyano in my fuge but absolutely zero in the DT. That could be contributed to other factors, but there are LEDs on the tank. The cyano is beginning to die off since I switched from 5000K to 2700K and added an ATS.

Karen, it's worth noting that rinsing frozen food has been studied and in conclusion it was determined that the amount of phosphates contained in the food is exponentially higher than what you can rinse off. There is almost no benefit to rinsing.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/3/chemistry

[BBQHILLBILLY]

Purigen

[Big_Pun]

chemipure elite is great also, emily uses it on her 20g long along with brightwells export po4. she has used t5 and leds on that system with no algae problems, filtration is a aquaclear70 moded to be a fuge. the aquaclear has become a turf scrubber and works well to remove waste.

[mkengr45]

I run all LEDs and have cyano.....3 AI SOLS and 6 Panorama Pros over a 144 half circle. Getting a bit ****ed about it too. I think it is a tank maturity issue. Recently transfered contents from old tank into this new tank. In the old tank I never had any cyano at all...

[Scutterborn]

I run all LEDs and have cyano.....3 AI SOLS and 6 Panorama Pros over a 144 half circle. Getting a bit ****ed about it too. I think it is a tank maturity issue. Recently transfered contents from old tank into this new tank. In the old tank I never had any cyano at all...

Randy, you should trade me those AI Sols for 3 250w MH pendants! Lol! That'll fix your problem.


-Ben-

[Big_Pun]

Randy, you should trade me those AI Sols for 3 250w MH pendants! Lol! That'll fix your problem.


-Ben-

dr Tim's is on it's way !!

[ducati996]

got me a red sea urchin to help with hair algae problem ill let u know how he does right now i cant keep him off my powerhead he is getting all the algae off it right now

[kkiel02]

Just make a simple algae turf scrubber and never worry about any nuisance algae again. Then again you have to wait a couple months for it to get going. I use the older method I hear there are even more efficient methods out there now. For $20 you would be good to go on that small of a tank. The only problem I see is that you may have trouble fitting it under the stand.

[Big_Pun]

or make one like emily did by accident lol. the over flow on her aqua clear grows algae like no tomorrow, light comes from fixture and her 20g is ultra clean. it take a few months to happen

[ducati996]

Its clean now i think dosing it with micro bacteria #7 worked great and the urchin went to work on the tank like crazy i uploaded photos in my album

[kkiel02]

or make one like emily did by accident lol. the over flow on her aqua clear grows algae like no tomorrow, light comes from fixture and her 20g is ultra clean. it take a few months to happen

Yeah I was getting mad at mine for awhile and wanted to take it down but looking back Im glad I didnt.

Ducati glad it cleared up for you!

[ducati996]

Thanks checkout the pictures