Easy way to rid your tank of hair algae

[kkiel02]

So as most of you know the rock in my 125 had become covered in hair algae. When I then finally started to setup the 375 I knew I would have to get rid of this as I was reusing my rock. This was my way of doing so-

First thing I did was cut back on feedings and made sure all the food was eaten. This way it wont decompose somewhere else and add nutrients back into your system.
Next and just as important was changing out my ro/di unit filters. I strongly recomend getting your own unit if you plan on keeping your reef going for awhile. It will save you money in the long run and you can easily test your tds. My tds had gotten into the triple digits, Ill just leave it at that. lol
I also went ahead and unpacked my media reactor from the garage and filled it with GFO. This takes out silicates and phosphates(this is an easy way to rid our tank of diatoms) which algae uses to grow, well the phosphates anyway.

These steps stopped the growth of new hair algae so next I had to rid my tank of what was in there already-
First set here was to add zebramosa species tangs to the tank. These were already on my fishlist so I threw a bunch in there. Just make sure your tank is big enough to house the tangs.
This only took out a little of the algae so I also threw in a starry blenny which also only worked with minimal success.
My next trip to Elegant just happend to be one where they got in their clean up crew so I bought a tons of blue leg hermits probably 100 or so. These little bad boys wiped out the remaining hair algae within a week or so.

I just wanted to share my experience with you and hope it helps as well for you.

Please feel free to add anything that you have tried as well since we all know what works for one person might not work for the next.

[CoryDude]

Think you just about covered it dude! Limit the input of nutrients, export what you can, and let nature's creatures take care of the rest. Ceriths, margarita snails, hermits, and blennies have worked the best for me.

I'd also add that I had great success dosing iron. It'll increase the rate of growth of your macro algaes at the expense of nuisance algae.