O'kay. I've been battling a hair algae problem for a while now. I've set up a small fuge that I've loaded with some live rock rubble, a layer of sand and some macro algae (Chaeto and some Red Grassillaria, sometimes called "Tang Heaven".) The macro algae is growing just fine, and I'm starting to get a nice population of Pods in there, too.

I have some snails and crabs in there (at least 15 hermits and about a dozen snails: Nassarius, Cerith and Turbos.) I just don't see much of a difference in the amount of hair algae in the tank, though.

I'm guessing I should manually remove the hair algae and then see if it grows back. Any ideas?

BTW, I use RO/DI water, and skim 24/7. The light for the fuge is also on 24/7. I think I'm taking the right steps. I know it's all about nutirent export. (I've seen Gary's presentation and read his many posts on the topic, too.) But, to I have to get rid of the problem spots first?