How I got my hair algae under control

[120gallons]

I know a lot of people struggle with it. Here's how I got it under control.

1. Hand scrub rocks to manually remove hair algae
2. Weekly water changes
3. Add hermits (red legged, blue get too big and agressive)
4. Add snails
5. Add a phosban reactor if you don't have one
6. Add a refugium if you don't have one.

There's no magic powder or fish or hermit that will eat it all. It just takes patients and time and removing the nutrients that causes it to grow.

Now for the past 8 months the only algae outside of my sump is coralline and the bit of hair algae in the overflows and on 2 snails how see to enjoy getting haircuts. 8 months ago there was hair algae everywhere though it was a relatively new tank.

[AQTCJAK]

In my 20+ years in this hobby I have notice that the red legs are the aggressors & will tear a blue leg out of it shell just to eat it.

Also only certain snails eat long hair algae not all snails

[Techno-Vicki]

m urchis help as well. You are right, no magic powder.

[shale]

Sea Hares. Mine took care of a large hair algae outbreak in a matter of weeks. The first image is my hare munching on some of the stuff and skillfully avoiding knocking down any corals.

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...642/before.jpg

This picture was taken mid July.

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...3642/after.jpg
This one was taken early august. Hard to see, but the majority of the hair algae is gone! She's a clever girl.

[danfish]

thx for the info

[lcstorc]

I love my sea hare as well and they are great at getting rid of the HA but they can foul your tank if they die so you have to use caution and only use them when the aquarium is well established and relatively stress free for the animal. If you are still cycling then I would not recommend it at all.

[cracker]

iI'm about to start on step 1 of 120's list. I assume LR left in a can of old water( with a pump for water movement) overnight should be ok. Do You Folks agree? Thanks

[BEELZEBOB]

Fw Black Mollies Are The Best Eradicators Of Hair Algea, Id Put Money On It< Strait Up>

[kathywithbirds]

Originally Posted by BEELZEBOB

Fw Black Mollies Are The Best Eradicators Of Hair Algea, Id Put Money On It< Strait Up>

You're kidding. Seriously? Do you buy them FW and slowly acclimate?

I just got my dwarf sea hare, queen conch and fighting conch today. I shall report on their progress.

[AQTCJAK]

Black mollies are easy to aclimate even on the rare occasion when I dont have live SW fish to feed lionfish mollies go in with out aclimation & they live until eaten even if it is days

[Triggerjay]

I had some mollies in my sump on my old multi tank setup. They were in there for over a year... bred, swam, ate, and crapped just like they were in FW. I dont think they knew the difference.

Jason

[AQTCJAK]

Originally Posted by cracker

iI'm about to start on step 1 of 120's list. I assume LR left in a can of old water( with a pump for water movement) overnight should be ok. Do You Folks agree? Thanks

I would say check your water parameters first post your results to see what is said

[SoccerBum474]

i had a guppy that lived in my tank for about a month untill my snowflake finally got it, didnt accilmate either just threw it in there

[BEELZEBOB]

live-barers are pretty hardy fish. Black mollies LOVE hair algae. and they're pretty east to catch too.

[cracker]

I removed one formation of rock, around 25% of the total. I added a lot of dry base in the past & think I over did it. I plan to cull some of the pieces. I need enough time to choose which pieces will go back & mix another batch of water. All with out causing a mini cycle. The rock is so full of detritus, I feel it will choke if left in old water for long. I plan to give it a good scrubing & place it in nsw untill I can choose. Will the nsw stress out the critters that are in the LR? Thanks. Water peramiters test ok but! All The HA tells another story! Thanks
ph 8.4
kh +/- 180
No2 0
No3 0
temp 80% F
sal1.025
P04 0 (?)