PLEASE HELP: Need Hardy Hair Algae Eaters For Reef Tank

[TheMinicks]

New here and need some advice I have had saltwater before but this is my first attempt at the reef. Here's the skinny I need hair algae eaters that are extremely hardy my nitrates are at 20 which is high for a reef and it's because of the hair algae I've added DI water with no avail and I just recently moved the tank about 2 weeks ago (just purchased it) it was a complete set up with tons of live rock, live sand, flame hawk, damsels, serpent star, purple lobsters, emerald crab, spiky sea cuke, carpet anenome, branch type anenomes (don't remember what they are lol) and it came with the hair algae YEAH lol The system I have is great it's a sump/refugium power heads lots of flow everything is perfect except the algae. All my other levels are good the ph goes from 8.4 to 8.6 sometimes but that's about it. The only problem I have is finding a hardy hair algae eater that will get along with my inhabitants ALSO just to note I have tried Trochus snails and someone keeps eating them so I need a new idea. Thanx

[ReefLady]

Hello and welcome to RS! Sounds nice a nice tank (minus the HA ).

First thing,

my nitrates are at 20 which is high for a reef and it's because of the hair algae

I'm not sure if you actually meant it that way, but the HA is a result of the excess nutrients, not vice versa. Think of nitrates/phosphates as fertilizer.

There are very few critters which will eat HA. The only success stories I know of with HA came from a combination of things, but first and foremost, eliminating the source of the nitrates/phosphates. That, combined with limiting photo periods, ensuring bulbs are not old, rinsing food and not over-feeding, consistent water changes, manual removal of th HA, etc etc. will eventually lead to sucess. But it is often not a quick or easy process.

[TheMinicks]

How do I get rid of the nitrates I'm pregnant so water changes are hard for me lol is there anything else I can do to lower them they are at like 20 but they go lower (down to about 10) or higher (not more than 25) day to day. I need them ideally at .25 (I believe) Thanx

[stonedfish]

Keep the lights on less. I also heard that its not good for a pregnant woman to work on a reef tank. I cant find the article at the moment.

[ReefLady]

Well, ideally they should be 0. but .25 is close enough. ;-) Actually, your nitrates may be a lot higher than your tests are showing - the nuisance algae will "import" a lot of the excess nutrients, so the true level is really hidden.

Hmm...you're really going to need to do consistent water changes to battle this stuff. Nobody that can help? Have you tried siphoning the water out via a plastic tube/hose, and then to replenish with the fresh SW, use a PH to push to water back up to the tank.
I'm sure that lugging the buckets has got to be an issue though. Not sure about that one, besides enlisting some help!

[ReefLady]

I also heard that its not good for a pregnant woman to work on a reef tank. I cant find the article at the moment.

I would agree that's probably true. Lot's of bacteria and microorganisms in a RT.

[TheMinicks]

I was my hands up to my forearms anytime I work with my tank. I also use reef gloves when I work with my tank. There shouldn't be concern about that I've already discussed it with my OB.

[sheren]

I broke my shin in my left leg I paid the boys in the neighborhood to bring the buckets to the second of my house since my ro/di unit is in the basement and I use the hose to drain the old water out. money talks to teenagers

[kospaintball]

I've heard that some sea cucumbers will devour HA. You might try that.

[new reefer 03]

Originally Posted by sheren

money talks to teenagers

Oh Yes it does! lol

well the first step is removing the source of nitrates, and phosphates like stated above. for good algae eaters i would recommend
{ Best to worst }
Sea Hair
Sea Cucumber
LawnMowerBlenny

my dad had horrible hair algae, then he got a sea hair and sea cucumber. once he got the sea hair and cucumbers the hair algae went away in like 2 weeks. i also have a lawnmower blenny and i see him occasionally eat the HA, he mainly waits all day for me to feed him (the spoiled little thing! )

[CAVINCA]

I dont think adding livestock will help the problem. I actually see it as a bad idea atm. She cant really do proper water changes so nitrates are gonna be a big problem like they are now. You can remove the hair alge from your system to export SOME of the nitrates but not all. Just throughing in livestock to take care of it dosnt make sense to me. Think about it. Nitrates come from the decomposition of poop. Feed a baby a lot, its gonna poop a lot. Tada!! more hair alge.

If you dont have any light sensitve corals black out the tank after removing the alge by hand. Follow this with lots of water changes provided by a loving husband (if your married) or money hungry teenagers

You needa find someone to take your nems during your blackout and nitrate reducing period. Im pretty sure they dont fair well with that high of nitrates, and light is imortant to for keeping them. after your system is in check get them back or purchase some new ones.

You should find someone that can help with your water changes, its about the only decent way of dropping your nitrates.

Also check your RO for phosphates.

[BigAl07]

Hello and welcome TheMinicks

Congrats on the pregs but sorry about the Nitrates.

How often DO you do water changes and how much?

What size tank and how long has it been up and running?

What do you have for filtration?

How much Live Sand and Live Rock?

A young, or over stocked or under "filtered" tank will accumulate Nitrates (NO3) because the system can't "Complete" the Nitrogen Cycle. One of the best ways to remove NO3 is via consistent water changes. Not only does this help remove NO3 it also replenishes depleted trace elements and other essentials that your tank NEEDS for long term health.

The trick here is to determine the reason for your NO3 (Which really isn't THAT high) and tackle that along with the reasons for HA!

Trying to use an "Algae Eater" is a short-term solution but it could also be part of the Long Term solution. HA is from excess nutrients. Either Over Feeding, wrong food, unproperly prepared food or over stocking.

How much livestock is in your tank? How often do you feed? What do you feed with?

That's a LOT of questions but the more we know about your tank the better "equipped" we are to help you get to the resolution.

Hang in there and BE CAREFUL!

[TheMinicks]

Ok what happened is I just bought it 2 1/2 weeks ago (moved it wet with all water intact) and the hair algae was already in there when I bought it (it was established for about 1 to 2 years) and when I talked to my aquarist she said he was feeding them WAY too much and that the lights were on WAY too long (11 hours) on his set timer so I did some adjusting (changedlighting to 8 hours) about a week ago and thats helped alot the nitrates went from 50 to 20 I just dont want my babies to sit in that it probably doenst feel good for them. So now I feed them 1 cube of frozen (I rotate each night mysis, kril, and a mix of everything cube) every day instead of the 2 cubes a day he was feeding I feed a tablespoon of the phytoplankton for my corals live rock and other babies that like it once a week. I have a hang on over flow box with a sponge that filters the water slightly before it runs the water down to my sump/refugium (1st chamber) then it passes to my protein skimmer then through my 2nd chamber which is a refugium chamber and then into the 3rd chamber which contains a return pump that runs the clean water back into the tank I also have 2 power heads on seperate sides of the tank for current they are pretty decent size.(all the equipment is top of the line don't know the exact names)
I have 2 inches of live sand and probably 15lbs of live rock (theres alot of live rock in there so I don't know exactly). I have a sea cuke (he's orange with white spikes) a purple lobster, emerald crab, 2 blue damsels, 1 flamehawk, 2 wrasses(missing for a week no bodies???) striped serpent star, 15 little hermit cleaners, 20 snorkel snails, live sand worms, a couple trochus snails (I had 10 somebody pulled them out of the shells and ate them???) a big pink carpet anemone with 2 babies, frog spawn coral medium sized, a white mushroom type branch coral???, 2 medium sized candy cane branch corals and a devils hand leather (my 3 year olds favorite she wakes up early every morning to see it bloom lol) The tank is a 55 gallon Oceanic tech series stainless steel edition. I do have a leather that wouldn't take to a rock and now has fallen down somewhere could it be dying and causing the influx in nitrates?? Also I am married it's just my husband works 11 hours a day and only gets 1 or 2 days off so it's hard to just sit here and wonder if someone is going to be dead in the morning because I can't change the water so I'm freaking out.

[michael_cb_125]

Welcome to RS.
I would work on getting some water changes performed stat. Also, I do not know why some people are recommending sea cucumbers for the removal of hair algae. I do not know of a single cucumber that eats algae. Almost all of them are either sand sifters or filter feeders. NONE that I am aware of eat algae (hair).

IMO, once you are able to get the nitrates down, you should see some improvement. Also, you may want to check your phosphate levels

[BigAl07]

Ok you're probably doing a couple of things to add to it...

You need to thaw/rinse ALL frozen food in RO/DI water to remove the preservatives

That sounds like a LOT of food.