Attack of the Killer Hair Algae!!!

[TheSaltwaterKid]

Here’s the problem, my friend has a 55 gallon reef tank and he’s been battling a vicious hair algae outbreak. After months of trying to siphon the stuff out and using phosphate removers and doing massive water changes and buying all new filter/media for his R/O DI unit we were both convinced that the problem had to lie (literally) in his sand bed so he bought all new live sand, we tore down his tank, taking all corals, fish and live rock out and draining the water and taking the tank outside and emptying out all of the old sand (including cleaning out his HOB refugium of all it’s refugium mud and hosed everything out. After taking a toothbrush to his live rock to get as much hair algae off as possible we set the tank back up, put in a totally new live sand bed and then put in 25 gallons of new R/O DI saltwater, put all of the live rock and corals back in and topped it off with about 15 or so gallons (after displacement from rock, sand and corals) of his previous tank water and started everything back up and it looked great! That was on Sunday, this morning he calls me up and says that the algae is growing again and starting to spread. I thought maybe it was due to the new sand bed and his tank is going through a mini-cycle again, he has a totally new (as his old one had completely died off over the course of a couple of years) clean up crew consisting of Scarlett Hermits, Cerith and Astrae snails arriving today (and I believe he’s going to buy at least a coupld of giant turbo grazers today), he’s going to double the dosage of phosphate remover in his refugium but after that we are just totally at a loss as to explain why and how this damn algae keeps coming back, does anybody else have any idea’s of what is causing this problem and how to get rid of it??? I’ve been in reefing a few years longer then him and I’ve never seen hair algae be this persistent…especially after all of the measures we’ve taken!!!

 

[rogbak]

We got tired of fighting the hair algae and bought a sea hare. Algae is under control and we have a cool critter to watch.

 

[BigAl07]

Remember you'll need to provide FOOD for the Sea Hare and you'll also want to remove his by-products. That guy poops like a HORSE!!

 

[vdituri]

Have you tested the new saltwater batches for phosphates?
And someone on here mentioned they were having phosphate issues with their Hikari food. BigAl or Frankie I believe.

Just a couple of more things to check off the list.
Best of luck in the HA fight.

 

[TheSaltwaterKid]

His water params test perfect..."0" across the board for Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia and Phosphates. His Calc., Alk. and Mag. levels are all good too.

 

[Scouter Steve]

How old is his light and is the tank getting sunlight?

 

[TheSaltwaterKid]

The bulbs are fairly new (less then 4 months old). His light fixture has two 175w MH and two 64w (I believe) Actinic PC's. The tank isn't getting any sunlight.

 

[TheSaltwaterKid]

He just bought 3 Giant Turbo Grazers (bigger the Mexicans...they're huge) to add to the rest of his clean up crew that arrived a couple days ago (15 scarlett leg hermits, 20 Cerith and 25 Astrae snails). He is skimming "wet" and he's tried the lights out theory on his tank for this 4th of July weekend. Hopefully by Monday all of this will have made some difference. I'll update this post then.

 

[NCguy]

His water params test perfect..."0" across the board for Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia and Phosphates. His Calc., Alk. and Mag. levels are all good too.

His phosphates are at "0" because the hair algae is consuming them.With an algae problem that bad it's getting nitrates and phosphates from somewhere.How long is his lighting period per day? I noticed you said that you tried a massive water change but was he performing weekly water changes?

If all else fails,take the corals and fish out and move them to a quarantine tank or a friends tank. Cover the tank with a blanket,unplug the lights and let it sit in total darkness for at least a week.Check it after a week and see how its doing. This will starve the algae of one of it's main food sources.This doesn't mean that the algae wont come back after you uncover it but it will give you some time to find out where it's getting nutrients from.

 

[TheSaltwaterKid]

Not sure what his photo period is but I know it's not constant for like 8 or 9 hours...more like on for 4 hours and then off for 2 hours and then on again for another 4 hours I believe. Like I stated above, he's trying the lights out theory for the next 3 days and we'll see what progress has been made after that. I just don't know where those pohsphates are coming from...I really thought it was from his sand bed and that after we changed that he'd be all set...it's still a mystery though .

 

[NCguy]

Like I stated above, he's trying the lights out theory for the next 3 days and we'll see what progress has been made after that.

ooops sorry I missed that in your post..I know it gets frustrating at times but hang in there.

 

[sambrinar]

I had hair algae like there was no tomorrow along with slime of various colors. I got chaeto, phosban, took the rocks out and scrubbed them and now it is much better, my source is my compulsive overfeeding. I'm working on that.

now my tank is only a 12 gal. so much easier to take out the rock than a 55 gal. someone, i believe Lynn suggested using a toothbrush connected to the siphon hose. Excellent idea. under the algae forum there are tons of good suggestions for hair algae. check it out too.

 

[CATALYST]

What are the nitrates? Chaeto is a great idea. Could try some nitrate remover. Make sure to rinse all the food in ro too. Could try cutting back on feedings. I notice that my ha gets a little haywire when the trates are high. What salt is he using? Make sure that the alk is not too low. Sometimes that helps the bad algae grow. The big turbo snails are awesome. They eat they cyano too. Does he have a fuge? I notices a big difference once I got the fuge going. I stuck some chaeto in there and a big turbo snail. The ha all seems to stay in the fuge along with the cyano if there is any. If you give your algae a place to call home, maybe it won't have to live in your display.

 

[surplusrifleguy]

I've learned algae, any kind, love excessive nutrients. This can happen from over feeding, but I've learned it most often happens by over adding supplements. People think their tanks need all these supplements (trace elements, minerals, amino acids, calcium, mag etc). Really all you need is frequent water changes (once a week and a smaller amount) and adjust the calcuim to around 380 to 400ppm. This has always worked for me. Adding less is more. Several long time reefers I know follow this method as well, and we can't get any kind of algae (except coraline) to even grow.

 

[TheSaltwaterKid]

He does have an HOB refugium (CPR AquaFuge2 PS...with protein skimmer) and keeps chaeto in there. His water params test great so I think it's a case of the algae consuming (nutrients) them as fast as they're produced and giving false readings.

 

[NCguy]

(CPR AquaFuge2 PS...with protein skimmer)

If the only skimmer he has is the little one on the side of the Aquafuge,then it makes me wonder how many and what kind of fish does he have in this tank?
Honestly (and I don't mean any harm) that skimmer is more for looks than doing any real skimming. If he has more than just a couple of fish in there then between the feedings and their waste it can make for a dirty tank pretty quick. He would have to perform a little more aggressive water changes each week to keep the water quality up without a good skimmer.

 

[CATALYST]

Does he have any sponges in there? Bioballs?

 

[surplusrifleguy]

He does have an HOB refugium (CPR AquaFuge2 PS...with protein skimmer) and keeps chaeto in there. His water params test great so I think it's a case of the algae consuming (nutrients) them as fast as they're produced and giving false readings.

I still think it's probably excessive nutrients. Even though his water params test good, he is probably only testing for a few elements or conditions. Is he testing for Iodine (usually feeds algae when to much is added), that is usually an additive include with trace elements and other additives as well. Thats just an example, however, I've seen some additives with as many a 75 different minerals and elements. I'll bet if he uses a very high quality salt, or ocean water, change 7% of the water weekly and just use Kalk correctly to maintain 380-420ppm calcium, (and don't forget about overfeeding the fish and corals) over time he will have no algae issues at all. The hair algae is consuming something to grow, so if there's no nitrates or phospates, what else is there? (over supplementing). Just because a fish store sells a product they say you need, doesn't mean you really do. Everytime I go into a fish store with any kind of question, the first thing the owner does is go grab a quick fix product to sell me. I had to learn the hard way to save money and stress by just changing water frequently and maintaining calcium. I don't want to come off bossy, but I truly believe this from experience. Hope this helps.

 

[fatman]

This reply is based on the assumption that the tank had been set up for sometime (before the substrate removal) and that the live rock has been in use in a heavily fed tank for some time.

Most people think old tank syndrome and immediately blame it on organics build up in the sand bed. Seldom do people stop to think that dead bacteria eventually pretty much fill up the pores of live rock making it a not much better source for housing nitrifying bacteria than any other surface in the tank. Recently there has been a lot of discussion on cooking live rock to bring it back to life by cleaning out its pore spaces. As is, your friends tank will probably have a worse hair algae problem now, than it had before he got rid of his sand bed. Now the only nitrifying that is being done is by the live rock which is not probably doing very well at all. The algae is chiefly taking up the nutrients before they can even build up in the water enough to register in the water parameter tests. An ORP test performed at this time would likely show a substantially lowered ORP reading of probably below 200mV.

The thread you should probably read is labeled "Bryopsis" something or other. It is less than a week old. It goes through feeding, lighting, and rock cleaning issues and arguments pro an con for different treatments of the worse of the nuisance algae. Nearly all the information on that thread also applies to the problem listed in this thread.

When a tanks biological system is not working properly then it is common for nuisance algae to take over but for the parameters to be good or fairly good.

When algae is growing on live rock in a mature tank then the nitrifying bacteria for some reason is not presently developed in and on the rock sufficiently to handle the organic load. As the load has not increased then the biological filtration has most likely decreased.

 

[burning2nd]

not to hate... but i hope its not bryopsis your fighting.