Green Hair Algea

[Newbie]

Can anyone lend me some advice on what to do to get rid of our green hair algea?
It has been getting progressively worse. I initially started feeding less as that is usually the #1 cause, then I reduced the amount of time the lights were on. We added 3 more turbo snails, to have 2 eaten by our puffer, then we added a Foxface as we were told that he would help. He doesn't like it at all and stays away from it.
We tried to aim the one powerhead at the main rock where it is an issue however it hasn't helped, it has just started blowing in the current now.
Now it has gotten to about an inch long.
Nothing we have tried seems to be working.
Please lend some insight to help our tank get to the crystal tank that it once was.
Thanks guys.

 

[BigAl07]

First thing what is your "Source" water?

How often and how much are your water changes?

Remove as MUCH as possible before/during water changes to help export the algae itself and any "bound" nutirents.

What are you feeding? How much and how often?

Looking at your stocking and it seems kind of heavy. What are you using for filtration?

Good luck! Hang in there... it didn't get here quick and it wont go away quickly...

 

[lcstorc]

Double what Al said.
I am fighting it in my 90 now myself. Among other things I am doing twice a week water changes and for one of the changes I take 1/4 of the rock out and scrub it in the water I have taken out of te tank. Running Phosban and Carbon can also help.

 

[BigAl07]

Double what Al said.
I am fighting it in my 90 now myself. Among other things I am doing twice a week water changes and for one of the changes I take 1/4 of the rock out and scrub it in the water I have taken out of te tank. Running Phosban and Carbon can also help.

Scrubbing the rock is a HUGE bonus! If that is at ALL possible do it! It's not easy but it's a HUGE jump forward!!!

 

[gchamp614]

I use pond blocks from my lfs but they are only safe where there is no inverts I would try this I had the same problem and my stars and stripes puffer killed my snails.Only use in non reef aquarium.I put rock with problem in my 55 fish only and drop a pond block. Once the block disolves completly scrub rock. bye bye algea

 

[Newbie]

Awesome,
That is really helpful information.
Unfortunately we have been off on our regular water changes lately. We did make the switch to RO water lately, however I did to a top of of about 5 gallons with regular treated tap water last time. I didn't think that that little would do anything.
We definately are pushing the limits of the tank with the stock however we have no plans to add anything else (unless I win and the Foxface goes).
Hopefully we can get in there this weekend and do a good water change and I can scrub the rocks that need it.
It is weird it is only sticking to one main big rock. The others it seems to not care about.
I do believe we have carbon in the filter though.
As far as food, we are only feeding once a day. A pinch of flake food, and about 10-12 pellets for the Blue Tang. The food is gone quickly and doesn't linger so I don't think it is too much but I could be wrong. I will let you know how we make out after I scrub the rocks. We did that with the purple slime and it really worked and got rid of it!
Thanks guys, you rock!

 

[BigAl07]

Nikki ANY tap water can contain a whole variety of "Reef Contaminants". You could have lots of nutrients in there feeding this problem.

Flake food is notorious for having phosphates (Algae Rocket Fuel). Also your fish are only able to process a certain percentage of what they are eating and you can feed them enough to where they are making a lot of "Poop". Just guessing here

Just don't use TAP water for anything unless you test it for EVERYTHING!!

Good luck and hang in there.... good news is it will be snowing there soon and you'll have LOTS of inside time to water and play with them

 

[sambrinar]

Flake food is notorious for having phosphates (Algae Rocket Fuel). Also your fish are only able to process a certain percentage of what they are eating and you can feed them enough to where they are making a lot of "Poop". Just guessing here

Just don't use TAP water for anything unless you test it for EVERYTHING!!

I did an experiment with the flake food and phosphates. I put just flake food in tank water, just a pinch of prime reef flake. phosphate off the chart >10, then I put a pinch of flake food in distilled water (no access to ro/di right now), soaked for about 10 minutes, then moved the flakes to a cup of tank water tested after 10 minutes, phosphate .25. you can use a fish net to strain it out of the water and put it in the tank

So I would highly recommending soaking all food in ro/di before putting it in the tank

 

[BigAl07]

Good point Brenda. I soak ALL foods that are non "Rod's Food" in RO/DI and drain them through a kitchen Tea-Strainer!! Then if there is any food left-over I refreeze it in RO/DI for future "feeding pucks".

 

[sambrinar]

non "Rod's Food" in RO/DI and drain them through a kitchen Tea-Strainer!! Then if there is any food left-over I refreeze it in RO/DI for future "feeding pucks".

Just curious Al, why not Rod's food, I have heard of it, but am unaware of what it contains. I know that you are supposed to use VERY minimal amount of it

 

[BigAl07]

Brenda I've spoken at length with "Rod" and he used NO preservatives in his foods at all. For that reason no need to "Rinse" but on the same token it has less shelf-life than other alternatives. Some frozen foods can last YEARS (maybe an exaggeration there) where as his last maybe 6 months IF kept frozen.

 

[Newbie]

Wow,
That is VERY interesting about the food. Does in fact seem like alot for feeding fish though.
Anyhoo, I bought some new scrub brushes and we are going to get into that tank and scrub all the rocks, do a waterchange (with RO/DI water) and see how the rocks make out. Hopefully that will help clear up the problem.
My husband said he wants to keep it on some rocks as it adds "character"... we are scrubbing all those suckers down.
Stay tuned...........

 

[lcstorc]

Even with a good water change and good scrubbing you will be fighting it for a while. The key is to remove the algae and remove the nutrients feeding the algae. Once that is done it will go away.
Tell hubby to get some nice soft corals that will move around in the flow. They are much nicer and easier to control than HA.
On a side note, be sure to feed your tang nori (dried seaweed) they are primarily herbivores and need the algae to stay healthy. Unfortunately they don't seem to like HA.

 

[BigAl07]

Nikki I hope you understand the rock needs to be scrubbed OUTSIDE of the tank. You're wanting to get as much of the HA off the rock and out of the tank as possible. Scrubbing in the tank will only spread it around a LOT!!

Tell Hubby it's either ALL Hair Algae or NONE! I don't think you'll ever find a "Happy Medium" with HA!!

It takes time to get rid of but well worth the efforts

 

[sambrinar]

Brenda I've spoken at length with "Rod" and he used NO preservatives in his foods at all. For that reason no need to "Rinse" but on the same token it has less shelf-life than other alternatives. Some frozen foods can last YEARS (maybe an exaggeration there) where as his last maybe 6 months IF kept frozen.

Interesting Al, thanks for the insite.. Good luck with the HA, I had a huge problem with it, it is finally gone.

 

[yungreefer2410]

what i did was attempt to remove all/most of algaes resources. then i srcubbed the rock and vaccumed the sand and now there is inly a small amount of ha on one rock which are now being taked over by corraline. but sdaly i have now fighting red and green slime on the sand bed. one sides clear other side not so much

 

[lcstorc]

Well if your HA has been replaced by Cyano then you still have excess nutrients. You need to eliminate them or you will have a continuous battle.

 

[yungreefer2410]

i know but not nearly as i had. its not super bad opr anything

 

[waterdog]

if u cant seem to keep it down, ive heard blue leg hermit crabs keep it off, there like little cows eating it in my tank,and a lot of fish leave them alone

 

[waterdog]

thats HA i mean