Best 'Clean-up Crew' Critter for HAIR ALGAE?

[flamehawkfish]

hi All

I have a 95g SPS-dominated reef tank. It's been established for two years and doing great, but now I'm now battling a hair algae problem.

I realize that the best approach to combatting hair algae is more frequent water changes, carbon/Rowaphos, improved water circulation, changing out light bulbs, and/or reducing light cycle.

Nevertheless, I'd still like to upgrade my 'clean-up crew' to battle my hair algae. Can you please suggest the best snails or critters for the job? There are many varieties of snails (Cerith, Astrea, 'Mexican turbo', etc.), sea cucumbers, urchins, and hermits (Halloween, red-legged, blue-legged, etc.), so I'd like to target something that really devours hair algae.

Your thoughts/advice? Please let me know. Thank you in advance.

Take care,

Flamehawk

[Rowe78]

You could get a sea hair they do a good job of cleaning up the tank.

[herozero]

got a pic of the algae?

[flamehawkfish]

Originally Posted by herozero

got a pic of the algae?

Well, I don't have a pic of the hair algae offhand, but here's a Youtube shot of my tank, and you should be able to spot some of the hair algae...

http://www.youtube.com/user/marinhip.../0/43t6mNZCv9A

Also, after searching for 'hair algae' on-line, I found this pic. The hair algae in my tank looks very similar...



I try to harvest it by hand, but it really sticks to the crevices of my live rock, and grows FAST! I want to stop it now, before it gets out of hand...

As for the 'sea hare', I bought one about 2 months ago, but it only lived in my tank for a short while... I'm not sure why b/c I have many sensitive fish, inverts, and coral in my tank and have not suffered any other losses beyond this sea hare...

[tralynne]

I battled GHA for over 1.5 years. I tried everything under the sun to combat it. Lost the battle. I even did everything I have seen all at once. Only used RO/DI water from the start and did 25% water changes every two weeks. Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites and phosphates all were undetectable. Reduced lights to 6 hours/day, ran PhosBan, cut back feeding by half (feed once every other day). Used Marine Algefix and chemi-clean. I bought every type of urchin and every type of snail. I took out all my rocks and scrubbed them with a tooth brush and once even used a 1600 PSI pressure washer on the rocks. Took out the top 1/2 inch of my sand bed and threw it away. Took all filter and tubes, scrubbed with pipe cleaners and then ran low concentration of bleach water through all the pipes (obviously not while attached to the tank). Cleaned it all with RO/DI water. 2-3 weeks later the crap was growing back full force. Even though I could not see one filament of the GHA all my NO2, NO3, ammonia, and PO4 were undetectable. The stuff just kept coming and would not stop. I am skeptical still of the theory that the GHA will lock up all your NO2, NO3, PO4 and that is why your tests are zero. If it were true the GHA would only be able to use what it has stored in itself and would not spread. You would have to detect some of those things for it to keep growing and to expand all over the place. I also don’t know how to explain that after I cleaned all the rocks and could not see one shred of the GHA and all my levels were zero…how did it come back full force and I would not detect anything???? I did not use a UV sterilizer b/c I read that the UV sterilizer will not kill the spores’ b/c the spores have some sort of protective protein cover over it and it will just pass through the sterilizer and land in the sand/rocks and then germinate.

Don’t mean to be "Debbie downer" on your GHA situation but I lost this battle in a bad way. I am curious if I had some strange, rare case of GHA. I have heard and seen others have success with one or multiple of the above remedies. My solution was to upgrade from my 80gal to a 150g. All rocks and equipment were bleached and did not touch my new tank for 6 weeks after I took it down. Not sure that is the answer to your problems but I could not deal looking at such a horrible sight in my tank more than the 1.5 years that I did. The stuff grew so fast and spread so rapidly. It even grew on top of my coralline algae, all my softies (killed them too) and right up from the sand bed like dandelions in your front yard.

If you do solve your GHA, which I honestly hope you do b/c I know the frustration, please post your results and techniques as specific as you can for other to learn from. Good Luck.

[fox2589]

royal urchin..try one..you wont regret it..eats pounds of hair algae for breakfast..-Drew

[rbnice1]

Sea hairs!

I* had my kids 30 gallon tank full of hair algae put in a sea hair and clumps of it started disappearing. Its been 3 weeks and the tank is almost algae free, nother week and I will be pulling it out and trading it back in to the LFS.

[flamehawkfish]

Originally Posted by fox2589

royal urchin..try one..you wont regret it..eats pounds of hair algae for breakfast..-Drew

Thanks for the advice. I have 1 'tuxedo urchin' (and I believe that it's the same as a 'royal' urchin; right?). Is this what you mean by a 'royal urchin'?



After removing a large black spindly sea urchin from my tank (b/c it started attacking my coral), I replaced it w' the tuxedo/royal urchin. I've only had it for about 6 weeks, and it's settling in well.

Yes; it does do a good job on hair algae, but I figured that I could augment its effort w' something else (maybe another urchin?!).

[noahm]

I had a couple of pink/purple pincushion urchins. They were too good at cleaning my rock, so I gave one to a guy who has crazy HA. That thing mows it down like nothing I have seen. They will pick up loose frags, but other than that are awesome. Sea hare may be comparable though.

[gorey]

Lettuce nudiebranch. Look at reeftopia.com You can get 4 of them for $24.00. And they are reef safe. Call em and see if they will hook you up on shipping. Or just buy $125 worth of stuff and get free shipping.

Jeff

[tcinaustin]

I have had very good luck with Mexican Turbo snails. I buy them small and then trade them in when they get too big.
Good Luck!

[cuda70bill]

check out reefs2go.com for some great prices on a clean up crew for what you need, I just ordered 460 crabs and snails and a few shrimp, about 160 bucks, anything over 150 shipping is free

[tufacody]

That pic looks like bryopsis, not hair alage. Not much will eat that crap.

[noahm]

Bryopsis is the genus of several species that are cumulatively known as hair algae...just to clear up any confusion. They are one and the same.

[sharky334]

I have used the sea hare, blue tuxedo urchin, and yesterday was recommended Astrea snails (by my LFS-because I told them I had it on my glass, and Astrea tend to stay on the glass more). Good luck with your algae problem, I am battling my own. BTW, I often see ppl say to change the water more often (as well as decrease feeding, reduce time the lights are on, etc), but was wondering how often, and how much?

[reeftivo]

bryopsis for sure!

I had a battle with that for a year and nothing ate it but a true lettuce nudi. You have to put them right on the patch and pray they don't get sucked into an overflow or pump intake. They eat it slow but they eat it. If you try pulling it off manually it will release spores and create more of a problem. Here is a list of critters I've tried which never touched it:
long spine urchin
tuxedo urchin
emerald crabs
sea hare
lawnmower blennie
astrea snails
turbo grazers
Conch


My lettuce nudi's couldn't eat it fast enough and I couldn't take out my rock to boil it or I may have tried that, but what worked for me was to push up my mag to 1700 and hold it there for two weeks. I'[ve heard the mag helps block the algae from taking up nutrients and for me, it eventually started bleaching out after a week and died off. The elevated mag did not cause any adverse effects on my corals.

Try reducing the light cycle and feed every other day at first to see if that helps. It didn't for me so thats why I resorted to the magnesium.

[Reefobsession]

Originally Posted by reeftivo

bryopsis for sure!

I had a battle with that for a year and nothing ate it but a true lettuce nudi. You have to put them right on the patch and pray they don't get sucked into an overflow or pump intake. They eat it slow but they eat it. If you try pulling it off manually it will release spores and create more of a problem. Here is a list of critters I've tried which never touched it:
long spine urchin
tuxedo urchin
emerald crabs
sea hare
lawnmower blennie
astrea snails
turbo grazers
Conch


My lettuce nudi's couldn't eat it fast enough and I couldn't take out my rock to boil it or I may have tried that, but what worked for me was to push up my mag to 1700 and hold it there for two weeks. I'[ve heard the mag helps block the algae from taking up nutrients and for me, it eventually started bleaching out after a week and died off. The elevated mag did not cause any adverse effects on my corals.

Try reducing the light cycle and feed every other day at first to see if that helps. It didn't for me so thats why I resorted to the magnesium.

It is not he mag, you need to get Kent Tech M. There is something in the tech M that takes care of the bryopsis, no one knows.

[hughjaas]

My sailfan tang took kept my bryopsis under control until it died. I had another outbreak and tried a bryopsis-eating nudibranch from reeftopia.com and combined that with Kent Tech-M and that worked as well.

from what I understand, the nudibranches suck the chlorophyl from the bryopsis- they don't actually eat it, they just kill it. the strands will turn dark green and then decompose.

[flamehawkfish]

Originally Posted by Reefobsession

It is not he mag, you need to get Kent Tech M. There is something in the tech M that takes care of the bryopsis, no one knows.

Really? Is that true? Can anyone else validate this report? It's the first time I've heard of it.

If so, should you dose as prescribed, or go beyond what's recommended?

Thanks to everyone for their generous advice. I'm committed to resolving this hair algae problem!

[hughjaas]

Originally Posted by flamehawkfish

Really? Is that true? Can anyone else validate this report? It's the first time I've heard of it.

I can vouch for it- it works. google it. I spent hours researching it and there's quite a bit of evidence showing the benefit over other brands or methods. as far as dosing goes, you will need a lot- possibly gallons depending on how large your tank is.

[Johnny C]

Before spending tons of money on a chemical remedy, try a few of the larger Mexican Turbos. They will devour that algae!

[tcwoodrn]

A perfect thread for you my friend:

http://www.michiganreefers.com/forum...c-no-more.html

This story thread (written by a biologist) also comes to the Kent Tech M solution.

I had bryopsis right after my tank cycled (75g). I threw in 8 emeralds, my scopas tang, and a sea hare. 1-2 weeks later my tank was bare and I have never seen it again.

[flamehawkfish]

Originally Posted by hughjaas

I can vouch for it- it works. google it. I spent hours researching it and there's quite a bit of evidence showing the benefit over other brands or methods. as far as dosing goes, you will need a lot- possibly gallons depending on how large your tank is.

WOW! I started the Kent Tech-M treatment last week, and it REALLY WORKED! Awesome. I wish all aquarium issues were so simple to fix. I mean, I totally vouch for this approach. It was like magic! After a few days, the bryopsis turned kind of translucent and stringy and just faded away!

Thank you so much for suggesting it.

[giant2na]

I would go with a natural treatment, sea hares work well

[JeF4y]

Originally Posted by flamehawkfish

WOW! I started the Kent Tech-M treatment last week, and it REALLY WORKED! Awesome. I wish all aquarium issues were so simple to fix. I mean, I totally vouch for this approach. It was like magic! After a few days, the bryopsis turned kind of translucent and stringy and just faded away!

Thank you so much for suggesting it.

What were your before & after MG levels? How high did you take it??