Hair Algae's Gone!!!

uscharalph · 07/04/2008, 03:02 AM

After 2 years and 4 months, my tank is finally rid of hair algae!!! Knock on Wood. LOL!!!

scrmbld33 · 07/04/2008, 06:21 AM

congrats!!!!!

sabbath · 07/04/2008, 06:26 AM

How did you do it?

smedley93 · 07/04/2008, 07:03 AM

Yes, I would also like to know how you got rid of it. I'm battling hair algae right now. Currently building sump w/fuge. Hopefully that'll help.

HaywoodJafragit · 07/04/2008, 07:20 AM

I had hair algae last year and got 3 Chestnut Turban Snail (Turbo Castanea) and cleaned the main tank pretty quick but now I have a lot of hair algae in my sump, so much that is taking over the chaeto. Sadly they starved to death when the hair algae was gone and for some reason now I can't find them locally, I guess I'll have to order them online.

Debbie64 · 07/04/2008, 10:01 AM

Congratulations! It's funny, I keep meaning to post that exact thing myself. I've been battling it for about 2 years also. Finally realized the other day that it was completely gone.

It takes patience - lots of it - and good husbandry. And be prepared to be diligent about pulling the HA out of your tank.

I tried lettuce nudibranches (they kept going down the overflow), LM blenny (he at everything BUT HA), Mexican Turbos. Honestly, though, all these things are band aids.

I did the following:

Water changes usually every two weeks - sometimes just once a month. Use RO/DI. In the tank at least once a week to pull out as much HA as I can see. Fuge with chaeto. PhosBan reactor. Don't overfeed. Reduced lighting period. I also adopted the lights out for 3 days method. Here are some before and after pics. The HA was much worse when it first started 2 years ago.

This is February 07 right side.

This is as of last month.

All that work just became a regular part of my routine so it's odd not to have to get into the tank with a bucket to hold all the hair algae.

Sk8r · 07/04/2008, 10:03 AM

Haywood, your situation is unusual: you have a sump/fuge, AND hair algae, which indicates you have a killer amount of phosphate in your system---to get rid of it, I would suggest, 1. if you aren't using ro/di, do: that could be major. 2. get a phosban reactor and run it---must be the reactor: phosban bags in the water stream won't cut it.
HTH.

uscharalph · 07/04/2008, 01:08 PM

Like Debbie said: It takes a lot of patience. I would harvest as much as I could, as often as I could. I started using RO for top-offs and RO-based for water changes. I tried to cut down on feeding as much as I could and the final straw was adding better flow to my tank.

pledosophy · 07/04/2008, 01:56 PM

I'm sorry you lost your hair algae. I know how tough that can be.

If you want to bring it back switch from RO to tap, remove your phosphate medias, turn off the refugium, overfeed and stop rinsing the food, slack off on your water changes a bit. It will come back in no time.

HTH

HaywoodJafragit · 07/04/2008, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sk8r
Haywood, your situation is unusual: you have a sump/fuge, AND hair algae, which indicates you have a killer amount of phosphate in your system---to get rid of it, I would suggest, 1. if you aren't using ro/di, do: that could be major. 2. get a phosban reactor and run it---must be the reactor: phosban bags in the water stream won't cut it.
HTH.

Very unusual indeed; there is no hair algae in the display tanks, just in the fuge for the last 2 years. This is an established system, phosphates read zero consistently with my Salifert test kit and all my other parameters are within desireable ranges, my nitrates are hovering 20 ppm which is probably the culprit. It really doesn't bother me as I use this plague as an algae scrubber. While I have a very small bioload for this system, my substrate is crushed coral so I'm resigned to have some nitrates; 20 ppm is not horrible though.

07/04/2008, 03:02 AM	#1
uscharalph Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 1,248	Hair Algae's Gone!!! After 2 years and 4 months, my tank is finally rid of hair algae!!! Knock on Wood. LOL!!! __________________ Ralph Mendoza Jr. Long Beach, CA Current Tank Info: 80 Gallon Reef Tank

07/04/2008, 06:21 AM	#2
scrmbld33 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: south jersey 08050 Posts: 2,394	congrats!!!!! __________________ a left over shrimp shedding is not "a sicilian message meaning luca brasi sleeps with the fishes" fish are friends, not food Current Tank Info: 90gal salt, 2 250mh 14k hamiltons 2 110 actinic, 127lbs LR,50lbs tonga 70lbs indonesia 7lbs tonga branch asm g3

07/04/2008, 07:03 AM	#4
smedley93 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: greeley colorado Posts: 55	Yes, I would also like to know how you got rid of it. I'm battling hair algae right now. Currently building sump w/fuge. Hopefully that'll help. __________________ "Do or do not.... There is no try" Current Tank Info: 75g up for 5 years. 100lbs of LR. 48" nova extreme pro t-5, 1 blue tang, 1 OC clown, 1 foxface, 1 coral beauty angel, 1 bi-color blenny, 1 red dragonet, 1 green mandarin

07/04/2008, 07:20 AM	#5
HaywoodJafragit Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Macomb, MI, USA Posts: 60	I had hair algae last year and got 3 Chestnut Turban Snail (Turbo Castanea) and cleaned the main tank pretty quick but now I have a lot of hair algae in my sump, so much that is taking over the chaeto. Sadly they starved to death when the hair algae was gone and for some reason now I can't find them locally, I guess I'll have to order them online. __________________ 100 glass, 55 hex acrylic, shared 22 gal refuge and 18 gal sump 350 pounds of live rock, 4 inch DSB, many SPS and LPS, 2 perculas, 1 common star, 1 brittle star. ASM G-2, 1 Mag 9.5. Current Tank Info: 195 gal gross

07/04/2008, 10:03 AM	#7
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Haywood, your situation is unusual: you have a sump/fuge, AND hair algae, which indicates you have a killer amount of phosphate in your system---to get rid of it, I would suggest, 1. if you aren't using ro/di, do: that could be major. 2. get a phosban reactor and run it---must be the reactor: phosban bags in the water stream won't cut it. HTH. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

07/04/2008, 06:26 AM	#3
sabbath Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Twin City's Mn. Posts: 1,771	How did you do it?

07/04/2008, 10:01 AM	#6
Debbie64 Save a fish; eat a burger Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Monterey Bay, CA Posts: 253	Congratulations! It's funny, I keep meaning to post that exact thing myself. I've been battling it for about 2 years also. Finally realized the other day that it was completely gone. It takes patience - lots of it - and good husbandry. And be prepared to be diligent about pulling the HA out of your tank. I tried lettuce nudibranches (they kept going down the overflow), LM blenny (he at everything BUT HA), Mexican Turbos. Honestly, though, all these things are band aids. I did the following: Water changes usually every two weeks - sometimes just once a month. Use RO/DI. In the tank at least once a week to pull out as much HA as I can see. Fuge with chaeto. PhosBan reactor. Don't overfeed. Reduced lighting period. I also adopted the lights out for 3 days method. Here are some before and after pics. The HA was much worse when it first started 2 years ago. This is February 07 right side. This is as of last month. All that work just became a regular part of my routine so it's odd not to have to get into the tank with a bucket to hold all the hair algae.

07/04/2008, 01:08 PM	#8
uscharalph Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 1,248	Like Debbie said: It takes a lot of patience. I would harvest as much as I could, as often as I could. I started using RO for top-offs and RO-based for water changes. I tried to cut down on feeding as much as I could and the final straw was adding better flow to my tank. __________________ Ralph Mendoza Jr. Long Beach, CA Current Tank Info: 80 Gallon Reef Tank

07/04/2008, 01:56 PM	#9
pledosophy Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Beaverton Posts: 5,290	I'm sorry you lost your hair algae. I know how tough that can be. If you want to bring it back switch from RO to tap, remove your phosphate medias, turn off the refugium, overfeed and stop rinsing the food, slack off on your water changes a bit. It will come back in no time. HTH __________________ 120g mixed reef 90g QT