Hair Algea

[birdz]

Alright, this 55 gallon tank has been going for about 8-9 months. It's my first reef so there's no doubt my problems are self-induced. The green algea is beginning to choke my corals and it makes my tank look nasty.

Things to note

• I use water from a 5-stage RO (no DI)
• 5g water changes every sunday
• feed flake daily, make sure it all gets eaten
• target feed xoanthids & scooter blenny brine shrimp 2-3 times a week
• Skimmer works great - pulls lots of foam and makes dark stinky water
• filter has white filter material that I change weekly, sometimes twice a week
• filter has a biobale (think bioballs) that I've cleaned twice over 9 months

Tank Residents

• 1 Scooter Blenny
• 3 Chromis
• 1 sixline wrasse
• 1 percula clown
• xenia
• xoanthids
• 1 purple serpent star
• 1 brittle star
• 1 peppermint shrimp
• ~4-5 porcelein crabs
• ~15 hermits
• ~5 snails

More info on setup

• 55 gallon display
• 5 gallon CY-192 cyclone filter with a skimmer & biobale
• Temp is steady at ~78
• pH is steady at 8.3
• alkinity was low so I bought some kent-marine tech CB
• I have a phosphate test kit on order. That seems to be a common cause.
• 4 actinic bulbs - ~12 hr daily
• 2x 250watt metal halides - ~5 hr daily

[ludnix]

I don't think most zoanthids can actually eat brine shrimp?

Do you have a clean up crew? I think some hermits and snails should be able to make quick work of that.

[FlyinggFish]

You should be removing a lot more water when you are doing water changes. Preform a water change between 15 and 20% for outstanding results and water clarity/perfection!
So you have a 55 gal removed between 8.25 and 11 gallons, or to make things simpler do a 15 gallon water change. Can't hurt only harm.



I battled hair algae in one of my tanks. There is a thread that talks about leaving lights off in your tank for 3 days straight. This is was found to be very beneficial to those who did this. They experienced crisp and very clear water, white sand, less algae, brighter coral colors, and for those that had hair algae, it was diminishing. I did it myself and saw results. You should try leaving your lights out for a while. If you are scared that something might happen because the coral won't get light. First think about it this way: in nature they are never getting a much light as we artificially give them in our tanks (storms and clouds shade them and block the sun). And if you don't want to do it for three days, don't. You can do a day and turn the lights on for 1 or 2 hours to feed and you can do this for the three days. But I don't know if you would see the same results.

Do you have bioballs? I saw something you wrote that says bioballs.
If you do they could be a problem. Any aquarist would tell you to take them immediately out of your system. So that would probably be wise of you to do so if you are having this problem. They tend to trap and increase nitrates in your system. Don't remove them all at once!! Remove a handful or a couple a day depending on how many bioballs you have.

[FlyinggFish]

Another thing that has seemed to work in my tanks:
If I have coralline, it means I'm at a good calcium level. Check you calcium. I see that some coralline was trying to grow. I would suggest adding some Kent Liquid Reactor after you are done battling the algae problem. It seemed to remove this algae I had on my sand bed, I'm guessing because the increase in calcium and trace elements. I wouldn't say it will help indefinitely, but it can't hurt.
Also...you should have used different sand. You sand bed looks like pebbles and crushed corals, which if not siphoned properly can lead to problem.

What I would do in your situation:
Since you don't have a lot of rocks, I would take them all out and boil them. Or take them all out and get new ones. The rocks could be leaching phosphates in to your tank which can help the growth of your hair algae.

What do you think?

[birdz]

Originally Posted by ludnix

I don't think most zoanthids can actually eat brine shrimp?

Do you have a clean up crew? I think some hermits and snails should be able to make quick work of that.

sorry - mysis shrimp

[birdz]

Maybe the light trick is what I need - I'll think it over, maybe some others can offer some insight into that.

I'm also still up in the air on the biobale, last time I cleaned it, it was really really dirty - algea knocked loose gets caught in there and all kinds of nasty $h&% came out when I cleaned it last. Yank it?

[Shane Hoffman]

Lights out for 3 days +1

Remove "biobale" slowly, remove 1/4 at a time. (They are a nitrate factry and your tank is about the age when this happens)

If your feeding flakes daily and mysis 3 days a week you may be over feeding.

On days you feed mysis do you still feed the flake?????

Try to cut back on your feeding.


Try to manually remove as much HA as possible.

It is imperitive that you change more than 5 gallons of water weekly.

I would do 10 gallons minimum every week.....maybe even 12 to 15 gallons.

Are you running any GFO

[Shane Hoffman]

Also I would invest in some mexican turbo snails.....probably 4 or 5 for your tank.

[birdz]

Originally Posted by Shane Hoffman

Lights out for 3 days +1

If your feeding flakes daily and mysis 3 days a week you may be over feeding.

On days you feed mysis do you still feed the flake?????

Try to cut back on your feeding.

[...]

Try to manually remove as much HA as possible.
Are you running any GFO

No, im not running GFO, should I be?

yes, i do the mysis and the flake - ill cut back

k, step up the water changes
slowly remove biobale
ease up on the feeding

[tgray3]

The last time i fought HA i cut feeding to every other day, added 2 more H.K.'s for flow, skimmed very wet, ran Phosban and added a UV sterilizer. The multi-pronged approach worked for me and i haven't had a recurrence of HA.

[birdz]

hydor koralias?

[tgray3]

Yup, I was running 2 #2's in a 55. I added 2 #1's low in tank and pointed them toward the top to help keep the organics suspended so they could be skimmed out.

[birdz]

there's a #3 & and #1 in there right now - I like the idea of a low #1 keeping things suspended, think I could get away with just moving athe #1 low or do you really think I should add another?

p.s. what kind of phosban reactors and UV do you guys recommend?

[tgray3]

#1's are fairly cheap so I'd add another one, it can't hurt. Personally, I don't like reactors. They are messy to clean and replace media but that's just my opinion. I run carbon and/or phosban in an old Marineland canister with the sponges removed and it works well for me. IMO Any name brand UV should work for you as long as you go with at minimum 9w. Let you budget decide on brand name.

[Shane Hoffman]

You can run carbon or most other medias in an old canister fairly efficiently. With GFO or phosban I would NOT run it in a canister. To maximize its efficiency and lifespan it needs to have the crrect amount of flow, which can only be achieved in a reactor.

But yes I feel you would greatly benefit from using it in your tank. You can get a dual reactor from BRS for 40 bucks or so. Thats where I got mine. I had itup and running in 15 minutes.......