hair algae

[faulkincanyon]

what is a good critter that eats this stuff??

[FlyinggFish]

If you can try to take the rocks out and put them in a bucket (with a power head if you want) for a while, the hair algae will be completely gone! Worked for me at least.

[Don-Coraleone]

sea hares and urchins do a good job.

[Ricecakeguy]

I had great luck with mexican turbo snails

[faulkincanyon]

what is a good urchin that doesnt get too big and isnt too bad at knocking stuff over?

[nikkipigtails]

Originally posted by Ricecakeguy
I had great luck with mexican turbo snails

Me too.

You may want to investigate the reason why you have HA. If you just have critters in there to eat it and never fix the source, then you'll always have issues with it.

It could be time to change your RO/DI filters or it may come from your food depending on what food you use.

[faulkincanyon]

ro/di unit is a month old....food is new life spectrum...and prime reef flakes.

[nikkipigtails]

My guess is that it's from the flakes. Most processed food is loaded with phosphates.

Just for S&G. Test your tank water for phosphates. Then, put some flakes in a small bowl of your tank water and let them soak for an hour. Then test that water for phosphates.

[hypernesia]

Chances are if you have algae in the tank your phosphates will read 0 because the algae takes up the phosphate as fast as it is put into the tank. Were you using reg water before the RO/DI? if you were chances are that your rock became a phosphate sink and once you started using RO water the rock started leaching it. (I had this problem ) Also you may want to go to frozen foods or DIY food with DIY food you know what is going into your tank. As Nikki says animals will just cover up the problem.
The fastest most effective way IMO is to remove your rock and cook it. Worked for me

[pcragg]

Tuxedo urchins scour the rocks of hair algae. They don't mess with corals, and they are a really interesting addition to the reef tank. They pick up rocks and shells and other things and carry them around the tank.

People comment on the urchin more than anything else in the tank.

[faulkincanyon]

yes I was using regular water before so maybe that is my problem...I was thinking about a sea hare...any input on these?

[hypernesia]

Sea Hares are a double edged sword
They will eat hair algae but only short pieces no long stuff and once they eat all of it their mortality rate goes through the roof in our tanks. They also have a tendency to crawl into or get sucked into your overflows.
Hair algae is tough to defeat it took me 8 months. At some points wanting to give up altogether but stick with it. Manual removal is tough also. I used a filter sock and ran a siphon hose to it sucking off the algae on the rocks and into the filter sock that way the algae didn't get loose and float to a new spot in the tank. JME

[faulkincanyon]

what about lettuce slugs

[hypernesia]

Same rule applys to them also

[faulkincanyon]

alright thanks!

[nikkipigtails]

lettuce slugs never worked for me. I had the best results from mexican turbos. I had to put them directly on the HA but they desimated it in just a couple of days. I haven't had any reoccurance either.

[erbio]

I've heard some good things about sea hares and hair algae!

[ahayes13]

i put some turbo snails in and they are doing a fantastic job in our tank !

[raddogz]

I see that you have a dwarf lionfish and a puffer in the tank.

The porcupine puffer for the moment may do okay in a 40g tank, but as an overall will outgrow the tank soon enough. Puffers are notorious to be messy eaters not to mention their waste level is high. Without suitable ways to export the detritus -> nutrients you will have a never ending cycle of nuisance algae.

Seahares and lettuce nudibranchs are hit & miss depending on powerheads and like in the tank. Once seahares are done with eating the algae they will starve to death.

As others have mentioned quick solutions are never solutions until you figure what is causing the algae issues.

[faulkincanyon]

yea the puffer is moving to a bigger tank but as of now he is a baby....I understand the need to find where its coming from but if I new Id have already fixed it...I just want something that will help control it while I continue to fix the problem..thanks

[raddogz]

Mexican turbo snails are supposed to help - I've yet to see it do anything in one of my tanks.

The t-5's (overdriven) in one of tanks are over two years and one of the reasons why I've had explosive hair algae issues.

Very large water changes along with manual pulling out the hair algae will control and fix the problem but it will be an uphill battle - you just have to be patient

[raddogz]

Mexican turbo snails are supposed to help - I've yet to see it do anything in one of my tanks.

The t-5's (overdriven) in one of tanks are over two years and one of the reasons why I've had explosive hair algae issues.

Very large water changes along with manual pulling out the hair algae will control and fix the problem but it will be an uphill battle - you just have to be patient

[faulkincanyon]

alright...thank you!

[raddogz]

Mexican turbo snails are supposed to help - I've yet to see it do anything in one of my tanks.

The t-5's (overdriven) in one of tanks are over two years and one of the reasons why I've had explosive hair algae issues.

Very large water changes along with manual pulling out the hair algae will control and fix the problem but it will be an uphill battle - you just have to be patient

[klepto]

Good points all- tuxedo urchins aye? sounds tempting.. thats great to know about the rocks acting as a phosphate sink- probably where my probs are originating from.

I am battling some detritus buildup w/ some black colored minor cyano bloom and some contained hair algae (bryopsis). I recently picked up a lawnmower blenny that is doing a fine job of keeping short to mid length bryopsis at bay. I had a lettuce sea slug (commonly misnamed nudibranch) -elysia diomedia that survived for only about 3months in my 50 gal- these guys are beautiful but i wouldnt recommend them for a cleanup crew member. I also kept a Sea Hare that was much more effective on bryopsis but he didnt last much more than 2months. -im a newb so im sure if you have a more stable setup these species can thrive- imo niether of them are particularly hardy.

now a good helper that is much hardier would be emerald mithrax crabs imo. - unlike hermits these guys are mostly herbivores- mine religiously tackles hair/bubble/grape algae - mostly going for the mid length greens.

im curious if anyone can recommend something that will tackle full length bryopsis? will the tuxedo?